Managing Multicultural Teams in Asia Pacific Telecom Projects

Managing Multicultural teams in Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects

Dissertation

Student Name Student Number

4/1/2022

AA dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Sunderland of master degree.

Acknowledgment

This dissertation would not have been possible without the continuous and invaluable support of many people that I would like to thank.

Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors for their continuous guidance and support throughout the dissertation. Their continuous guidance and feedback during the entire project helped me to complete this research in time and in proper manner.

Secondly, I would also like to thank my parents for always encouraging me and giving me the opportunity to pursue my master’s degree. I would not be where I am today without their help and support.

Lastly, I would also like to thank my friends and colleagues for participating in one way or the other during and helping me tremendously in completing this project within time.

Declaration

I declare that this research project has been composed solely by me and that it has not been submitted, in partial or whole form, for any previous degree or professional qualification.

I also confirm that this work is an original report of my research, written by me. The text is entirely my own, except stated otherwise or acknowledged within the text accompanied by relevant reference.

I give my permission to the University for reserving the rights to publish or use this research study as an example for the future researchers.

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Abstract

The global economy has given rise to new business prospects that include the functioning of different teams with varied communication practices. With the role of culturally diverse teams becoming more prominent in global organisations, there is a need for the study to identify the facilitators of managing multicultural teams and improving their efficiency. The questionnaire research conducted with the help of 50 random employees of Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects on the management of diverse cultures and workforce in their organisation helped in gaining insights into the organisational perspectives. Through the study, there was the suggestion of practices of improved communication and collaboration among team members that can help the organisation in improving their employee efficiency. The set of recommendations of implementing transformational leadership in the organisation and the inclusion of cultural sensitivity were also provided to encourage the management for improving the multinational processes and enhance the performance in the organisational context.

Chapter 1- Introduction

1. Introduction

This chapter of research will provide an understanding of the topic of research. The first part will contain an overview of the topic followed by the identification of the problem the research The problem of how the communication is managed in multicultural teams and what improvements are needed in this context will be discussed along with the aim and objectives that will be addressed throughout this study. This will be followed by the significance of this research in the current scenario and the scope of this study for the future. 

2. Overview 

Multicultural teams are teams with members from varied cultural backgrounds, all working together with collaboration and cooperation to safeguard their existence and continue to bring profit to the organisation (Sherman, 2021). While working together, the common attributes that shape the functioning of such teams are their coordination with each other and their understanding of the way their team members behave. Globalisation and the recent advancements in technology have paved the way for people from all around to world to easily travel from their respective nations and gather at a place to get work done (Sogancilar and Husniye, 2018). But, with the cultural differences associated with these people and their living, the teams consisting of culturally varied members face certain limitations and consequences. The members from ethnic minorities and the ones who are new to the country they are working in face problems in adjusting to the culture of their resident places and the lifestyle of the people that they work with (Scarlat, et. al., 2014). 

Having multicultural teams in companies is the new norm for teams in today’s world. This phenomenon has been developed due to the increased mobility of people from one part of the world to another and then looking for jobs that are suitable for them (Llopis, 2020). Within this context, multicultural groups have become a common part of many organisations and communities around the world. The rapidly changing work culture has given rise to many opportunities and challenges for both the managers and the employees (Engelhard and Holtbrügge, 2017). There are many factors associated with the working of teams with people from different parts of the world and different cultures. These multicultural teams are based majorly on effective communication and collaboration among the team members and this forms the basis of improvements that can be introduced in the teams (APEC, 2022). One such organisation that has been working on the inclusion and successful working of multicultural teams is the community of Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects.

Established in 1979, Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects are the projects that are undertaken by the community with the joint initiatives of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This community works on providing services that the manufacturers of communication equipment and the research organisations that work on the development of communication and information field along with the innovation technologies (OCSC, 2022). The Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects envisions the inclusion of people from all around the world that will acknowledge the importance of these projects in facilitating the cooperation of regional people with the organisation along with complete coordination between the team members (Australian Government, 2019). With the vision of accelerating the digital transformation of society and improving the world economy, this community has been introducing innovation and creativity amongst the world through the formation of teams that consists of members from varied cultures.

3. Research Aim

To analyse the role of management of multi-cultural teams in the Asia Pacific Telecommunications project

4. Research Objectives

• To understand the importance of multi-cultural teams in an organisation

• To identify the characteristics of multi-cultural teams that can impact the overall performance of an organisation

• To analyse the role of management in leading multi-cultural teams in Asia Pacific Telecommunications Projects

• To understand the challenges faced by the management in leading multi-cultural teams of an organisation

• To identify the practices that can be adopted for successfully managing multi-cultural teams in Asia Pacific Telecommunications Projects

5. Research Questions

What characteristics of multicultural teams in telecommunication can impact the overall team performance?

• How do cultural differences act as barriers for a multicultural team in telecommunication project?

• What are the advantages of multicultural teams in telecommunication project?

How does the management of multicultural teams prove to be challenge?

What skills can the managers adopt to become successful leaders of multicultural project teams?

• How can managers learn the skills to manage culturally diverse teams?

What practices can be included to adequately manage cultural diversity in Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects?

6. Research Significance

Many multinational corporations (MNCs) are working on the inclusion of multi-cultural teams in their organisations (Rothacker and Hauer, 2014). The increasing importance of this inclusion is becoming an increasingly prevalent topic for future research. The literature on team performance and the characteristics of multicultural teams are highly prevalent (Ratasuk and Charoensukmongkol, 2019). However, there is a need of conducting in-depth studies on the functioning of management of multicultural teams. Many researchers have researched the role of leaders in successfully managing and innovating the workplaces but the studies on managing multicultural teams in an organisation are very limited (Lee, at. al., 2018). Therefore, this research will aim at expanding the available knowledge and information on the management of multicultural teams in the Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects (APEC, 2022). The challenges faced by the management team and the advantages that they can have will also be identified that will help the organisations in future.

7. Research Scope

This research will identify and explain the different leadership practices that can be used by the management of different multicultural teams to ensure the smooth and unproblematic functioning of the teams (CCL, 2022). Through the identified practices, the leaders can also work upon including the practices for improving their team performance and addressing the need for innovation in teams (Scarlat, et. al., 2014). The study will also help in developing a better understanding of the values to be included in multicultural teams and maintaining innovation in the corporate aspect. 

Llopis (2020) suggested that the world must work upon accepting a more diverse and globally accepted form of teams containing people from cultures all around. This research is aimed at conducting a study on the existence and success of multicultural teams. The challenges identified throughout this research will prompt the businessmen and the company management to make the required changes and assess the smooth functioning of multicultural teams in global companies. 

8. Outline of the Structure

This dissertation will have eight chapters and three appendices. The first chapter of the research is an introduction that includes the research overview, aim of the research, objectives and the questions that will be answered during the research. This chapter will also provide the significance of why this research study is being conducted. The second chapter of the research will be the literature review chapter. This chapter will be based on reviewing the literature that is existing on the selected topic. The articles and journals published by different authors and researchers on the functioning of multicultural teams in an organisation will be analysed in this chapter and critically reviewed. The gaps in the existing literature will be identified in this chapter and then further research will be conducted based on it. This chapter will then be followed by the third chapter; methodology. This chapter will discuss the different methods of research that will be used for carrying out this entire study. The fourth chapter of the dissertation will be findings and analysis that will report the findings of the selected literature and the questionnaire survey that will be conducted. The fifth chapter will be the discussion section. In this chapter, the results of the findings will be discussed for future purposes followed by the seventh chapter that will recommend the useful practices for the future. The seventh chapter of the study will be the evaluation chapter which will contain the assessment of the overall study. Next will be the conclusion of the entire research with the reference list succeeded by the appendices of the research. The appendices will contain the terms of reference, list of questionnaire questions and the rationale of the research.

9. Summary 

This chapter was the introduction of the entire dissertation. In this chapter, the selected topic of the research study was introduced followed by an overview of why the topic was selected. Then the Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects was introduced and described for providing a better understanding of the motive behind the study and the target organisation. This was then followed by the statement of the aim and objectives of the research. Then the questions that will be answered during this research were stated. This study aims at investigating the different practices that the management of multicultural teams can include in their functions. Therefore, there was a section that described the significance of the research followed by the future scope. In the end, there was a detailed structure outline that included all aspects of research for successfully achieving the objectives and answering the questions of the research. The different chapters that will be covered during the research were stated. 

Chapter 2- Literature Review

1. Introduction 

In this chapter, there will be a discussion of the national and international literature available on the selected topic of research. The definition of multicultural teams as described by different authors and researchers along with the different aspects related to it will be discussed. Then the impact of different factors on the functioning of these teams and the challenges faced by the management will be discussed. There will also be a discussion on the different styles and approaches undertaken by the authors of the selected literature to prepare their papers. This complete chapter will also address the outcomes and findings observed in the different literature.

Figure 1: Literature Review

Source: (Author, 2022)

2. Multicultural Teams in organisations

Sogancilar and Husniye (2018) in their research approached the definition of multicultural teams by describing the meaning of culture in the beginning. According to them, culture is something that encompasses the beliefs, practices and habits of people from different parts and corners of the world. It is the collective programming of the people who are alike that distinguishes their living habits from each other (Onder and Nayadera, 2020). However, the concept of culture is so wide that it is difficult to encompass it under a common definition and include all the human groups. Therefore, they developed a model by considering the core cultural dimensions into their study as an attempt of explaining the national cultures and derive the common ground on which people can work together (Zeng, 2020).

