Cultural Synergy is the act of individuals with different cultural backgrounds working together in a cooperative or combined action towards a common goal. The act of working collectively together is the of discipline behind teamwork. Teamwork is what allows synergy to occur (Harris, 2004). In my work life I’ve witnessed successful displays of cultural synergy operating exactly as it was intended. A productive team with very different cultural backgrounds working together towards the successful completion of a goal. I’ve also seen synergy deteriorate to a point where a normally product team is rendered near useless. Recognizing when cultural synergy is present and when it’s not, seems to be a critical element worth exploring.
The cultural diversity of the employees and my company is high. We have highly intelligent developers and programmers from countries including, Japan, China, Korea, Jordan, German and others. Given the length of time the team has worked together, it’s probably no surprise that synergy developed between the team members. As stated in lesson 6, the longer a group works successfully together, the more likely group synergy will occur (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). Through years of working together each team member came to understand each other’s roles, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they could complement each other towards the successful completion of a project.
I’ve also witnessed the other side of the spectrum. Several years ago a new team member was transferred onto my team. The new team member was Korean with a very strong accent which at times made him difficult to understand. My team initially welcomed him, even if somewhat reluctantly, into our group. The initial reluctance can be dismissed as understandable since the team had the experience of working together for years (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014).
Unfortunately, conflict between the team almost immediately started to occur. The personality traits of the new team member was a blend between overly confident, and a slightly obstinate. Instead of allowing time to gel with his new teammates, he immediately started offering somewhat aggressive differing viewpoints and suggestions at the expense of some of the other team members. I don’t necessarily believe his intent was to cause conflict, but the outcome of his actions certainly created it.
As the conflicts grew, the synergy within my team deteriorated. Looking back now, I believe his cultural background likely played a role in his personality traits. Over the next few weeks the team endured conflict after conflict between members of the team and the new team member. Eventually they banded together against the new team member and basically gave the ultimatum to remove him from the team or they wanted to be reassigned elseward. I didn’t know it at the time, but what I was witnessing group cohesion (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014).
Understanding the characteristics of cultural synergy is something every leader should be aware of (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). When it exists, recognizing influences that put it in jeopardy should be spotted early and resolved quickly. A smart leader should take immediate action to quell the conflict. That action can take the form of conflict resolution, mediation or, as in my case, removal of the team member from the team. The moral is, conflict is inevitable. Conflict adversely affects synergy and reduces the efficiency of the team. In the absence of teamwork, synergy cannot exist (Harris, 2004).
References
Harris, P. R. (2004). European leadership in cultural synergy. European Journal of Business, 16, 358–380.
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (Ninth ed.). New York: Routledge.
Julie Ann Trumble says
Donald,
You wrote a great example of how negative synergy can affect the flow of a business. We also remember that according to our weeks online notes “Each member understands their roles, mission; task fit into overall goal, no redundancy or loss of efficiency. That efficiency then allows members to work on refining and improving the process so that the whole becomes better than the parts”(Cultural Synergy (n.d.). The use of the knowledge from this weeks online notes, we can be sure each member of our group can achieve each of their roles effectively and therefore our group efforts will work as planned.
Negative synergy and positive synergy is both good to have in moderation within an organization. A great team can work through negative synergy and let their positive synergy shine through on tasks at hand.
Reference
Cultural Synergy. (n.d.) Leadership in a Global Context–OLEAD 410. Online course lesson, Penn State World Campus, The Pennsylvania State University.