This document discusses the importance of understanding cultural differences in resolving dysfunctions within teams. It identifies five common dysfunctions that can occur: lack of commitment, fear of conflict, absence of trust, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. Cultural differences between team members can impact these dysfunctions. Understanding cultural preferences, like communication style and how feedback is given, is important for balancing these differences and setting guidelines for effective collaboration. Recognizing different cultural types and dimensions, like individualism vs collectivism, can help improve cross-cultural understanding within teams.

1. Cultural differences
Why it is so important to understand to resolve dysfunctions of a team
Netherlands, January 2020Daniele Fontainha and Guilherme Santos

2. Who’s engaged at work?

3. 3 Full research available here: https://www.gallup.de/183833/state-the-global-workplace.aspx

4. This sounds familiar to you?
“I’ve done my part”
“It was already like this when I arrived”
“We delivered nothing, and that’s ok…”
“This is not my business” “I am going to stay quiet”
“I don’t want any trouble pointing out suggestions”

5. What happen with dysfunctional teams

6. … and it can be worst than that

7. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

8. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Lack of Commitment
Fear of Conflict
Absense of Trust
Avoidance of
Accountability
Innatention
to Results

9. What is culture?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture
Beliefs
Social forms
Race
Religion
Attitude
Values
Goals
Conventions
“characteristic features of
everyday existence (such as
diversions or a way of life) shared
by people in a place or time”

10. How culture can impact
these layers?

11. Most people can be trusted?
https://ourworldindata.org/trust

12. Cultural Types: The Lewis Model
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/When-cultures-collide-%3A-leading-across-cultures-Lewis/ab4c2c7c8b6406da118afb34352d527d789fa065

13. The Culture Map

14. Low Context x High Context societies
http://www.tcworld.info/e-magazine/business-culture/article/enabling-smooth-translations-from-japanese-into-english/

15. Source: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/When-cultures-collide-%3A-leading-across-cultures-Lewis/ab4c2c7c8b6406da118afb34352d527d789fa065

16. https://hbr.org/2014/09/predict-cultural-conflicts-on-your-team

17. Emotional x Confrontational https://hbr.org/2015/12/getting-to-si-ja-oui-hai
-and-da

18. How to balance this?
What about feedback?
Source: Culture map book

19. Some examples...
Source: Culture map book

20. Source: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/brazil,india,the-netherlands,the-uk/

21. So...
● Understand cultures around you/team/department/company
● Spend time to understand preferred communication style
a. set explicit communication guidelines for the team
● Ask those on the extreme ends of the Direct—Indirect continuum to
adapt their style as needed.
https://davidlivermore.com/2014/08/18/a-culturally-intelligent-way-of-handling-the-elephant-in-the-room/

22. References
16 personalities test (free)
Management Drives
Feedback wrap