Almost every posting for a job opening in a workplace location lists teamwork among the required skills. Why? Is it because every employer writing a job posting copies other job postings? No, it’s because every employer’s business success absolutely depends on people working well in teams to get the job done. A high-functioning, cohesive, and efficient team is essential to workplace productivity anywhere you have three or more people working together. Effective teamwork means working together toward a common goal guided by a common vision, and it’s a mighty force when firing on all cylinders. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” (Sommers & Dineen, 1984, p. 158).

Compared with several people working independently, teams maximize productivity through collaborative problem solving. When each member brings a unique combination of skills, talents, experience, and education, their combined efforts make the team synergistic—i..e, more than the sum of its parts. Collaboration can motivate and result in creative solutions not possible in single-contractor projects. The range of views and diversity can energize the process, helping address creative blocks and stalemates. While the “work” part of “teamwork” may be engaging or even fun, it also requires effort and commitment to a production schedule that depends on the successful completion of individual and group responsibilities for the whole project to finish in a timely manner. Like a chain, the team is only as strong as its weakest member.

Teamwork is not without its challenges. The work itself may prove to be difficult as members juggle competing assignments and personal commitments. The work may also be compromised if team members are expected to conform and pressured to follow a plan, perform a procedure, or use a product that they themselves have not developed or don’t support. Groupthink can also compromise the process and reduce efficiency. Personalities, competition, and internal conflict can factor into a team’s failure to produce, which is why care must be taken in how teams are assembled and managed.

Group dynamics involve the interactions and processes of a team and influence the degree to which members feel a part of the goal and mission. A team with a strong identity can prove to be a powerful force. However, a team that exerts too much control over individual members runs the risk of reducing creative interactions, resulting in tunnel vision. A team that exerts too little control, neglecting all concern for process and areas of specific responsibility, may go nowhere. Striking a balance between motivation and encouragement is key to maximizing group productivity.

A skilled business communicator creates a positive team by first selecting members based on their areas of skill and expertise. Attention to each member’s style of communication also ensures the team’s smooth operation. If their talents are essential, introverts who prefer working alone may need additional encouragement to participate. Extroverts may need encouragement to listen to others and not dominate the conversation. Both are necessary, however, so selecting a diverse group of team members deserves serious consideration.

Developing Successful Teams

Phases of Team Development

Various types of teams typically go through four stages of development: Forming, storming, norming, and performing. Let’s view this short video for an overview of each stage before a more in-depth review of each stage.

Forming: The first stage of team development is when individuals of a team first come together.  Typically team members are polite with each other and attempt to get to know each other.  Teams will discuss membership requirements, responsibilities, and size.

Storming: The second phase members will attempt to define roles and responsibilities.  This stage is called storming because members may not yet know each other’s preferences and communication styles, consequently, misunderstanding and conflict are common in this stage.

Norming: The team begins to function as a team in the third phase of team development.  Here, tension subsides, roles are clarified, and information is shared.  A collective sense of purpose is formed and team members begin to work together to achieve their goals.

Performing: For teams that complete the first three phases of team development reach phase four.  In phase four, teams have developed loyalty, respect and perhaps friendships.  In this phase, teams establish routines and are able to be productive (Tuckman, 1965) .

Intercultural and Diverse Teams

All teams have strengths and challenges, particularly as they move through the phases of their development. When a team is diverse, including people from different backgrounds and identities, there are additional strengths and challenges. Culturally diverse teams support creative thinking and the development of strong solutions, as team members can bring a wider range of experiences and perspectives to the task than is possible on a monocultural team (Tadmor et al., 2012).  However, culturally diverse teams can also struggle with miscommunication and misunderstandings that hinder a successful team process.

Let’s consider how this might unfold at each stage of the team development process. Imagine a course project team that includes students from China, Brazil, India, and Canada.

Feedback in Intercultural Contexts

Constructive Feedback

Performing work of high quality is vital not only to your success in any profession but to the success of your team and company. How do you know if the quality of your work is meeting client, manager, co-worker, and other stakeholder expectations? Feedback. Whether this comes as a formal evaluation or informal comments, they’ll tell you whether you’re doing a great job, merely a good one, satisfactory, or a poor one that needs improving because their success depends on the quality of work you do. Poor leadership will merely point out what you’re doing wrong, which is negative feedback or mere criticism, and tell you to fix it without being much help. Good leadership may start with negative feedback and then tell you what you must do to improve. Inspiring leadership skips the negative criticism altogether and surrounds the constructive criticism with praise to effectively boost morale and motivate the worker to seek more praise.