According to the study by Scarlat, et. al. (2014), the differences in culture of different people are related to different dimensions. This diversity in the culture has alternative meanings in different parts of the world. The concept of diverse cultures being put together in a group is understood to be multiculturalism. Furthermore, a team is a group of a small number of people with skills that complement the performance, goal achievement and productivity of each member of the team (Modood, 2017). The members involved in a team stay loyal to each other and hold themselves accountable for the decisions and outcomes. Sherman (2021) in his article suggested that a team consisting of people from different cultures and nationalities within itself is a multicultural team. Supporting the argument, Cagiltay, et. al. (2015) described a multicultural team as a team whose members come from a background that varies in cultures. The multiculturalism becomes evident in the teams as the people involved in the teams have spent their years in their respective countries and have learnt different values, languages and manners. Sogancilar and Husniye (2018) stated that multicultural teams can be considered as the collaboration and coordination of human beings from different societies and cultures into a worthwhile and helpful entity that works together. The teams containing people from different cultures and backgrounds interact together through a number of methods and interactions that helps them in managing the relationships with people they are working with and keeping the system intact through shared responsibility (Cagiltay, et. al., 2015). With the development of multiculturalism in the workspace and the inclusion of diversity, many companies believe that the development of a multicultural environment ensures the inclusion of people from all backgrounds. Sherman (2021) also remarked that a team is multicultural not only when it consists of people from different cultures but the people from different races, gender, religion, ethnicity and other things like education, disability and age.  

Scarlat, et. al. (2014) suggested that with time the focus of MNCs is being shifted towards including people from different parts into the companies. The experience of people in the information technology department and the technical advancements in different parts of the world bring together significant assistance (Raval and Kaya, 2020). The international exposure and the large scale information are added benefits of working in multicultural teams. Cox (2019) in his study reported that there is a correlation between the inclusion of diversity in a team and the performance of the team. The method of recruiting and the performance of the team are completely dependent on each other through various factors. 

The formation of multicultural teams is a rapidly growing phenomenon in today’s world. With the globalisation and development of MNCs, the leaders and the managers of the different organisations are facing increasing challenges to manage the teams that have been formed with people from varied cultures (KNAP-STEFANIUK and BURKIEWICZ, 2020). The lack of research on the functioning of multicultural teams in organisations has led to the study. 

3. Impact of multicultural teams on the overall performance of the organisation

Sogancilar and Husniye (2018) conducted primary research by interviewing the executive managers of firms conducting multicultural teams to develop an understanding of the team processes and to identify the possible solutions related to it. Their research described the different advantages and disadvantages of having multicultural teams with diverse people in an organisation (Wadi, et. al., 2020). Their study suggested that the team has people from diverse backgrounds are more likely to face issues due to language barriers and different communication styles. The ineffectiveness in the communication increases the chances of having under development in the teams and ultimately in the organisations (Ratasuk, 2019). Moreover, due to diversity conflicts amongst people on the basis of their cultural differences are more common and the subconsciously held beliefs of the cultures can accelerate these conflicts as well (Tabbasi, et. al., 2019). The interviews conducted for the study reported that some managers might consider these disadvantages unnecessary and might try to eliminate diversity from their teams while others might consider it as an advantage and work upon encouraging diversity in their organisation. Therefore, the view and image of the organisation improve in the global market. Supporting the argument, Scotta (2018) with the help of semi-structured interviews as well aimed at elucidating the communication facilitators and the obstacles that play important roles in determining the functioning of multicultural teams in organisations. The review conducted of the different pieces of the literature suggested that there can be the development of an environment with lower performance that will occur due to potential disagreements, tensions and failure of collaboration (Beeler and Lecomte, 2017). This will also result in reduced collaboration and connection amongst the team members. 

According to the research study by Cox (2019), the multicultural teams in an organisation are built on the basis of various factors that include diversity, cultural differences and the acceptance of team members for the opinions and living styles of each of the employees. The working of teams with diverse cultures is associated with its pros and cons that can either facilitate the team performance or hamper it (Simpson, 2017). Many pieces of literature accentuate the advantages of having multicultural teams along with the disadvantages. 

Among the advantages, the transfer of highly skilled employees of the organisations from one branch to another for attaining the organizational objectives is the biggest positive aspect of the organisation (Scotta, 2018). Moreover, their settlement in different countries ensures that they get familiar with the diverse work culture and manage teams with diverse cultural backgrounds. The members of such groups hence, work on improving their communication processes with others (Brett, et. al., 2020). Therefore, the management of these multicultural teams must be strategically developed for ensuring the proper functioning of the teams.

Adding to the advantages of having multicultural teams in an organisation, Bento (2020) with the help of semi-structured interviews and primary collection of qualitative data reported that the inclusion of diversity in a team is a smart way of achieving the desired outcomes by attracting the talent from the diverse work environment. This increases the possibility of innovation in the teams due to the combination of people with carried thought processes and beliefs (Scharf, et. al., 2014). The inclusion of all types of people within a team helps the members in findings common grounds to bond upon and develop a level of coordination with each other for working in complete harmony. The team employees from different backgrounds can expand each other's knowledge of culture-specific norms and make it easier for people to understand and accept the beliefs and practices of each other (Brett, et. al., 2020). This helps the organisation in maintaining an inclusive culture and expanding the knowledge of their employees in different domains (Swartz, et. al., 2020). 

Choi, et. al. (2018) reported that many organisations work upon developing a multicultural team due to their capability of bringing innovation and achieving successful results. The cultural diversity amongst the people of the team helps them in fostering innovative performance and inhibiting new processes in the team functioning (Wong, 2019). However, Ratasuk and Charoensukmongkol (2019) argued that even though innovation is fostered through diversity, there are certain challenges that the management faces while leading these teams. Not only the management but the team members are impacted by these challenges. Pauline, et. al. (2019) conducted qualitative research through questionnaires and in-depth interviews that reflected the different multicultural aspects of the teams and the miscommunication that results from the misinterpretation, misevaluation and misperception of the processes of the teams. 

The existence of multicultural teams within organisations is determined by various factors that either proves to be advantageous or disadvantageous for the performance (Tutar, et. al., 2014). Nevertheless, the research studies conducted for achieving the professional goals and maintaining the discipline, creativity, passion, enthusiasm and the adjustment of personal modesty along with the professional goals. 

4. Role of management in leading multi-cultural teams

Nwabueze and Mileski (2018) conducted a study to address the lack of effective communication and information transfer within a multicultural team of an organisation. The case study approach was applied to get an explanation of the set of events that indicate the application of different methods in different situations and the competitive advantage that the organisation has over others. The paper suggested that the domain of communication among individuals has not been explored yet the importance of communication was identified in the study. The leadership of a team in an organisation plays a very important role in ensuring the long term success of the company (Iskamto, et. al., 2021). Moreover, Bento (2020) observed that the smart management of the teams by the managers positively impacts the communication and collaboration among team members. The leaders can not only work towards achieving superior customer satisfaction and encourage the employees to bring innovations in the company processes (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). The response of the employees to the crisis and their effectiveness to achieve superior relationships with the employees enhances the overall communication among the employees (Rajapakshe, 2021). With the world processes shifting majorly to online mediums, the management of multicultural teams has become even more difficult. Cagiltay, et. al. (2015) described the importance of management in virtual multicultural teams. The different issues relating to communication and collaboration among team members in multicultural teams need to be resolved with more specifically the processes shifting to online mediums. However, the management of team members who come from different nations or backgrounds sometimes proves to be problematic as they place special demands on their leaders to introduce changes that will help them in succeeding in the global world (Olowookere, et. al., 2020). 

Rothacker and Hauer (2014) conducted a study to understand the existing research findings and to identify the gap in the literature on the behaviour of a leader while managing multicultural teams. The findings were collected with the help of an online questionnaire. It was observed that the leadership styles and behaviour were majorly found to be motivated by the majority of survey participants. 

According to Nwabueze and Mileski (2018), gaining a competitive advantage over others is one of the most important functions of leading multicultural teams (Abadir, et. al., 2019). The study conducted through a case study approach was aimed at addressing the importance of communication and the appropriate use of the available information for improving the functioning of teams with people from all around the globe (Bond, et. al., 2019). The paper reported that communication impacts the competitive advantage of organisations and with the multicultural teams in an organisation managing effective communication is the most important aspect. Multi culture in a team enhances the level of innovation that can be used for enhancing the brand image. Therefore, with the use of appropriate communication techniques and information technologies the management has an important role in a superior level of communication in a global context. Adding to the responsibilities of the management, Scotta (2018) suggested that the inclusion of dissimilar cultures in the teams must also be focused upon by the management. Collaboration along with communication must be considered within a group to tackle the conflicts and to manage the coordination of employees with each other. The sustainability of the organisation along with the cultural diversity can yield the maximum potential and thus manage the differences within the teams (Demir, et. al., 2021). For effectively managing the multicultural teams, the managers must work upon effectively leading their teas towards accepting the cultural differences and including them in their groups. 

However, Pauline, et. al. (2019) in their study argued that the management of a team is different from leading it. On analysing the approaches of the management in leading the complex multicultural teams stated that leadership can guide the employees to adhere to the values, code of conduct and seek the strategic goals for ensuring the sustainable performance of the organisation in a multicultural context. The leadership of a team and its management reflect complementary goals that contradict each other at times. Nwabueze and Mileski (2018) suggested that a multicultural leader must be able to implement a different set of competencies in a team. The manager of a team that includes people from global backgrounds must be proficient in implementing the practice of involving cultural sensitivity in the organisation and the diplomatic aspect that will create respect for all the parties to clearly solve the problems and synergistically address the issues prevalent with the culture (Unver, et. al., 2019). 

5. Challenges faced by the management in leading multi-cultural teams

According to the research study by Scotta (2018), the incorporation of cultural diversity within a team is a major challenge for management. Although many researchers have concluded that the groups with people from diverse cultures tend to perform better than the groups that have people from similar cultural backgrounds, managing these people is associated with many challenges. Conflicts among the team members are an extremely prevalent issue with the management of the culturally diverse team (Batsa, et. al., 2020). The failure of the managers to ensure complete communication within the members creates the potential complexities in the teams and hampers the relationship management amongst the team members. The misunderstandings between the team members along with the tendency of a few employees to interact with people in a way that disregards their social status and shows them inferior to others also affect the communication among the members (Wächtler, 2020). Sogancilar and Husniye (2018) argue that the impact of diversity in a team cannot be predicted. It cannot be concluded that the diversity in a team affects it negatively or positively. Adding to the observation, they claimed that the differences between team members are not the reason for conflicts among the members, the diversity among the members of a team is an asset and not a liability. 

There has also been evidence that multicultural teams are believed to outperform the teams with a homogenous mixture of people (Melnik, 2021). However, due to diversity in the teams, they are at a greater risk of facing language barriers, ineffective methods of communication or addressing the different styles of communication effectively. Many managers aim at eliminating diversity in the organisation altogether while there are others who try to include diversity and practices in their organisations that include diversity (Elvestuen and Valaker, 2021). The limited research on the communication of multicultural teams, specifically in the context of in-group work experience and the factors that contribute either positively or negatively have resulted in the need of researching managing the multicultural teams and diversity in them.

According to Gnecco (2015), the heritage of people is a concrete and precise factor that majorly impacts their mood and their thought process. The intervention of management in improving the practices must consider the heritage of the employees working in the organisation and help in positioning their alternatives accordingly. The beliefs and homogenous cultural aspects of the employees working in the teams prove to be a challenge that the managers have while working with the teams. However, Cox (2019) in their study proposed a solution for managing the heritage sensitivity of the employees of the organisation. They can work upon including cultural sensitivity and intelligence for identifying the different beliefs and practices that the people follow.

Figure 2: Literature Review

Source: (Author, 2022)

6. Skills and practices for effectively managing multi-cultural teams

In the increased multicultural and globalized environment the capabilities of effectively communicating across the cultures are significant as well as challenging (Pauliene, et. al., 2019). In the current times, the professionals and the managers at every organizational level interact with individuals belonging to distinct cultural backgrounds. There is the existence of global virtual teams which ensures that global competitiveness is common in all organisations. Hence the recognition of the cultural differences is crucial and requires the establishment of effective channels of communication for interaction with the people belonging to different cultures (Nwabueze and Mileski, 2018). Regarding the significance of the management procedures considering the cultural diversity, it can be highlighted that the impact of the dissimilar cultures on the organisational teams' performance is conditional in the procedure of management. It is important for the management involved in the multicultural environment for the recognition of dissimilar behaviours and values in the context of the different cultural groups as well as for respecting, avoiding categorization, and providing workplaces that are psychologically safe (Ewald and Wredberg, 2021). It is important for the human resource manager to formulate and establish the policies, practices, and strategies so that the cultural backgrounds of the team can be contemplated. Besides this, the team members should also be encouraged and sustained for the agreement among each other and managing the differences (Scotta, 2018).

Cultural empathy is the skill that is considered important for leaders leading multicultural teams (Engelsberger, et. al., 2021). There should be aware of the subordinate's interaction and the distinct values provided by them regarding the different aspects of work and life, understanding and respect regarding the difference which arises between the values and cultures as well as the treatment of the people as individuals. This emphasizes not limiting the employees to the culture (Bento, 2020).The multicultural possesses the knowledge specific to culture as well as different culture general skills like high integrative complexity levels, the capability of accepting different perspectives, and its combination in the coherent cultural metacognition. Besides this, they also have the capability of thinking about the different cultural assumptions. Through these skills, multicultural can synthesize and identify the relevant ideas and information across distinct cultures in a way that is creative (Jang, 2017). Cultural intelligence is developed on the emotional intelligence where the people possess the skills of adapting and understanding the cultural differences (Ng, et. al., 2019). Cultural intelligence can be defined as the capability of an individual in effectively adapting to the contexts of a new culture (Ratasuk, 2019). The leaders have represented the cultural intelligence for the adjustment of the new cultures and consideration of cultural differences among the members of the team. There are four major factors of cultural intelligence that are behavioral, metacognitive, cognitive, and motivational (Cox, 2019). Knowledge exchange can be defined as the procedure during which the perspective of the members, information as well as knowledge regarding entering the team interactions are discussed and shared. There are a number of reviews in the organisation behavior and management literature which have focused on the requirement of research regarding the procedure of knowledge exchange in multicultural teams (Hajro, et. al., 2017).

According to Scotta (2018), there are different facilitators as well as obstacles to communication within culturally diverse teams. Therefore, the management of such teams needs to work properly on developing the elements that promote communication within the team and aid them to be successful in the future. Behaviour regulation, social integration, direct and open communication and trust-building are some of the important aspects of facilitating the smooth working of multicultural teams in an organisation. However, the research by Bento (2020) observes that multicultural leaders must pay attention to the basic competencies of their employees. Their first step must be to have a clear understanding of the skills of their employees. The leaders of the organisation must also be put through cross-cultural assignments to build their knowledge and make them competitive enough to be able to motivate their teams.

7. Managing cultural diversity in Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects

The communication quality among the individuals of different cultures is crucial in the determination of the outcomes like interactions. There are three dimensions of communication quality that are comfort, responsiveness, and clarity (Nwabueze and Mileski, 2018). The Entrepreneurship and Communication in Multicultural Teams (ECMT+) involves researchers from the field of multicultural communication, entrepreneurship economics, and educational sciences (Bond, et. al., 2019). The Asia-Pacific telecom operators come among the top 100 telecom operators across the world. There are reportedly stronger consumption capabilities in the emerging areas of Asia-Pacific which is becoming the crucial force for the enhancement of information technology expenditure around the world. Besides this, it is also highlighted that the number of users of mobile phones across the world is more than 7 billion where 3.6 billion belongs to the Asia-Pacific area (Hu, et. al., 2019).

The Asia-Pacific economies are considered attractive regions for multinational investments and the companies in the developed countries are starting their regional units in these markets which are emerging (Rothacker and Hauer, 2014). There has been the rapid growth of Asia-Pacific economies as well as they are utilizing the home market experience for transforming the threats into opportunities. It is also predicted that by the year 2030 there will be an increase in the emerging economies' demand which will be equal to US$56 trillion. There are companies are specializing in the emerging economies and are involved in the development of innovative capabilities which can match the level of foreign organizations. However, all these innovations do not end up being successful as the achievement of the goals highly relies on good leadership, human factors, and strategies implementation. For example, there are 6 different categories of implementation of open innovation which involve innovation capabilities, leadership, strategy, network and relationships, culture, and technology management (Singh, 2021).

It is recommended that there should be the examination of the situational factors which created the voice behavior like the culture is the major element of voice behaviour as voice mechanism suppressing is detrimental for the long term effectiveness of the organisation. Effective practices of the organisation are important to maintain the profitability and the competitiveness of the organisation (Naqvi, 2020). The greater cultural diversity in the host country can eliminate the negative impact of the cultural distance in the multinational organisation's performance as companies are likely to identify a subsegment in the host country with features that are similar to that of the features of the home country. This leads to lowering the liability of multinational organisations for foreignness in comparison to the companies with the cultural distance between the host countries and the home countries (Jiménez, et. al., 2019).

The employees belonging to the Asia-Pacific countries are specifically aware of the multiculturalism in the team,especially the multinational organisations where employee expatriation is a norm. In the Asia-Pacific there cultural sensitivity and open-mindedness are the two crucial aspects of the role (Sekerci and Bicer, 2019). There isthe requirement of the skills for the management of the multicultural teams which is the same as those skills of a good manager, the reflection of the sensitivity of the cultural issue through remaining on the common ground, good listeners and empathy which are crucial for the creation and trust as well as to foster the supportive environment in the teams which are culturally diverse (CIPD, 2021). There are statements from the CEO of Nokia in Shanghai in 2001 which is also a telecom company where it is stated that the expectations and mandates of the headquarter were clear. There are requirements for the development of the relationships among the Western-cultured organisation and the teams belonging to the Asian countries more specifically China for the development of the teams which can share the culture of the corporate, can transfer the expertise as well as can grow the local talents which are selected (Ewald and Wredberg, 2021). Under this, the cultural differences reduced the common languages which are utilized and there was the formation of a unified attitude,especially on the topics which are culturally sensitive. This unity assisted in the creation of team spirit fostered collective expertise and facilitated the interactions with the headquarters. With time the integration of the cultural differences became second nature with the adaptation of changes and the development of teams (Gauvrit, 2020).

