The value of intercultural competence for performance of multicultural teams

Abstract

Managers working in multinational companies carry out their organizational goals through multicultural teams. Performance of multicultural teams can be examined from an intercultural communication perspective. Executives, managers, management consultants, and educators interested in improving multicultural team performance need to know about intercultural competence and how it affects team performance. This article provides a working definition of high-performance multicultural teams and outlines the challenges multicultural teams face. These definitions along with extensive interview data and detailed self-reports of American and Russian managers working in multicultural teams emphasize the high importance of intercultural competence in improving the performance of these teams. This article also serves to highlight the characteristics of high-performance multicultural teams, the common challenges of multicultural teams, and the sources of these challenges. © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited