1. Understanding Culture
for the Management of New
Diverse Teams in the Workplace
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston

2.  New, Israel-based Customer Services Division
of a UK financial services and lending
company.
 75+ employees in the new division hail from
Israel, USA, UK, Australia, Russia, and Latin
America. They vary in age and are almost
equally mixed by gender. Their professional
experience ranges from entry-level to several
years in the field. They were mainly hired for
their English language skills and/or Customer
Service skills.
PREMISE
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 2

3.  The customers are American clients who need
to repay bank loans and are being contacted
by the Customer Services Division to set up,
review, and maintain the means to do so.
 Managers of the division:
-2 from the UK who have management
experience with the company in the UK only
-2 from Israel who worked for the company but
have no management experience
PREMISE, cont’d.
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 3

4.  This is the first lecture to help the managers
prepare for managing their new, diverse team
after Organizational Management and
Change Development research has been
conducted with the company.
PREMISE, cont’d.
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 4

5.  Why should we be concerned about culture?
Encountering cultural differences initiates a
communication pattern that can become
constructive or functional, and can lead to
positive outcomes for the team members of the
new division.
WHY?
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 5

6.  Who are you and why should we listen to you?
Yolanda Michelle Hairston:
Ph.D., ABD – Organizational Management
Former News Producer, Journalist
Worked in the Private, Non-Profit, Religious, and
Government Sectors
OMCD Consultant for start-ups and small
companies
Diverse Personal Background
WHO?
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 6

7.  Culture:
The holistic summation (emphasizing the importance of
the whole and the interdependence of its parts) and
interrelationship of an identifiable group’s beliefs, norms,
activities, institutions, and communication patterns.
Examples:
Nationalistic (American, Israeli)
Racial (Caucasian, Asian)
Religious (Jewish, Baptist)
Minority (Differently Able, Sexual Orientation)
Organizational (Corporate, Family-like, Open-Door)
DEFINITIONS
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 7

8.  Diversity:
A blending of mixture of ethnic and/or
microcultural group memberships.
Examples (In the Workplace):
Cultural
Individual Professional Goals
Gender
Experiences
Skills and Abilities
DEFINITIONS
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 8

9.  Communication:
Sending and receiving messages between people or groups.
Intercultural communication uniquely adds the dimension of culture,
group, and context influencing the communication process.
Examples (In the Workplace):
Meetings and Announcements
Non-verbal communication/Body Language
E-mails
Training Sessions (methods of teaching and learning)
Dress and Demeanor
Telephone
Use of Time
Voice Volume
DEFINITIONS
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 9

10.  Culture is the holistic interrelationship of a
group’s identity, beliefs, values, activities,
rules, customs, communication patterns, and
institutions.
 Culture influences how we adapt and learn,
language, habits, customs, expectations,
roles; it shapes thinking, acting, and
communicating according to group
expectations.
CULTURE AND ITS INFLUENCE
ON COMMUNICATION
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 10

11.  How does culture influence communication?
-It teaches significant rules, rituals, and procedures (socialization):
Attitudes toward time, how to dress, when and what to eat,
when to come and go, and how to work.
-It reinforces values:
What is good or bad, what is truth, and a core understanding
of the world. Culture teaches the value of hard work, thrift,
privacy, competition, fair play, and directness.
-It teaches how to form relationships with others:
Encourages a particular communication style within each
culture, and shapes perception by exercising the human
tendency to categorize others.
CULTURE AND ITS INFLUENCE
ON COMMUNICATION
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 11

12.  Individualism and Collectivism
 Personal World View Influencing
Communication
 Time Management: Monochronic and
Polychronic Cultures
CULTURAL ISSUES THAT CAN
AFFECT THE MANAGEMENT OF
YOUR TEAM
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 12

13.  Individualism concerns personal achievement.
 Collectivism emphasizes community, groupness,
harmony, and maintaining “face.”
 You can expect the accompanying communicator
style to be correlated with each of these cultural
dimensions:
-You can expect more assertive behavior, self-disclosure, and other
personal-advancement issues to arise in an individualistic culture.
-You can expect more strategies of people-pleasing, solidarity, relational
issues, and face-saving in a collective culture.
INDIVIDUALISM-
COLLECTIVISM
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 13

14.  Individualists emphasize:
-Concern for clarity, directness
-Truth telling, straight talk
-Meeting personal needs and goals rather
than group needs and goals
-Self-referent messages, more “I” than “we”
-More independent
-Linear pattern of conversation
INDIVIDUALISM-
COLLECTIVISM
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 14

15.  Top Individualistic Cultures:
-United States
-Australia
-Great Britain
-Canada
-The Netherlands
-New Zealand
-Italy
-Belgium
-Denmark
Individualistic cultures tend to be North American and European.
INDIVIDUALISM-
COLLECTIVISM
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 15

16.  Collectivists emphasize:
-Indirect communication
-Concern for others’ feelings, avoiding
hurting others, saving face (not causing
embarrassing situations)
-Avoiding negative evaluation from a listener
-Less goal direction
-More interdependent, group concerned
-Fewer linear patterns of conversation
INDIVIDUALISM-
COLLECTIVISM
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 16

17.  Top Collectivist Cultures:
-Colombia
-Korea
-Pakistan
-Peru
-Taiwan
-Thailand
-Singapore
-Chile
-Hong Kong
Collectivist cultures tend to be Asian and Latin American.
INDIVIDUALISM-
COLLECTIVISM
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 17

18. An American employee feels “set up to fail” because
her training seemed incomplete and there are no
SOPs (written Standard Operating Procedures) as
reference guides.
She does not want to rely on members of her team
for answers because he does not trust that they will
give her the right answers or will always be
available to assist her, and she does not want to
seem weak or incompetent to her colleagues or
manager.
FOR DISCUSSION
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 18

19.  A person’s Personal Communication World View (PCWV) is how
much control a personal believes characterizes her or his
communication encounters.
 Individuals organize a communication construct about themselves
and others that reflects fundamental beliefs about perceived
control within communication contexts.
 On a continuum:
--------------------------------------------------
Woe is me! I can do it!
PERSONAL WORLD VIEW
INFLUENCING COMMUNICATION
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 19

20.  Not only culture, but also world view accounts for
communication differences.
 Research shows:
-Americans with high communication control are
contentious, dramatic, and dominant, but are less
friendly in their communication.
-Japanese with high communication control exhibit
dominance and friendliness, but less relaxation in
their communication.
-20% of Americans and 30% of Latin Americans and
Asians experience low communication control.
PERSONAL WORLD VIEW
INFLUENCING COMMUNICATION
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 20

21. Personal Communication
World View
(Handout #1)
ASSESSMENT
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 21

22. Personal Communication World View – Page 1
ASSESSMENT
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 22

23. Personal Communication World View – Page 2
ASSESSMENT
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 23

24. Personal Communication World View – Page 3
ASSESSMENT
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 24

25.  The Assessment of your Personal Communication
World View measures your communication control.
 Your Score indicated whether your PCWV is low,
moderate, or high.
 How this affects you as a manager of a new, diverse
team: It is important to understand how others’
cultures and world views affect how they perceive
their ability to change and influence others and
circumstances with customers, their co-workers, and
even your evaluation of them and their work.
ASSESSMENT
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 25

26. If you are interested in the complete
presentation, and if you would like to schedule a
workshop in your workplace,
contact Yolanda Michelle Hairston at:
yolanda.m.hairston@gmail.com
WANT MORE?
© Yolanda Michelle Hairston 26