Team Exercise!

(the bolded one)

A. Using the Compare Countries tool at https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/, describe cultural dimension scores and major differences for the national cultures that your team members identify with. For example, team “SER” members identify with two cultures—Brazil and the US. These national cultures seem to differ on individualism-collectivism (the US being more individualistic and Team Work Values and Cultural Diversity Exercise Page 2Brazil being more collectivistic), power distance (the US scoring lower and Brazil scoring higher on power distance), uncertainty avoidance, and so on… Please include a screenshot of your cultural value dimensions comparisons (as shown below).
B. Cultures shape what people value. Analyze and describe as many relationships as you may find between your team member’s six personal values from the PathwayU assessment results (e.g., achievement, independence, etc.) and the Hofstede’s cultural value dimensions (e.g., individualism-collectivism, power distance, etc.)based on the team members’ cultural identity. The descriptions of the PathwayU personal values are provided in your assessment results on the PathwayU site. Detailed descriptions of the Hofstede’s cultural value dimensions are provided in the “Diverse Cultural Environments” Module videos. Do team members who share a national culture identity show similarities on personal values?Please explain. For example, in team “SER,” Robin and Emerson identify with the U.S. culture. The US tends to rank higher on individualism and masculinity compared to Brazil. Correspondingly, we see that both Robin and Emerson scored higher on the personal values of achievement compared to Shae. Achievement values are likely to be higher among individuals from cultures scoring higher on masculinity. Masculinity is associated with competition, assertiveness, being tough, winning, and material success. Femininity is associated with modesty, caring for others, and cooperation. Those who prefer to assert themselves, compete, and win are more likely to value achievement. Shae identifies with the culture of Brazil, which ranks lower on individualism. Correspondingly, we see that Shae scored higher on the personal value of relationships compared to Robin and Emerson. IMPORTANT: Keep in mind the relative nature of the cultural environment. There are considerable variations in personal values within cultures. Cultural value dimensions represent an average score on a value in a society, meaning that, while there are many people who endorse this value, there many people who do not endorse it, many people who only weakly endorse it, and many people who endorse it strongly. For example, although Emerson and Robin have been brought up the US culture, their scores on the personal value or independence are different. These personal value variations in societies are important. They underpin cultural progress and change and make our life interesting and beautiful.
C. Ponder about a) the variations in personal values among members who identify with the same national culture and b) a lack of relationships between the cultural value dimensions based on a member’s national culture identity and personal values. How could have diverse individual personal experiences contributed to the a) and b)? For example, although Robin and Emerson identify with the US culture, a highly individualistic culture, Emerson’s score on independence is much lower than Robin’s score. Emerson explained this lower independence score due to his having a very large family that has established strong family norms, put family goals over individual goals, and prefers family-involved decision making.
D. Examine how differences in personal values may influence teamwork on your team. Consider various functions of teamwork (e.g., collaboration, coordination, facilitation, leadership, scheduling, decision-making, document-controlling, goal-setting, conflict-management, etc.). Examine the norms you expressed for your teamwork in your Team Contract. Are members’ personal values reflected in your team’s norms? Have some members felt the need to adjust to team’s norms because they may not have reflected their individual values? What are the lessons you learned with regards to alignment of team norms and personal values?