8. Gaps

The limited research on the functioning of multicultural teams and the methods of conduct used within the organisation require more efforts at conducting the relevant studies. These research studies require a more holistic approach towards teaching the companies the importance of being more efficient with the multicultural teams present and working together for a common purpose. The issue that the organisations face for dealing with culturally diverse groups and the existence of a large number of multicultural groups in the Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects require more research. This common gap has been observed in the different pieces of literature reviewed to form the basis of this study. The ultimate aim of this dissertation is to improve the methods used by the managers in leading multicultural teams and prepare the employees for a more accepting and diverse culture around them. The change to be introduced in the practices of the leaders and the leaders will be addressed through this research and this will also provide a source of information for the researchers who wish to work on this topic in the future.

9. Summary

This chapter of the research focused on critically analysing the literature that is available on the selected topic. The management of the teams in an organisation with multicultural teams needs to be focused on a number of aspects. There are several factors that can be challenging for the management to create a workplace that feels inclusive and safe to the workforce that belong to certain sections of the society. From the disabled workforce to the employees that belong to varied cultures, the management must focus upon addressing the challenges that they are facing. Only this will ensure the existence of an organisation that addresses the diversity of the organisation completely and manage it adequately to yield the maximum potential. Through the gaps identified in this section, the research will proceed to achieve the objectives of the research and answer the questions.

Chapter 3- Methodology

1. Introduction

The methodology of research is the general strategy that is followed for conducting the research. This section of the research will describe the methodology of the entire research. There will be a description of the research design in which the selected philosophy will be described along with the approach that will be undertaken for the research. The time horizon of the selected articles and the strategy used for collecting the data relevant to the topic from different platforms will be described in this chapter. The ethical considerations and the limitations of this research will also be presented in this chapter. 

Figure 3: Research Methodology

Source: (Author, 2022)

2. Research Philosophy

The research carried out by a researcher must be dependent on the fundamental key philosophical assumptions about the process of research known as the research paradigm (Alharahsheh and Pius, 2020). The assumptions must be in consideration with the nature of the research and the available evidence to support the statements. The philosophy of research is the nature of the research and the reality of the existence of the research. There is close interaction with the respondents of the questionnaire during this research which will also facilitate the understanding (Thomson, 2015). As this research is focused on the real world, the study consists of the real-world phenomenon of understanding and researching the existence of multicultural teams in an organisation (Ryan, 2018). Therefore, the stance undertaken for this research is the interpretivism philosophy. The knowledge of the world and the understanding of human behaviour based on their actions in multicultural teams will be gained through this research.

3. Research Approach

The approach selected for the research is somewhat based on the philosophy selected for research. As the interpretivism philosophy has been selected for the research due to the qualitative nature of the research along to develop a general theory at the end of the research, the research approach is Inductive (Melnikovas, 2018). The organisations consisting of multicultural teams will be analysed based on their performance and the observations made will lead to the generalisation of the theories towards the end of the research (BRM, 2022). This approach of research will also be used to achieve the objectives by answering the questions that this research aims at. The discussion on the peer-reviewed articles and journals will also help in getting answers to the questions of the research (Woiceshyn and Daellenbach, 2018). The inter-relation between the findings of the literature and the questionnaire will help in developing a theory on multicultural teams which will be applicable in the practical world (Walter and Ophir, 2019).  

4. Research Method

The choice of research methods is the most dominating factor that helps in conducting an in-depth study of a particular topic. The approach used for the research determines the method chosen for the research (Rahi, 2017). The majorly prevalent methods are qualitative and quantitative methods of research. The qualitative method of research is used when the researcher wishes to develop a theory with the help of observation and interpretation of the environment and the real world which is being studied while the quantitative method includes the actions and factors that are measurable and can be used for interpreting the numerical data collected through primary research (Gunawan, et. al., 2021). 

For this research, the qualitative data will be collected through primary and secondary research methods. The collected data will then be reported in the findings section and then analysed to generate appropriate conclusions for the research (Vass, et. al., 2017). Therefore, the research method used for this study is mono-method research that will include the research of qualitative data. 

5. Research Strategy

The strategy of research is the process of collecting data and interpreting it to achieve the objectives and answer the questions of the research (Rahi, 2017). For this research, the aim is to answer the questions containing the role of management in the successful functioning of multicultural teams in an organisation. More specifically, the research is aimed at the processes of the Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects and the existence of multicultural teams in the community. To gain an in-depth understanding and unbiased views of the complete processes, a questionnaire survey was given to 50 employees working in multicultural teams in the Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects. The questionnaire consist the questions related to the functioning of multicultural teams in the organisation and the suggestions that can improve the overall functioning of the organisation in future. 

6. Time Horizon

The research can either be conducted with the help of articles and journals published in recent years (cross-sectional) or over a long period of time (longitudinal). This research is based on the functioning of multicultural teams in the present time and the efficiency of the suggestions and findings in the future (Melnikovas, 2018). Therefore, the time horizon of this research will be cross-sectional. The literature reviewed for secondary research purposes has also been analysed from the articles and journals published in the past 8 years to maintain the relevance of the study with the present and future. Moreover, the questionnaire was also circulated over one period of time for collecting the responses. This ensures that the respondents of the questionnaire had the same services and features available to them during the time of the research (Melnikovas, 2018).

Figure 4: Research Method

Source: (Author, 2022)

7. Data Collection Methods and Tools

For conducting any research, it is necessary to decide upon the relevant methods of research and the data collection technique. As this research involves both primary and secondary research methods, the data has been collected through different techniques and with the help of different tools (Melnikovas, 2018). For the primary collection of data, a questionnaire was prepared with 16 questions. The questionnaire was used as a survey tool and circulated among 50 employees of the Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects to retrieve the information relevant to the organisation. The questionnaire was circulated among the participants through online mediums like e-mail and social media sites (Basias and Pollalis, 2018). This proved to be a fast and secure method of collecting employee responses. The questionnaire of the research was prepared in a way that the questions move in a systematic manner for the respondents to get the essence of the research. The general to a specific order of the questions also helped in analysing the questions in a proper manner. The questions of the questionnaire and the rationale can be found in Appendix 2. The explanation of the questionnaire questions along with the justification has been attached in Appendix 3.

For the purpose of secondary research, the relevant literature on the management of multicultural teams in an organisation and their functioning was used. The literature consisted of articles and journals published by different authors and researchers along with the websites and newsletters containing the information (Rahi 2017). Online databases like Google Scholar were used for retrieving the literature. 

8. Sampling Technique

The data sampling simply included the process of selecting the participants that will provide the relevant answers for the primary research being conducted. For this research, the data collected will be with the help of a questionnaire in which the sampling method used will be simple random sampling (Gunawan, et. al., 2021). 50 of the employees of Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects will be approached at random and will be asked to answer the survey. 

9. Data Analysis

Following the interpretivism philosophy of research, the data collected for this research will be analysed with the help of the findings of the primary as well as the secondary research (ORI HHS, 2022). The literature on the topic was critically analysed and the work of different authors was reviewed to gain an understanding of the topic (Merriam and Tisdell, 2016). Using the descriptive method, the findings and observation of the questionnaire were compared with the findings of the literature (Assarroudi, et. al., 2018). This comparison was useful in identifying the gap between the theory and the real-life findings of the research, particularly the management functions in leading the teams. 

10. Ethical Considerations

For this study, the SEPLI (social, ethical, political and legal issues) were taken into consideration (Refer to Appendix 1). The other ethics of research are as follows.

The protection of the collected data and the responses by the participants was the main focus of this research (Arifin, 2018). The information of the employees was kept completely confidential and the responses of none of the participants were manipulated (Ruggiano and Perry, 2017).

The employees were not forced in any way to take up the questionnaire and they participated voluntarily (Baruch, et. al., 2016).

The collected data was not stored in any database or any other place for ensuring the privacy of the participants (Kokolakis, 2017).

The secondary data was collected from open sources to ensure privacy constraints (Fiesler, 2019).

The work of none of the authors or researchers was misinterpreted during the entire research (Hwang and Chae, 2017).

The authors were given due citation wherever necessary (Suri, 2020). 

11. Research Limitations

The limitations of the research include the limited number of papers aimed at identifying the challenges faced by the management of Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects in leading the multicultural teams.

Collecting the data for the primary research using the questionnaire was also a challenging task due to the hesitance of the employees in answering the questions. They had to be ensured of confidentiality and the anonymity of their responses. Furthermore, the findings of this research cannot be generalised for all the firms due to the difference in their working processes. This will limit this paper to only one organisation.

The limited amount of time for this entire research was also a constraint as the research study could have been conducted in a more effective way if more time was available along with greater access to resources. The Covid-19 restrictions also made it impossible to interview the managers and the research had to be limited to the questionnaire. 

