With the changing trends of working in companies or owning a business, people have come together from all over the globe to establish partnerships. However, even when they are eager to work together, they may face the challenges of comprehending the ideas of each other. Similarly, multicultural teams can come up with the same issues. They face language barriers and cultural and training obstacles that need to be overcome for a successful ending.
Employees that belong to western cultural may not make sense to the ones from eastern cultures. When they are bound to work together, they may misconstrue each other’s thoughts and waste valuable time sorting the misunderstandings. One may require cultural understanding and dexterity, a multilingual translator, and a highly diplomatic approach to overcome such challenges.
Let us discuss some problems and their solutions that arise during managing multicultural and multilingual teams-
1) Language Barrier-
Certainly, everyone from a different country or region uses their language to express their thoughts and dreams. However, managing a multicultural team of employees who speak different languages is tricky. Being the manager, you have to make sure that all of them understand the policies and procedures of the company with the same intensity.
The main language spoken at the office may be second or third for some, and others may be uncomfortable even getting the slang. Not only should they understand companies’ procedures but also interact with one another effectively.
Solution: Find a way that is suitable for everyone in contemplating your words. Make use of multilingual translators besides functional translation software apps. The objective is to ensure that every member on the team feels valued and included by making the understanding easy.
2) Cultural Differences-
Apart from language, cultural behavior could be another factor that can come up. For instance, people who belong to western culture can be more extroverted and assertive when putting up questions to resolve queries. In contrast, employees from eastern culture are taught to be polite and not ask much problems. These things can make employees hesitate to work on a project together, and the results may be moderate.
Solutions: These cultural barriers could lead to confusion among teams; therefore, the office must promote activities where you can sit together and learn the cultural norms of each culture, mix up to understand how they perceive assertiveness and communicate appropriately.
3) Technical Challenges-
Many employees in the team would not be familiar with the software you would be using for the project. For instance, an employee from a provincial country may not know various techniques and operations to perform specific software. In contrast, a person from a leading country like the USA can learn those tricks in a go.
Solutions: Ask everybody which software would be suitable for all else provide them with online classes and training regarding what you will be using in your project. Ensure they understand it with ease.
