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Professionals in engineering and many other fields are often expected to work on global teams, setting the stage for frequent interpersonal interactions that span cultural boundaries. To further investigate the nature of such experiences, the findings presented in this paper are based on data collected via interviews and focus groups with 23 technical professionals who had varying levels of exposure to intercultural teamwork. Using an inductive thematic analysis approach to our data, we initially observed contrasting patterns of dyadic interactions in the examples and remarks of our study participants. Through further analysis, we developed a two-dimensional framework for such interactions that takes into consideration a given individual’s orientation toward both their own cultural defaults and the defaults held by others in interpersonal teamwork situations. The five specific orientation patterns we identified are arranged from lesser to greater levels of individual concern for one’s own cultural defaults, along with the defaults and norms held by others. In addition to representing a novel contribution to the existing research literature, we anticipate that our findings are useful for intercultural education and training initiatives, including raising awareness of cultural adaptation strategies and orientations among students and professionals. We also hope that our results help stimulate further research on intercultural adaptation, especially in the context of dyadic and other collaborative interactions that are commonplace in global work settings.
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Intercultural Readiness: Mapping Effective Teamwork Strategies in Engineering Teams to the Intercultural Development Continuum
This research paper explores the experiences of engineering students and professionals in multicultural teams, aiming to understand successful strategies for working in such environments. With the engineering field diversifying rapidly due to globalization, there is a growing need for engineers to possess cross-cultural communication and collaboration skills alongside technical knowledge. This study aims to improve the effectiveness of engineering education and addresses the evolving needs for engineering education and the role of educators in preparing future engineers for multicultural teamwork. The following research questions guided our study: (i). What strategies do engineering students and professionals hold and employ in navigating multicultural teamwork?, and (ii) How do these specific strategies mentioned by engineering students and professionals align with the developmental orientations on the Intercultural Developmental Continuum (IDC)? The study employed a qualitative approach, with interviews and focus groups conducted with 41 engineering students and 17 professionals who reported prior experience working on multicultural teams. Participants discussed their experiences and strategies, which were categorized into social behavioral, cognitive, and affective attitudinal themes. A total of 17 strategy types were identified in the student data and 16 types in the professional data. Strategies were in turn mapped to different developmental orientations on the IDC, showing a relationship between strategies described by participants and associated stages of intercultural development. Our findings reveal likely gaps in multicultural teamwork abilities among both students and professionals. More specifically, engineering students and professionals may benefit from expanded intercultural development training to foster more ethnorelative approaches to teamwork. Future research could involve participants completing the IDI survey before interviews to better understand their individual levels of intercultural development, followed by efforts to design and pilot training and educational materials aligned with particular intercultural development levels. This research contributes to understanding successful strategies for working in multicultural teams, benefiting educators, practitioners, and engineering students alike.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2044390
- PAR ID:
- 10577800
- Publisher / Repository:
- IEEE
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 979-8-3503-5150-7
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 9
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Washington, DC, USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE61694.2024.10892844