12. Summary

This chapter of the research gave a description of the methodology that has been used for this research. Starting with the interpretivism philosophy of research, this chapter stated that the inductive method of analysing data was used in this dissertation. Using both primary and secondary methods, the qualitative data was collected with the help of a questionnaire and different pieces of literature. The descriptive method was used to analyse the cross-sectional data with all the ethics of research.  

Chapter 4- Findings and Analysis

1. Introduction

Based on the responses received from the questionnaire and with the application of the methodology discussed in the previous chapter this chapter will be prepared. The information retrieved with the help of the literature review will be compared with the findings of the questionnaire and the responses will be monitored and evaluated.

2. Questionnaire Findings

A survey with 16 questions was distributed to 50 employees of Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects. Out of the 50 respondents, 54% were females, 38% were males and 8% with other sexual orientations. This shows that the community projects have the involvement of people of all genders in the teams and hence, multiculturalism is highly prevalent in the functioning.

Figure 5: Respondent Demographics

The participants of the questionnaire varied in their ages. The maximum number of respondents belonged to the age group of 18-24 years (58%). This is due to the fact that the survey was conducted through online media (Social media sites) and the most active people on social media belong to this age group. Therefore, the participants of age group 25-30 years were 24% of the total respondents and the rest of the participants were older than 30 years.

Figure 6: Respondent Demographics

The major participants of the research were undergraduates (42%) and postgraduates (44%). Only a few of the participants held educational qualifications other than these two. This implies that people with different educational backgrounds are also prevalent in the teams of the Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects.

Figure 7: Graduation Level of the employees

Most of the participants (54%) were a part of the organisation for 0-2 years while 26% had experience of 2-4 years in the community projects. There were 12% respondents that had been working in the projects for 4-6 years and 8% had been a part of the project teams for 6 years or above. This 8% of the total respondents with work experience of 6 years or above are most likely to be at the top positions of the organisation. These members must have had the most knowledge about multi-culture inclusion in the organisation and the possible improvements and changes that can be implemented.

Figure 8: Working tenure of the respondents

With many respondents belonging to varied nationalities, it was reported that the Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects have people from almost all nationalities prevalent in the globe. This also depicts the inclusion of people from different ethnicity and race into the projects of the community. Therefore, the prevalence of multiple cultures in the organisation is high in number. Many employees associated with the projects belonged to mixed nationalities and this shows the hiring of employees from different backgrounds into the organisation to ensure multiculturalism.

Figure 9: Nationality of the respondents

Participants of the research ranged from major employees working in the information technology department of the projects (28%) to 26% associated with the product management department of the projects. The 18% questionnaire respondents were working for the sales department of the organisation while the rest of the participants (28%) were working in other departments like the data science department and engineering department.

Figure 10: Project Discipline of the employees

According to the participant responses, 22 of the 50 respondents (44%) were fairly comfortable with the work culture that is maintained in the Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects and 7 other respondents (14%) were very comfortable with the work environment. Other participants were extremely uncomfortable (8%) and somewhat uncomfortable (10%) with the organisational culture. 12 participants rated the workplace culture as neither uncomfortable nor comfortable to be in. The participants that responded as being uncomfortable with the work environment of the community might have faced discrimination on the basis of any factor or might have had other issues while working with the organisation. This shows that there is still scope for improvement in the workplace and the management can work upon including multicultural aspects in the organisation.

Figure 11: Comfort level of the employees with the workplace culture

This question was asked to understand the working environment of the organisation and the level of discrimination faced by the employees or their co-workers. According to the participants, 42% of the total employees surveyed have reported having faced discrimination at some point in the organisation. 6% of the employees face discrimination on a regular basis while 30% have rarely faced any discrimination in the organisation. 22% of others have never faced any discrimination which implies that the per cent of employees facing discrimination in the organisation is less than the percentage of employees that are facing discrimination. However, the prevalence of any per cent of discrimination shows that the management of the organisation still needs to work upon the inclusion of multicultural teams in the organisation.

Figure 12: Discrimination faced by the employees in the workplace

When the participants were asked about the different organisational aspects of working of the teams, it was observed that the teams of Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects consist of people from diverse cultures and nationalities that ensure the prevalence of people from a broad range of identities in the teams. The different cultures and identities of the people have varied impacts on the organisation and its overall functioning. However, it can be observed from the questionnaire findings that the focus of the organisation on the inclusion of diversity and the varied sexual orientation is comparatively less. Therefore, the organisation can work upon including the people from these aspects into their teams. This can be both challenging as well as a positive point for the organisation as this will improve its level of inclusion of people from different backgrounds and with different conditions.

Figure 13: Different Organisational aspects of the team

Figure 14: Different Organisational aspects of the team

The responses on the inclusion of people with diversity into the teams reported that 46% of the respondents feel that the organisation works upon developing processes for the inclusion of diversity and 34% reported the organisation is completely dedicated to including diversity within the organisation. The high percentage of people dedicated towards diversity in the teams depict the focus of Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects towards the involvement of a varied range of ideas and with different perspectives.

Figure 15: Inclusion of diversity within the organisation

While working for the inclusion of diverse people in the teams, the management has included a range of practices that might help the increased collaboration of the teams. This ensures that the management of the organisation focuses on the development of practices that encourage the smooth functioning of the teams. This enhances the communication and collaboration amongst the team members, allowing them to effectively work with each other in complete harmony. Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects focus majorly on avoiding the stereotypes to make everyone feel comfortable in the organisation and to make them feel included. The other aspect that the organisation focuses upon is being open to all the cultures and religions and the practices that the people follow. The encouragement is given to the employees by rewarding them for their work and the organisation of cultural training for the employees also helps them in getting used to the culture of their workplace.

Figure 16: Organisational Practices for Diversity Inclusion

The different practices of management have allowed the organisation to successfully overcome the language barriers faced by the people that facilitate communication and help the employees in accepting the different cultures and the identities of people in the organisation. The practices developed by the organisations have successfully helped the people in accepting the beliefs of people from different cultures and improving team collaboration. However, the attempts at improving communication and collaboration have been reported to be slightly less effective than the others. Therefore, the organisation must work on improving these two aspects.

Figure 17: Successful diversity inclusion practices

Figure 18: Successful diversity inclusion practices

On being asked about the issues that the employees face with the management of the project, the respondents majorly reported about the communication and collaboration problems. These are the most commonly occurring issues that the management of multicultural teams face. The disregard of the points of the employees is another issue faced by the workforce however this is not highly relevant to the inclusion of multiculturalism in teams. The discrimination observed due to the sexual orientation of employees is also an issue that the management needs to work upon.

Figure 19: Issues with the management of projects

There were varied responses from the employees regarding the zero-tolerance policy that is followed in the organisation. Only 34% of the employees surveyed are aware of the zero-tolerance policy followed by the organisation to ensure the safety and security of its employees. Therefore, the organisation must work upon developing initiatives for spreading information and knowledge about the policies against discrimination in the organisation.

Figure 20: Zero tolerance policy within the organisation

As per the responses of the participants, it can be observed that the management must majorly focus on developing team-oriented leadership along with value-based leadership in the organisation. These leadership styles will help in effectively managing the teams and the culture of the organisation.

Figure 21: Effective leadership styles for managing diversity in the organisation

There are different aspects of managing a multicultural team that the leaders must focus upon. According to the responses, it was observed that the leaders must have complete knowledge of the values and cultural beliefs of the people working in their teams to not hurt the sentiments of the members. The understanding of the cultures and different communication methods must be the focus of the management of the teams to include diversity in their organisation in a successful way. The open-mindedness and the acceptance of the different cultures were reported to be highly preferred methods of diversity inclusion among the employees.

Figure 22: Leadership focus of managing multicultural teams

3. Summary

This chapter of the research was focused upon reporting the findings that were observed through the questionnaire. Several noteworthy observations can be made with the help of the chapter. Firstly, the prevalence of multiculturalism is high in Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects and people from varied nationalities work in the organisation. Secondly, the organisation works on constantly developing inclusive practices in the organisation. Thirdly, even though the organisation is devoted to including people from different cultures and nationalities only a few people are aware of the policies and procedures. There need to be practices that encourage the inclusion of these practices with the people. Fourthly, improving the communication and collaboration among the team members are the major issues that the organisation must work upon. Furthermore, the participants reported a variety of practices that the management can work upon for including diversity and supporting multiculturalism in their functioning.

Chapter 5- Discussion

1. Introduction

The purpose of this study is to identify the practices that the management of different organisations can adopt in their work to effectively manage multicultural teams. This chapter of the research will discuss the findings obtained from the analysis of both primary and secondary data. The results of findings and the observations made during the research will be discussed and their implementation will be tested in this section. There will also be a discussion about the development of general concepts for generating a theory that will work well with the management of multicultural teams in the organisation. 

2. Discussion

Model for managing multicultural teams in an organisation

Figure 23: Model on cultural diversity management

The developed model on the inclusion of diversity aims at teaching the importance of multicultural teams in an organisation. The identification of the different practices for the inclusion of diversity are based on the questionnaire findings that suggested that the management must include more training programs for the teams with diverse people within them. Moreover, the innovation aspect of the teams is amplified due to the inclusion of diversity within the teams (Choi, et. al., 2018). Therefore, the training provided for diversity will help in innovative ideas to build up.

