Importance of cultural understanding in team work

Diverse workplace is usually beautiful as it has people of different types who are all working for the common good of the organization (LaFasto, & Larson, 2001). Workers of diverse backgrounds can bring together different experiences and talents that can foster or result to new ideas as well as addressing customer needs and changing markets and thus adding some new skills which were not available in the organization. Organizations which encourage workplace diversity usually inspire their workers to perform at their level best.

These organizations can also devise strategies so as to make the employees perform productively and this may result to more returns on the investment of employer (West, 2004). Business community in many countries today, considers diversity in workplaces as a tool which is valuable and this has enabled profitability and performance to improve. Program of cross-cultural communication provides participants in work team with knowledge, understanding as well as skills to cooperate and communicate effectively across their cultural barriers.

In team work, effective communication of people of different diversity requires awareness, trust, sensitivity, honesty and respect. How diversity can boost morale in team work In many organizations and institutions, most of the teams contain people of different personalities. These personalities enables the team to have many different characters and skills and thus enabling the work environment to be conducive. As the workers are more diverse, the members of a team usually understands and create ways on how to solve conflicts as they arise between themselves (Caudron, 1994).

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So as to enable these, workers usually understands on how to work together as a team and also they usually understands have idea that one may not be the best person in the team but there is need for one to help and build working relationships with the other members so as to build good environment for work thus improving the team performance. One should also understand that every an individual in the team may be having some few faults and that there is needed to work together as a team. Respecting and being polite with one another is something of importance for diverse people working together.

This makes the team to perform well and increase the productivity of the organization (West, 2004). Diverse people working together as a team can produce better performance results and achievements so long as every member in the team understands they are all common and they can share significant things for the good of the company as well as to them (LaFasto, & Larson, 2001). Diversity can enable people to understand one another and consider themselves as allies which can result to achieving the important goals of the team effectively.

Since the team-mates even if they may be from different diversity but not competitors in the work, the members can enable to solve various problems which may be facing the team to enable it work efficiently and effectively in achieving their goals as well as the goals of the organization. Diverse workers can offer assistance in the field one is skilled in and also can make the work to be exciting and motivating which can result to better yields for the team. Since the workers are ready to assist each other in the team, this can help in building teamwork spirit in the organization or workplace (Lencioni, 2002).

Diverse people working together can enable the members to be united and helping any one who may be having problem in his or her work and this builds cooperation in the work place. In addition, as the team work create and improve communication in the team, this can help people to build trust with one another and enable any member to request for any assistance if he or she may be at crunch and thus enabling the teamwork to be performed well for better results as well as for production of quality products or service in the organization.

Diversity in teamwork can enable the members to have positive attitudes toward work in the same time reducing the obstacles which may be in the workplace since the team will be having people from all rounds of professions as well as different cultures (Rowe, & Gardenswartz, 2003). Working in team work which has diverse members can help to create friendship and be able to help one another incases where one may be having emotional and physical upheavals to ensure that the team is working efficiently and thus no time is being wasted by individual member as a result of him or her having any difficulties in the work.

Furthermore working with diverse people in a team make every one to be honesty and cooperative and even the members are ready to help new members in the team to understand on how to tackle their task and more especially those which they are unfamiliar to them. Diversity can improve group activities Diversity can help in developing and improving group activities such as training session, seminars, recruitment or group selection, workshops, organizational development, conferences as well as lecturing and teaching students (LaFasto, & Larson, 2001).

Diversity in activities and team games are very useful in many businesses and organization and it becomes more exciting and enjoyable if people participating are from different diversity. This can furthermore help delegates to perceive things differently as well as have thinking styles which are different. Team workers involving themselves in games can make the games to have more fun and make the game to be more pleasing (Rowe, & Gardenswartz, 2003).

It can also make the team members to understand more on how they are supposed to conduct themselves in order to improve the performance of the team as well as to have mutual awareness between themselves and their employer. Diversity in teamwork prevents myopia in workplace Studies have shown that diversity engenders creativity. In any certain task, as the diversity of the personnel becomes more, the results of that task is much likely to be better so long as the team members will have good respect ,authenticity, integration as well as communication with one another (Lencioni, 2002).

