Groups and Team Paper

INTRODUCTION

“A group is defined as two or more people working together regularly to achieve common goals. A team is defined as groups of people who work actively together to achieve a purpose for which they are all accountable.” In order to become a high-performance team, the group needs to work together in ways that use their skills well to accomplish a purpose.

DIVERSITY IN TEAMS

Benefits of diversity in teams are that it improves team problem-solving and increases productivity; and, offers information and talent. These are assets valuable to teams working on complex and very demanding tasks.

A homogeneous team is one in which team members are similar in age, gender, race, experience, ethnicity, and culture. These are benefits in creating a successful team. All members most likely have the same ideals, moral and ethical tendencies, and have similar outside interests. On the other hand, this can hinder a team’s performance by limiting viewpoints, outside influences and creativity.

A heterogeneous team is one in which members come from different demographic backgrounds, experiences, lifestyles, and cultures. This can be of benefit to the team because it gives a different perspective on problem-solving and increasing creativity. It can also hinder a team’s performance if the demographic characteristics conflict with others in a negative way. Members must be willing to work together and make sacrifices.

Diversity is usually associated with different ethnicities, color or sex. The Columbia River Crossing project has a very diverse team in that there are several agencies involved in completing one big project. This office consists of engineers, designers, environmental agencies; city, state and government agencies, administrative staff and consulting firms. All these agencies are crucial in coming up with a result that is acceptable by all. The different agencies bring their own perspective, knowledge, and input to the project.

DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS/CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Technological advancements have made it possible for organizations to communicate more efficiently and effectively, especially in the global marketplace. No longer does one have to wait days for information to reach a foreign office. Documents can be faxed, sent via email, Blackberries, even by cell phone. Employees are more accessible, and often work outside of normal working hours. Technology has also made it possible for people to work in virtual offices, or away from the physical office.

More companies are outsourcing work to parent companies in other countries. More companies are also opening up office around the world in order to increase their profits. Because of modern technology this has become a dominant trend in the workforce. Opening companies or offices in different parts of the world might not have been considered before because of the cost for communication, shipping and time delays, labor costs and travel costs. “Companies have found that a diverse workforce can take advantage of the experiences and skills people with culturally diverse backgrounds can offer.” (Diverse Strategies 2007) A company now has options to alleviate these expenses. The CEO of a company can attend a crucial meeting overseas without ever having to leave his or her office, or home for that matter. Webcams bring people right into the meeting with minimal costs.

Cultural diversity can create problems within organizations. Different cultures celebrate different holidays, and having a diverse workforce can be difficult with employees needing to be gone at random times. One of the biggest challenges in being culturally diverse is language. Not everyone speaks English, French or Japanese. In dealing with other countries, it is oftentimes hard to communicate exactly what needs to be done or is being said. Calling a company for technical support and being routed to a call center in a different country can be very frustrating. Although the technician speaks the same language as you, it could be heavily accented making it impossible to resolve problems.

“The bottom line is that competitive market is changing. In this country, the population growth of the ethnic minorities is skyrocketing. Internationally, we now live in a global market, and any business that wants to do business overseas must develop the resources in its workforce and suppliers in order to compete.” (Diverse Strategies 2007)

Different cultures can use their culture/ethnicity to their advantage when situations go wrong in business. Following is an excerpt from Rob Briggs of ABN AMRO, “I tested the recipe when a colleague tried to use his culture's stereotypical temperament to excuse disrespectful behavior toward myself and others. Colleagues refused to work with