Career Psychology

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Dealing with
Diverse Groups
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DIANNE S. ALPANTA
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MARIELLA V. BANZON
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AILAIZA ANNE I. BILBAO

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NECO BUNGALBAL
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JOHN RONALD CABRERA

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JOVIELYN COREA
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LOUIS CLYDE A. DINGLASAN

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DIANA MEL GALLARDO

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JELLY ANN GATDULA

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MARK DANNIEL GUTIERREZ

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KELVIN C. MACEDA
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KRYSTEL NIÑA MANALO

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NIHKA MANUEL
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AUBREY B. MAYOR
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ANGELYN SINIGAYAN
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ISAIAH P. TAMAYO
 Career Psychology
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BEST PRACTICES FOR

MANAGING CULTURALLY
DIVERSE WORKGROUPS
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1. Shared Norms
Culturally homogenous work groups rely on shared
assumptions and norms to coordinate their behavior. Shared
understanding also fosters trust and intimacy between group
members. But when interacting across cultures, differences in
language, non-verbal cues and behavioral norms mean it is
much more difficult to create shared meaning, contributing to
misunderstandings, communication breakdowns, conflict,
frustration and distrust.
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2. Explicit Communication

Cultural assumptions involve unspoken expectations

about what should happen in a particular context. In
multicultural settings, conflicting assumptions about
the way to interpret and respond to events can lead to
frustration, confusion and disagreement. To avoid this,
managers of multicultural work groups need to focus
on making implicit assumptions explicit.
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2. Explicit Communication

Goals, roles, responsibilities, interdependencies,

schedules and group processes must be clearly
communicated in written and verbal form in a
shared language—most often business English.
Using pictorials and charts can also be helpful
when there is a large number of non-native
speakers.
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3. Friendships

Trust between group members predicts the sharing of

information, which is essential to group functioning
and performance. Trust has two components:
affective-based trust and cognitive-based trust.
Affective-based trust is emotional and forms as a
result of frequent positive interpersonal interactions
where individuals share personal information.
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3. Friendships

Cognitive-based trust develops from the

demonstration of competence. There are cross-
cultural differences in the extent to which affective-
based or cognitive-based trust matters. In culturally
diverse work groups, it is important to promote both
types of trust to account for those differences.
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4. Information Sharing

Whereas developing affective-based trust involves

strengthening interpersonal friendships, building
cognitive-based trust involves initiatives that promote
the sharing of knowledge about group members’ skills
and experience. In multicultural groups, and
particularly for virtual groups, this information may
remain hidden unless efforts are made to highlight it.
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4. Information Sharing
One way to do this is to ask group members to share
their short-form CV with other members of the group.
Managers can also increase the salience of each
member’s value by highlighting the unique
contributions each individual brings to the group and
by connecting members with other members who
possess skills and knowledge that can help them in
their role.
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5. Group Identity
As well as improving communication and trust among group
members, managers of multicultural work groups can reduce
the risk of fault-lines by employing techniques to strengthen
group identity. The creation of an overarching group identity
dismantles subgroup us-versus-them categorizations.
Managers can strengthen group identity by stressing group
goals and the interdependence of group members for the
successful achievement of those goals, and by reinforcing
those messages at regular intervals.
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6. Cultural Intelligence

Studies show cultural intelligence improves group

cohesion, integration and trust and supports the
formation of shared group values in multicultural
teams. In turn, greater trust and cohesion
increases the exchange of ideas and information,
enhances creative collaboration and improves group
performance.
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6. Cultural Intelligence
In addition, cultural intelligence
improves relationships with diverse parties outside
the workgroup. By increasing network reach and
diversity, cultural intelligence enhances
the likelihood of including parties possessing the
knowledge, skills, contacts and resources needed for
optimal group performance.
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7. Undertaking Regular
Progress Reviews
Managers of culturally diverse work groups
should regularly check in with the group to
assess member satisfaction as well as
performance. Managers should look for
problems in coordination, relationships and
information-sharing.
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8. Cooperative Conflict
Management
By stimulating diversity of thought, workplace debate increases the
breadth of solutions available for problem-solving, promotes more
critical information-processing in decision-making and stimulates
innovation and creativity. However, not all workplace conflict is
positive for group outcomes. Studies show that while task
conflict—disagreements about the allocation of resources,
practices or ideas—facilitates workgroup performance, relationship
conflict—differences that relate to personal preferences and
interpersonal styles—negatively affects group performance.
 Career Psychology
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ACTIVITY 10 – THE
FOUR ANGLES
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Act. 10 – The Four Angles

This activity is a type of diversity in the classroom. This is a

group activity done with four members. Create your own
group by freely selecting the people you want to be with.
Cross-sectioning is allowed. After having a group, photoshoot
yourself (wearing anything that represents you as a leader,
member, or facilitator) and send your photos to the chosen
leader. The leader will create a photo-collage that will finally
represent the entire group. Upload your works in Google
Classroom.
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Act. 10 – The Four Angles

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Act. 10 – The Four Angles

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Act. 10 – The Four Angles

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Act. 10 – The Four Angles