Since the project may be having many people with different points of view, it may take long to complete that task but the end result or product is much likely to be good. Also for a great leader working with people of different diversity, he will be willing to listen to all ideas of different people so as to choose and aggressively implement them quickly. Discussing for important issues in the team which can be beneficial for people who are from different diversities can enable the team to come up with excellent ideas which can benefit the team as well as the organization.

Teamwork and diversity in organizations One of the methods which can effectively improve teamwork is through creating and effecting diversity in the team. This will mean having employees from different disciplinary or employees of different cultures. The emphasis of this is to have people with different thought and ideas in the team work which can help in reducing problems in the team as well as improving the performance of the organization (Lencioni, 2002).

As the team becomes more heterogeneous, then the activities of the team will be conducted more effectively since there will be more creativity in the team. Having members in a team who are more diversified can enable the team to have more creativity as well as innovation. This can enable the team to improve their quality and even produce better results which could have been difficult to be achieved by people of the same discipline or culture. Many organizations usually use logic paradox and give a chance of diversity in the teamwork so as to be responsible in achieving the objectives of the organization.

Teamwork consists of many roles which need to be done by different members and if one role to be performed by a member is in excess, it may not be effectively performed and also for that role to be done effectively; there is need for the members to be from various diversities and it will be easy to help in areas which may be hard (Rowe, & Gardenswartz, 2003). All teams are capable of benefiting from the diversity of teams in work. This calls for need of capitalizing on the diversity power by ensuring that the work teams are collaborating every time or on daily basis.

The teams of task force or teams for solving problems should be investigating on specific issues which need to be addressed in order to enable high performance of the teams. Cross functional teams should also be used from different functions and levels in the organization so as to enable various purposes to be achieved in the team work. Every member in teamwork has uniqueness and thus diversity filters it and enables good performance as well having sound decisions in the teamwork (Lencioni, 2002).

How different people react and behave in teamwork is a function of several factors which are complex and they include the personality of individual, race, age, gender, work experience, sexual orientation, organizational background, functional level as well as organizational seniority. Diversity is not something of recent but capitalizing and acknowledging of it is recently taking stage. Having diverse teams in work can leverage the richness and benefit of diversity in achieving the objectives of the organization. The power of diversity in trial teams

Majority of corporate clients direct states that lawyers who work well on matters include talent of women and men as well as attorneys of other colors. Some of attributes which need to be considered in selecting trial team should include race, ethnicity and gender. Best decisions for lawyers are made at cases where the trial team and decision makers are from diverse cultures and disciplines (Lencioni, 2002). Currently many firms of law have embraced openly the desire to hire, promote and mentor a diverse population of advocates and lawyers.

Studies have furthermore shown that across genders and aggressive attorneys were perceived to be more successful and effective than the passive attorneys. Forming trial teams which have diversity can enable the trial cases to be well or fairly tried in courts without any form of discrimination and thus improving transparency in our courts. Therefore it is necessary to make sure that we build diverse trial teams in our courts which will be able to judge people equally. Conclusions

As the world is changing and more organizations want to continue to be competitive in the business industry there is need of encouraging diversity in teamwork. Diversity in team work can enable an organization to be a world player by producing quality services as well as products and thus outshining their competitors. Diversity in teams can also enable organization to achieve its objectives by enabling the managers and senior officials to make sound decisions. It can as well bring new skills and innovation in the organization and thus improving its performance.

It is thus good to encourage diversity in teams. References Arredondo, P. (1996). Successful Diversity Management Initiatives: A Blueprint for Planning and Implementation. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications. Caudron, S. (1994, September 1994). Diversity Ignites Effective Work Teams. Personnel Journal, 73, 8-17. Grean, G. (2003). Dealing with Diversity. New York: Information Age Publishing. LaFasto, F. , & Larson, C. (2001). When Teams Work Best. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc. Lencioni, P. (2002). The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint.

Lockwood, N. (2005). Workplace Diversity: Leveraging the Power of Difference for Competitive Advantage. Retrieved August 4, 2010, from http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_6_50/ai_n14702678/pg_10/ Parker, G. (2008). Team Players and Teamwork: New Strategies for Developing Successful Collaboration. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Rowe, A. , & Gardenswartz, L. (2003). Diverse Teams at Work: Capitalizing on the Power of Diversity. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University. West, M. (2004). Effective teamwork: Practical lessons from organizational Research. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

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