refers to prejudgment, or forming an opinion
before becoming aware of the relevant facts of
a case. The word is often used to refer to
preconceived judgments toward people or a
person because of gender, political opinion,
social class, age, disability, language,
nationality or other personal characteristics.
In this case, it refers to a positive or negative
evaluation of another person based on their
perceived group membership. Prejudice can
also refer to unfounded beliefs and may include
any unreasonable attitude that is unusually
resistant to rational influence
is a thought that may be adopted about
specific types of individuals or certain
ways of doing things. These thoughts or
beliefs may or may not accurately reflect
reality.
a simplified and standardized conception
or image invested with special meaning
and held in common by members of a
group: The cowboy and Indian are
American stereotypes.


groupwork = teamwork
A team is a group which works on a clear
defined task. A team can manage a whole
project or only part of it. Teams exist for a
special task-orientated reason and their
existence is limited to the fulfilment of the
task.
there are two kinds of groupwork to distinguish:
1. formal group
(which was founded on organisational
composition)
2. informal group
(which is formed through personal wishes
and sympathy)
1. Traditional work groups
(Natural work groups)
2. Impromptu short-term teams
(Swat teams)
3. Special purpose teams
(project teams)
4. Cross-functional teams
5. Self-managed teams
(“direct team”)
1. Forming
-getting to know each other and testing
2. Storming
-group structure begins to emerge
3. Norming
-developing cohesion
4. Performing
-working structure
1. Status structure
- a relative and valued position of
a member inside the group
- mediator in a communication
process
M2
M5
M3
M4
M1
M4
M5
Circle
M1
M2
M1
Y
M3
M2
M4
M3
M5
Chain
2. Role structure
- gives information about the
behaviour and the expectations of the
behaviour
3. Leadership
- formed informally lead back on
behavioural attributes
• Group Size
small team (3-5 members)
big team (8-12 members)
the number of team members should depend on
the tasks which have to be solved
• homogeneity & heterogeneity
- homogeneity is needed to develop
group cohesion
- heterogeneity is necessary to produce
the potential for change in a group
Redl´s law of optimum distance:
“homogeneous enough to ensure stability
and heterogeneous enough to ensure
vitality” (?????)
• Descriptive attributes:
- Age
- Gender
- Race and ethnicity
- Social class
Behavioural attributes:
these refer to the way in which individuals behave, the
personality, attitudes and life- styles (talkative vs. quiet,
dominant vs. submissive)
“diversity can best be described in terms of differences from
the accepted mainstream population”
National origin
Language
Religion
Gender
Family situation
Race
Sexual orientation
Marital status
Workforce
Diversity
Culture
Age
Physical ability
Socio-economic status
Mark M. Deresky, „Managing in a Diverse Workforce“,
MBA paper, West Florida Universuty (Spring 1994)
Myers, S.:Team Building For Diverse Work Groups, p.8
• the goal is to create a workplace in which
individuals are not limited by traditional
barriers, stereotypes and restrictions
Cohesion through trust, openness and diversity
...can have positive as well as negative impacts on
a team.
+
a well managed diverse team augments the
potential productivity because many different ideas
and perspectives concerning a special situation play
a role
-
cultural diversity increases the complexity of the whole
process and can therefore lead to difficulties in
integrating and evaluating the various perspectives
• Differences in language
• Differences in communication
• Differences in management styles
• Differences in norms, behaviour
• stereotyping/ prejudices
personality conflicts, mistrust
• greater complexity  problems in reaching
agreements, the decision-making process is
influenced in a negative way
• lack of trust, communication inaccuracies 
stress, tension

decreased effectiveness
• sharing technology
• sharing skills and talents
• sharing experiences
• opportunity for cross-cultural
understanding
• limited “groupthink”
• varied backgrounds exposure to
different viewpoints and alternatives 
more and better ideas

higher productivity
• When the need for agreement remains low and
relatively high need for creativity is required, that
means when an organisation wants to launch a new
product, create new ideas or develop a new
marketing plan from a new perspective, diversity
becomes most valuable.
• Diversity can lead to better customer relationship
because different market issues are handled from
different points of view; customers are seen more
individually and can therefore be treated more
appropriately.
from: N.Adler: International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, p. 137
“When well managed, diversity becomes an asset
and productive resource for the team. When
ignored, diversity causes process problems that
diminish the team’s productivity. Since diversity is
more frequently ignored than well managed,
culturally diverse teams often perform below
expectations and below organisational norms.”
N.Adler: International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, p. 138
“The combined effect of two or more things,
processes, etc that exceeds the sum of their
individual effects: the synergy achieved by
merging two companies“
[Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary]
“The synergy approach assumes that we are not
all the same – that the various groups within
society differ and that each maintains its cultural
distinctness. Appreciating a pluralistic, rather than
a homogeneous, society underlies the synergy
approach. Whereas the most commonly held
assumption is that similarities among people are
most important, cultural synergy assumes that
similarities
and
differences
share
equal
importance.”
N.Adler: International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, p. 107

Cultural diversity should be seen and
treated as a resource!
David Kearns, chairman of Xerox:
“We have to manage diversity right now and much
more so in the future. American business will not
be able to survive if we do not have a large,
diverse workforce, because those are the
demographics.”
Deresky, H.:Managing Human Resources Around the World, p. 446
If a company wants to develop new markets and
merge with other companies, it has to be able to
deal with differences and diversity!
Diversity Management is an instrument which
describes all measures that lead to the recognition
of differences and which makes sure that those
differences are getting highly valued.
Those measures should point out that diversity
can have a positive impact on the company.
• Task-related selection
• Recognition of differences
• A vision or superordinate goal
• Equal power
• Mutual respect
• Feedback
Task-related selection
To maximise team effectiveness, members should
be selected to homogeneous in ability levels and
heterogeneous in attitudes
Recognition of differences
Teams cannot begin to communicate
without first recognising and then
understanding and respecting cross-cultural
differences
A vision or superordinate goal
Members of diverse teams generally have more
trouble agreeing on their purpose and task than
do members of homogeneous teams
Equal Power
Team
leaders
should
distribute
power
according to each member‘s ability, not
according to relative cultural superiority
Mutual Respect
Mutual respect can be improved by selecting
members of equal ability and by making prior
accomplishments
and
task-related
skills
known to all members
Feedback
Managers should give teams positive feedback both as individuals and as a team - early in the
team‘s life together
Positive external feedback (given by a manager
who is not in the team) generally helps the team
to viewing itself as a team
The MBI (Mapping, Bridging, Integrating) Model of
Managing Cultural Diversity for Personal and Team
Effectiveness
Map
Bridge
Understand the
differences
Communicate
across
the differences
Integrate
Manage
the differences
Value
and
utilise
the
differences
COF - The Cultural Orientation
Map
Understand the
differences
Framework
1) Relation to nature
2) Relationships among people
3) Mode of human activity
4) Belief about basic human nature
5) Orientation to time
6) Use of space
Bridge
Communicate
across
the
differences
3 important skills to effective
communication in a cross-cultural
setting
1) Prepare
2) De-center
3) Re-center
Integrate
Manage
the
differences
3 main integration skills
1) Building participation
2) Resolving conflicts
3) Building on ideas