Multicultural Teams and Organisational Performance

The global characteristics of multicultural teams were identified in the study and this research helped in contributing to the existing knowledge on the existence of multicultural teams in an organisation (Engelhard and Holtbrügge, 2017). Through the identified global characteristics during reviewing the literature, it was analysed that the emergence of leadership in multicultural teams has been a process inclusive of the advancements and new approaches aimed at improving the overall process (Szymanski, et. al., 2021).

When comparing the findings of Songancilar and Husniye (2018) with the questionnaire findings, it can be discussed that the complexity associated with addressing the heritage of employees of an organisation must also be considered by the management while making decisions and forming practices. The nature and level of acceptance of changes by the employees can prove to be a challenge for the leaders of the team (Lisak and Erez, 2014). In such instances, the leaders can work upon introducing the habit of interpersonal communications and dodging the beliefs of the employees accordingly. This practice will prove beneficial in avoiding conflicts and ensuring cultural sensitivity among the managers (Häkkilä, et. al., 2020). 

Cultural management is a process of continuous advancements and changes that the organisations must follow for the co-existence of people with different beliefs and values in the organisation (Lovin, et. al., 2021). Through the questionnaire findings, it was observed that the different strategies adopted by the management play important role in managing the teams with diverse people in organisations. This result was also supported by the study conducted by Cox (2019) which also reported that the promotion of a diverse culture helps in improving the knowledge aspect of the employees. Cultural intelligence and sensitivity are important tools used by organisations to build a relationship with the staff and improve communication among employees from different cultures (Caputo, et. al., 2019).

Providing the employees concerning culture and smartly introducing changes in their communication styles is a way of allowing the changes to be introduced (Wang, et. al., 2019). The interactions can thus be utilised for improving the skills required for managing the diverse performance and creativity of the teams. 

Successfully overcoming the challenges

With the findings and critical analysis of the information gathered, this study makes several contributions towards simulating the functioning of multicultural teams. The experience of the team members can be improved with the different practices identified within teams and the enhancement of overall employee efficiency to manage cultural differences (Scotta, 2018). Through the questionnaire findings, it was reported that communication and collaboration are the two major determinants of team performance. Building the communication strategies in Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects can provide it with the huge competitive advantage that companies need (Nichols, et. al., 2015). With the information, talent and knowledge that the employees from different cultural backgrounds have, the organisation can develop appropriate strategies to provide them opportunities to enhance and utilise their talent (Nkando, 2021). The improvement in communication among the team members will help the employees on achieving competency through the introduction of innovation in the processes. The communication strategies implemented by the management can include the training provided to the team members about the different languages that are spoken in their organisation (Cox, 2019). Even though the employees are provided training to learn the different languages, the management can majorly focus upon the introduction of a common language that is majorly spoken in all the parts of the organisation and every branch (Benato, 2020). The concept of cultural intelligence among employees of multicultural teams, as discussed by Ratasuk (2019); can also be attributed with the same strategy of overcoming challenges associated with the knowledge of the employees of the organisation. Through the comparison of the questionnaire findings with the finding os Ratasuk (2019) about the inclusion of greater knowledge of culture in teams, the importance of cultural intelligence can be observed. This will form a common ground for the workforce from varied cultures to bond upon and achieve greater success. Technological advancements in the teams emphasise majorly on the creativity of the employees through the reduction of efforts (Nwabueze and Mileski, 2018). Social media helps the employees in improving social interactions and reaching out to a broader audience hence, improving their confidence and the skills to form good networks in their workplaces.  

Skills and Improvements

The studies from the past state the importance of leadership in the management of multicultural teams. It was identified that strong leadership which is culturally sensitive can fasten the organization in the direction of diversity where there is value and respect of all the employees irrespective of race, gender, age, authenticity, etc. This involves the capabilities of opening self to the opinions and ideas of others (Engelsberger, et. al., 2021). To deal with the global diversity challenges the leaders require the development of cultural intelligence (Rahman, 2018). It has been accepted that cultural intelligence contributes to the measurable skills set which identifies the individuals with the capabilities of constructively interacting with others irrespective of cultural differences (Iskhakova and Ott, 2020). Cultural intelligence can assist the leaders in managing the cultural differences among the team members (Jang 2017; Ng, et. al., 2019; Ratasuk, 2019, Cox, 2019). These literatures appropriately align with the findings of the survey where also leadership style is considered as an important factor and there were preferences about the leadership style which enhances the multicultural team's management.

Entrepreneurship, interpersonal communication, and creativity are the crucial transversal skills that are required by graduates in the labor market (Gauvrit, 2020). This needs future-oriented curricula, competent teachers, learning environment as there are possibilities of interaction with expert support and professional life for resolving the issue by diverse multicultural teams interaction (Badzi?ska and Timonen, 2019). Among the key features of the team that are significant for the enhancement of the member's performance and collaborations, the trusts of the team are proposed frequently in the literature as the crucial team features which result in the development of healthy relationships with everyone and can facilitate the effective collaboration and interaction (Ratasuk and Charoensukmongkol, 2019).

Effectiveness in intercultural communication has been made the priority in the current scenario due to the importance it has attracted in the cultural diversity understanding across the world (Byram and Wagner, 2018). Immigration, international employment, urbanization, foreign travel ease, and study exchange programs have facilitated the regular contact between individuals belonging to distinct cultural backgrounds (Ilie, 2019).

Value-based leadership can be described as leadership that is based on the core values which are strong and highlights the capability of inspiring and empowering others to perform to their highest potential (Areiqata, et. al., 2020; ŽYDŽI?NAIT?, 2018). The leadership styles have a moderate impact on the team outcomes and dynamics. The research which is carried out in the context of western culture represents the transformational leadership relevance which enhances the team identification rather than divisive subcategories. In a similar way, the diverse team possesses advantages from the leadership which is highly participative or can be said low directive leadership which can assist the diverse team's members to reflect more on the processes, strategies, and objectives of the team (Lu, et. al., 2018). Hence, the literature and the finding from the survey of the study clearly states the link between cultural intelligence skills, transformation, value-based leadership, and intercultural communication in the management of multicultural teams where these three are regarded as major factors for the management of team members with the required skills (Setiawan, et. al., 2018).

In the context of management of the multicultural teams in the Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects, it is identified that the awareness of the diverse cultures is crucial for the management (Paunova and Lee, 2016). The benefits of the multicultural teams overcome the threats associated with these where there are larger IT and consulting teams focusing on diversity. Under this, there are announcements by the company related to the belief in diversity power (Scarlat, et. al., 2014). There is a number of companies that are taking the benefits of globalization and are involved in the expansion of the market share. For this, they have built new organisational strategies and have also begun the development of the multicultural environment in the requirement of maintaining market competitiveness (Antoniadis, 2019).

The foreign people belonging to diverse national cultures possess distinct methods of working and thinking for the same objective on the activities which go beyond the national borders (Aggarwal and Wu, 2020). This was also identified from the literature review that people belonging to different cultures possess different viewpoints which are specific to the culture. Hence, this highlights the need for integrity in the organisation. The multicultural teams and the global projects are preferring multinational companies for organisational forms for success in the economy which has become globalized. It was identified from the literature that the cultural difference can be reduced through the reduction of the common language which is adopted in the Asia-Pacific regions (Gauvrit, 2020). However, from the findings of the survey results, it was also identified that there is discrimination which is being confronted by the employees from different cultures. Hence there is a need of improving the existing policies as well as collaboration and communication are needed to be made stronger.

The zero-tolerance approach focuses on the training of staff to confront situations that are potentially volatile however there are reports that the training for the staff does not meet the needs of challenging behavior. There is no systematic evaluation of the determination of the effectiveness of these policies (Hoyle, et. al., 2018). Similar kinds of responses were identified from the results of the survey where the majority of the respondents also stated that there is the existence of policy however these policies are not made rules in the organisations which indicates that there is a lack of adherence to the policy due to the lack of restriction imparted to them.

3. Summary

This chapter of the study discussed the different observations made through the findings of the questionnaire and related them with the findings of the secondary article sources. It was discussed that Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects can develop certain strategies for managing the teams in a more effective manner. The questionnaire and the findings helped in identifying the issues in the organisation that were not previously identified.

Chapter 6- Recommendations

1. Recommendations

Transformational leadership can be explained as the leadership behavior which impacts the followers through the elevation and broadening of the goals and giving them confidence for the performance which is the expected limit specified in the explicit or implicit exchange agreement (Brown, et. al., 2019). There are a number of reasons for assuming that the behavior is specifically impactful in multicultural teams. The transformational leadership style is endorsed across the universe by the followers as well as the leaders in national cultures and the organisation contexts (Lisak and Harush, 2021). There is literature that has consistently identified that transformational leadership behaviors are effective in the diverse organisational context (Ratasuk and Charoensukmongkol, 2019). On the other hand, value-based leadership is the leadership that is based on the personal values and the values of others involving the values on which the organisation is built and which provides the motivation and direction to the organisation. From the results of the survey, it was identified that the respondents have the preference of value-based leadership and team-based leadership the features of both of which can be combined in transformational leadership (Sumanasiri, 2020). Hence it is recommended that Asia-Pacific telecommunication projects teams should focus on the development of transformational leaders who can fulfill these aspects and can assist in the management of the multicultural team (Singh, et. al., 2020). It can be stated that there is awareness about multicultural team management in the Asia-Pacific region however through the incorporation of transformational leadership its performance can be enhanced.

