Teamwork in the Work Place
Explore individualism and collectivism and how each might impact the dynamics of a group.
To Prepare:
• Review the Learning Resources for this week and think about how group think, individualism, and collectivism impact your daily life as well as your professional work.
• Consider the following:
Imagine you are on a team at work and have a deadline quickly approaching. The project is critical to your employer’s success. Your eight-person team is composed of diverse workers. There is a range in age, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, and experience level, among other distinctions. Your team’s progress has encountered some challenges. Some team members are managing home and work life duties, and other team members are having difficulty working together across their differences.
Post and provide a definition of individualism and collectivism. Based on your knowledge from culture and psychology, list three possible solutions to accomplish the looming deadline of the project in the scenario provided and why these solutions would be the best possible solutions
SAMPLE SOLUTION
One of the most popular dissimilarities between varieties of cultures typically emanate from discourse on individualism and collectivism. Individualism advocates personal independence. Within individualist cultures, people are more likely to “see themselves as separate from others, define themselves based on their personal traits, and see their characteristics as relatively stable and unchanging.” An individualist’s sense of self is defined more by who they are on the “inside,” minimizing the influence of factors, contexts, and people “outside” the individual. Individualists tend to communicate in direct styles—they say what they mean, prioritizing that information is conveyed explicitly and unambiguously. European and “Western” cultures are typically more individualist.