The second recommendation is regarding the focus on interpersonal communication where it has been identified from the findings that the major issue which is confronted by the multicultural team of Asia-Pacific telecommunication projects is related to communication as well as when asked about the diversity inclusions there were responses which state that communication is not included in the diversity inclusion as compared to the other factors while it was identified from the literature that communication contributes the crucial part in the multicultural team management. According to the work ofBalakrishnan, et. al. (2021) distinct cultural backgrounds provide different methods of communication which results in misunderstanding. Culture impacts the actions, interactions, feelings, and patterns that constitute the basic behavior of communication. Cultural congruence can be gained in the conditions where the traditions, lifestyles, practices, beliefs, and values of the other cultures are acknowledged. The establishment of an effective intercultural communication approach considers the receiver-centered view which further encourages the individuals involved in communication to be more introspective where there is proper consideration of beliefs and attitudes of the receiver (Majidova, 2021). Hence through the intercultural communication methods, the Asia-Pacific telecommunication projects can work more effectively. This can take place through verbal as well as non-verbal communication channels (Tam, et. al., 2014).

Besides this, there is the recommendation for strict adoption of a zero-tolerance policy for eliminating the challenges in multicultural teams. The Zero- Tolerance policy provides the most appropriate step for the companies for providing protection from workplace violence. Theis concepts first began in the United States and can be defined as the activity and actions which are not accepted at the workplace. This policy involves all the employees, customers, contractors, visitors, and the people who are in contact with the people of the company in any way (Al Shdefat, et. al., 2020). Bullying and incivility should be treated with the policy of Zero tolerance where there should be the inclusion of correction actions in the policy and the activities which are unacceptable should be relived in an efficient and timely manner (Abd Allah Mohamed, et. al., 2021). Hence it is suggested that zero-tolerance policies should be implemented strictly in the Asia-Pacific telecommunication projects and the number of respondents stated that this policy is there in the organisation however is not implemented as the rule. The strict implementation of this policy in the form of the rule will ensure adherence to the policy and will eliminate any actions which are against the cultural diversity in the team or among the team members.

2. Directions for future research

Through the discussion chapter of the research, the future research in the selected topic of research is encouraged. This will help in addressing the limitations identified in the methodology chapter and improve the overall scope of this study in the future of research studies on the management of multicultural teams in organisations. For improving the reliability of the research, the future researchers can focus on increasing the sample size of the respondents. Additionally, in this study the interviews with the people on managerial positions were not conducted due to the restrictions of Covid-19 (Knap-Stefaniuk and Burkiewicz, 2021). The studies in future can work upon including these interviews to get a managerial perspective on the management of multicultural teams and this will increase the view of the research through the collection of varied perspectives.

Further extensions can be introduced in terms of measuring the communication and functional aspect through different outcomes of dissimilar situations. The diversity situation compared with the amount of communication that takes place within the teams can be considered for the influencing factors of research. The impact of the frequency of communication can also be studied accordingly. These are the further areas that are worth investigating and facilitating the communication within multicultural teams. These studies can ultimately focus on determining the impact on the trust among team members belonging to different cultural contexts.

Chapter 7- Evaluation

1. Introduction

This chapter of the research will evaluate the outcomes of the research based on the objectives of the project. There will also be an explanation of what has been learnt during the entire study and the implications of the study for future purposes.

2. Evaluation of Success against project objectives

This section will evaluate the achievement of the project objectives and the successful completion of the research through the evaluation of the outcomes.

Project Objectives	Outcome Evaluation
To understand the importance of multicultural teams in an organisation	Multicultural teams have gained importance in recent times. The managers and leaders of an organisation believe that the inclusion of multicultural teams in organisations helps in improving performance. This has been clearly described and researched in this project. When introducing the topic, the definition was stated along with critical reflection. This provided an outlook from different perspectives and helped in understanding the functioning of multicultural teams in an organisation.
To identify the characteristics of multicultural teams that can impact the overall performance of an organisation	For understanding the complete processes concerning the management of multicultural teams in the organisations and the different functioning aspects related to it, the already published literature was critically analysed and reviewed. This helped in understanding the different points available on the particular topic and getting the explanation from varied sources to increase the accessibility of the study.
To analyse the role of management in leading multicultural teams in Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects	To achieve this objective, a questionnaire was circulated among 50 of the employees working for Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects. Research ethics explained in the SEPLI form were taken into consideration while collecting participant responses. The data was kept confidential and the questionnaire questions were aimed to cover the major areas of the management of multicultural teams for getting the complete information.
To understand the challenges faced by the management in leading multicultural teams of an organisation	The questionnaire findings helped in identifying the different issues prevalent with the working of the projects. However, the lack of managers as respondents was a limitation of the primary research as their perspectives could not be completely understood. The lack of meetings was also a reason for not getting the proper statements on the specific issues with the multicultural teams.
To identify the practices that can be adopted for successfully managing multicultural teams in Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects	The discussion section of the research provided quite a large amount of useful data that successfully achieve the objective and answers the questions related to it. This identification of the issues and their suggested solutions can be used for the future by not only the particular organisation but other related organisations as well. This shows the relevance of the research with prospects and the usefulness to generating better studies on the topic.

3. Lessons Learnt

The study has worked a great deal in contributing to the field of research on the existence of multicultural teams in an organisation and their management within the organisational context. There is a list of different things that can be learned through the project. The continuous monitoring of the project success through the preparation of a timeline is also a successful method of fulfilling the requirements of a project and achieving the goals. Throughout this project, one common observation that I made was that my interpersonal and communication skills have improved. To get the responses to the questionnaire, I had to communicate with the employees through online mediums which I was hesitant about but now I have developed the skills of completing the required task with confidence. Another improvement that I have observed in myself is my learning of the different research methods and the understanding of the information to correctly organise it and implement it using different theories and methods for gaining complete understanding. While researching the different techniques and processes to undertake while preparing the project, the quality of my work has improved. As the research progressed, I could experience improvements in my methods of researching and presenting the information. Towards the completion of my work, I could feel that my competency for contributing towards this area of research has increased and this attribute is something that I have learnt after undertaking the research.

4. Future Directions

This research was majorly based on collecting and analysing the data relevant to the management of multicultural teams from various sources. The primary data was also collected and analysed for research. With the help of primary data on the functioning of multicultural teams in the Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects, in-depth knowledge about the possible improvements can be observed. The different findings of the published literature and the analysis of the responses achieved through the questionnaire will help the future direction of managing multicultural teams in an organisation.

This research has benefitted me on a personal level which will help me in the future. This dissertation has increased my motivation for studying and the development of my research skills for making necessary decisions with precision and complete knowledge. This will also assist me in implementing necessary measures to take appropriate future decisions for shaping my career. Moreover, the increase in my level of self-confidence is paramount that will work well for me in the future to efficiently achieve my plans and utilise all the available opportunities. Overall, this research has helped me in staying prepared for my work in the future and the benefits that I have received from completing this research project have resulted in me getting both personal and professional gains for the future.

This research will also help future researchers in conducting in-depth studies on multicultural teams and the various aspects related to them. The limitations identified in this research can be covered in the future by other researchers and scholars to gain relevant direction for extending upon this research. This project will also prove to be a significant piece of study that can be used by not only one particular organisation but other companies as well to work upon including multicultural teams in their functioning and managing them efficiently.

5. Summary

This chapter of the research reported the different outcomes of this research and the overall level of relevance of the outcomes with the project objectives. It was observed during this chapter that all the chapters were arranged systematically and that there was a clear distinction among the different parts and topics. This arrangement of the chapters of the research worked well in providing a more readable and enhanced project that will provide the complete knowledge that this study aims to offer. The relevance of this project in the future was also highlighted in this section and the practicality of the project and self-improvement was also assessed.

Chapter 8- Conclusion

It can be concluded from the work that multicultural teams have become a significant part of the organisations due to globalization where Asia-Pacific is providing increased opportunities to invest in the region due to the developing market and the high consumption rate. Hence the establishment of the organisations in other regions ultimately results in the development of the team where employees belong to different cultures. This has a huge impact on the innovations and functioning of the organisation. However, leading the multicultural teams is not an easy activity where there is a need for the number of strategic initiatives from the management to effectively maintain the multicultural teams. Some of the major challenges faced in multicultural teams are related to communication, conflicts, bullying, and other things which impact the performance of the organisation and require appropriate and effective leadership. In the context of practices and skills for the effective management of multicultural teams, it was identified that transformational leadership, cultural intelligence, intercultural communication, and cultural sensitivity can assist in leading multicultural teams appropriately. On the other hand from the perspective of management of multicultural teams in the Asia-Pacific transformation project, it was identified that the teams are aware of multiculturalism as well as there are initiatives for its management however these initiatives are needed to be strengthened. For this, there are certain recommendations that are there should be the adoption of transformational leadership, proper establishment of intercultural communication, and the strict implementation of the zero-tolerance policy.

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Appendices

Appendix 1- Terms of References

Title

Managing Multicultural teams in Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects

Alignment of this research with my course

This research focuses on identifying the management practices that must be followed for successfully leading multicultural teams in Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects. This study will be conducted in-depth with the help of knowledge gained throughout the modules ENGM 116- leadership and management risk and ENGM 117-International Project management (Managing disparate multi-site and multi-country teams). The learning and analysis gained through this project will help me to an extent in applying my theoretical knowledge to real-life aspects and work upon the way things function in the practical world.

Research Purpose

With the formation of multicultural teams becoming a common practice among organisations, many MNCs are working upon including the teams with people from diverse cultures in the teams and expanding the knowledge of the management for leading the teams with precision and improved processes. This research study aim at analysing the current work processes of Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects and identifying the issues that the employees and the management face when working with people from diverse cultures. This study will also expand the knowledge about the different challenges being faced by the management of multicultural teams along with proposing recommendations for future improvements.

Research Scope and Limitations

This research is aimed at identifying the functioning of multicultural teams in different organisations, more specifically Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects. The different challenges that the multicultural teams face and the positive aspects related to their functioning will be identified during this research. Furthermore, the managerial practices that will help the employees in accepting the diversity around them and to work in harmony with every member of the team will be identified in this research. This will provide a well-detailed case study to the researchers and scholars for conducting future research on this topic.

The limited amount of papers available on the communication strategy of Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects was one of the biggest limitations of this project. The time restriction was also a limitation for completing the project. Another considerable limitation of this research study is that it cannot be completely generalised for different firms as the collected information is majorly about one organisation. The limitation of time for conducting the entire research and the Covid-19 restrictions are also to be considered. Due to limited movement, the interviews could not be scheduled with the managers or the employees of Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects and detailed answers could not be received.

Research Objectives

To understand the importance of multi-cultural teams in an organisation

To identify the characteristics of multi-cultural teams that can impact the overall performance of an organisation

To analyse the role of management in leading multi-cultural teams in Asia Pacific Telecommunications Projects

To understand the challenges faced by the management in leading multi-cultural teams of an organisation

To identify the practices that can be adopted for successfully managing multi-cultural teams in Asia Pacific Telecommunications Projects

Research Questions

What characteristics of multicultural teams in telecommunication can impact the overall team performance?

• How do cultural differences act as barriers for a multicultural team in telecommunication project?

• What are the advantages of multicultural teams in telecommunication project?

How does the management of multicultural teams prove to be challenge?

What skills can the managers adopt to become successful leaders of multicultural project teams?

• How can managers learn the skills to manage culturally diverse teams?

What practices can be included to adequately manage cultural diversity in Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects?

Research Methodology including SEPLI

The research has been conducted in a systematic way by using a stepwise approach. To answer the research questions and achieve the objectives of the research, the interpretivism philosophy has been undertaken to conduct research that is relevant in the future. The literature prevalent on the selected topic of research are analysed critically to gain an understanding of the different findings observed and reported by the different authors and researchers. While reviewing the literature, a questionnaire with 16 questions will be circulated among the participants. This will provide valuable insights into the gap between theory and practical word processes. Qualitative data will be collected and analysed for getting a deeper understanding of the results and findings through the questionnaire.

With the help of an inductive approach, this research will generalise the different literature and the generated theories.

Research Statement and Explanation with relevant references

Multicultural teams are teams that have people from diverse backgrounds and conditions within them (Scarlat, et. al., 2014). The people from different nationalities, cultures, sexual orientations, beliefs, values and practices all constitute a multicultural team. Having multicultural teams in organisations is becoming a common practice in today’s globalised world (Soganciar and Husniye, 2018). With the increase in the importance of cultural diversity practices in organisations, there is an increased requirement of research on the issues about the management of the teams. The management of teams with people from multiple cultures and backgrounds is a challenge. This is due to the diverse beliefs and values that the people follow and believe in (Scotta, 2018). The study by Pauline, et. al. (2019) reported that the culture of people of a team highly impacts the perception of people working together. This also results in facilitating the improvement in the work environment along with offering a competitive advantage.

The different challenges with the leadership of multicultural teams can be associated with a number of factors that govern the working of the teams. According to Bento (2020), the most important role of managers in the context of managing multicultural teams is to handle the team with empathy and with the same treatment. The core cultural dimensions include embracing diversity and encouraging the group members to acknowledge the co-existence of different cultures. Improving the communication and collaboration among the teams is also a considerable practice that the managers can follow (Nwabueze and Mileski, 2018). The innovations in recent times and the enhanced solutions provided to the leaders and managers in effectively addressing the diversity of the multicultural teams within the organisational context, specifically of Asia Pacific Telecommunication Projects will help the future functioning of the teams (Cox, 2019). The knowledge provided by the studies about the continuous change provides value to the study and maintaining a well balanced and comfortable corporate culture for all the people associated with the multicultural teams.

Reference List

Bento, A.N., 2020. Leading multicultural teams: are cultural differences barriers or drivers to a team’s success?: portuguese managers’ perspective. https://repositorio.iscte-iul.pt/bitstream/10071/23113/1/master_afonso_nascimento_bento.pdf

Cox, K., 2019. Integrating an innovative organizational culture with cultural intelligence in multicultural teams: A case study of an international student team. https://repository.cityu.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.11803/795/FINAL_kathycox-finaldissertation_2019_3_13.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y

Nwabueze, U. and Mileski, J., 2018. Achieving competitive advantage through effective communication in a global environment. Journal of International Studies, 11(1). https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a106/09d0a986115c29d4880992ddbe32839a0453.pdf

Pauliene, R., Diskiene, D. and Matuzeviciute, E., 2019. Complex approach on multicultural teams management & leadership. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 9(2), p.8. http://archive.sciendo.com/JESR/jesr.2019.9.issue-2/jesr-2019-0008/jesr-2019-0008.pdf

Scarlat, C., Zarzu, C.L. and Prodan, A., 2014. Managing multicultural project teams. Cross-Cultural Management Journal, 16(1). https://seaopenresearch.eu/Journals/articles/CMJ2014_I1_14.pdf

Sogancilar, N. and Husniye, O.R.S., 2018. Understanding the challenges of multicultural team management. Journal of Business Economics and Finance, 7(3), pp.259-268. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/551593

Project Schedule and Planning

The project was planned and scheduled over 8 weeks, from the end of January to mid-March. The major tasks selected as milestones were Project Initiation, Planning, Execution and Closure. These milestones included tasks of preparing the aim, objectives and questions of research. The collection of data, writing the methodology, preparing the questionnaire, reviewing the literature, data analysis and discussion of the findings followed by the conclusion and the recommendations were all included in the activities.

Risk Assessment

No risks are involved with the project other than the ones identified in the SEPLI appraisal form attached below.

SEPLI Appraisal

Student Name: Student No:
Course:
Title of project: MANAGING MULTI-CULTURAL TEAMS IN ASIA PACIFIC TELECOMMUNICATION PROJECTS
	Description	Evaluation of impact/risk
Social issues	The questionnaire questions will be close ended. These will be decided by the researcher and the respondents will have no say in this. The nature of research will be detached due to the lack of close contact between the researcher and the respondents.	The respondents might not be able to express themselves in a way that they want to. The meaning and the validity of the data might thus be hampered. The interpretation of a question by the respondents might be different than its intended purpose. The researcher will not be able to check up on it due to the online nature of the research.
Ethical issues	The identity and information about the respondents needs to be kept confidential at all times. The informed consent of the respondents is also necessary for the research. The misinterpretation of data by other researchers and the lack of credits given to them is another ethical issue.	This can lead to the participants being unwilling to answer the questions The lack of due credits to the source of information can lead to a case of academic integrity.
Professional issues	Incorrect and biased interpretation of the responses The persuasion of the respondents of the questionnaire might be to an extent that they do not force the other person to participate in the research	The incorrect reporting of the responses can hamper the actual purpose of the research and lead to the research becoming unreliable. The persuasion of the participants can make them feel pressurized into taking part in the survey
Legal Issues	Plagiarism is found in the final research that is submitted The informed consent is not sought from a legally authorised person or representative who is responding to the questionnaire	Plagiarism in any research represents the data that is stolen from any source. This is also a case of fraud that is conducted during research. The research can become non-consensual and can lead to the data being illegally collected

Project Action Plan

The timescale for achieving the milestones by completing the different activities for this project has been mentioned in this plan.

Milestone	Activity	Duration
Initiation	Preparing Aim	1st week
	Preparing Objectives	1st week
	Preparing Research Questions	1st week
	Purpose and Scope of Research	1st week
Planning	Data Collection	2nd week
	Methodology	3nd week
	Preparing the questionnaire	3rd week
Execution	Literature Review	4th and 5th week
	Data Analysis	5th week
	Discussion	6th and 7th week
Closure	Conclusion	8th week
	Recommendations	8th week

Project Gantt Chart

The decided duration of the different activities of the research has been represented in the gantt chart.

Project Milestones

The time decided for achieving the different milestones is depicted in this process.