Constructive feedback differs from mere negative criticism in that it is focused on improvement with clear, specific instructions for what exactly the receiver must do to meet expectations. If you merely wanted to criticize a report, for instance, you could say it’s poorly written and demand that it be fixed, leaving the writer to figure it out. Of course, if they don’t know what the expectations are, attempts at fixing it may result in yet more disappointment.

If you were offering constructive criticism, however, you would give the writer specific direction on how to improve. You might encourage them to revise and proofread it, perhaps taking advantage of MS Word’s spell checker and grammar checker, as well as perhaps some specific writing-guide review for recurring errors and the help of a second pair of eyes. You may even offer to help yourself by going through a part of the report, pointing out how to fix certain errors, and thus guiding the writer to correct similar errors throughout.

Cultural Differences in Feedback

While many books and articles on teamwork and leadership in the workplace provide advice on giving and receiving feedback, these strategies may not account for the ways that feedback styles differ between cultures. Just as some cultural communication styles may be more high-context, or indirect, and others may be low-context, or direct (Hall, 1976), culture can influence how directly feedback might be given. Interestingly, some cultures that generally value direct communication (like Canadian culture) may become more indirect when giving feedback. You might have heard of the “feedback sandwich”, where negative feedback is given only after a positive introduction is provided. This is an example of indirect Canadian feedback, which can be confusing when expecting the more direct communication that is usually characteristic of Canadian English speakers.

Cultural differences in feedback styles can create significant misunderstandings in international business teams, particularly when team members from different cultural backgrounds have varying approaches to giving and receiving criticism. These differences stem from fundamental cultural programming about how to balance honesty with relationship preservation in professional settings. Some cultures prioritize direct, straightforward communication when identifying problems or suggesting improvements, viewing this approach as helpful and necessary for team success. However, colleagues from other cultural backgrounds may interpret this directness as unnecessarily harsh, personal criticism, or even arrogance, leading to damaged working relationships and reduced team effectiveness.

Understanding these communication patterns is crucial for effective global business operations, as mismatched feedback styles can result in serious workplace conflicts and missed opportunities for improvement. Some cultures employ what communication experts call “upgraders”—words that strengthen negative messages—while others use “downgraders” that soften critical feedback through phrases that minimize the impact of suggestions.  These cultural feedback patterns begin forming in childhood through educational systems and family communication styles, creating deeply ingrained expectations about how professional criticism should be delivered and received (Meyer, 2017). For successful intercultural teamwork, professionals need to adapt their communication styles based on their audience’s cultural background, avoiding the trust breakdowns that occur when cultural differences in feedback delivery are misinterpreted as personal character flaws rather than learned communication preferences.

Using DAE to Interrupt Judgement in Teams

Earlier in this textbook, you learned to use the DAE strategy to interrupt judgments in intercultural contexts. It is helpful to recognize that this strategy can help us to work through situations where we experience conflict or have negative experiences in teams.  Remember that this model asks us to describe our experience objectively, analyze the possible culturally grounded reasons for our experience, and evaluate our path of action based on this analysis (Bennett et al., 1977).  Let’s imagine this scenario:  In a culturally diverse team, made up of students from four different national cultures, a student feels excluded because their teammates do not allow them to speak or participate fully on the team.

1. Cultural Communication Styles: The excluded student may come from a culture that values waiting for natural pauses or being invited to speak, while other team members come from cultures where interrupting or speaking assertively is normal and expected. The student might be waiting for permission to speak that never comes.
2. Language Confidence: If the student is not a native speaker, they may need more processing time to formulate responses, but by the time they’re ready to contribute, the conversation has moved on. Other students might unconsciously speak faster or use more complex language.
3. Power Dynamics: The excluded student may be perceived as having lower status due to factors like age, academic background, or social position, leading others to unconsciously devalue their potential contributions.
4. Group Formation Stage: The team may be in early development phases where dominant personalities naturally emerge, and quieter members haven’t yet established their role or found their voice in the group dynamic.
5. Different Participation Styles: Some students may prefer to contribute through written input, one-on-one conversations, or structured formats rather than spontaneous group discussions, but the team hasn’t created space for diverse participation methods.

• Implement structured discussion formats like round-robin sharing where each person gets designated speaking time
• Establish team norms about active listening and ensuring all voices are heard
• Assign rotating facilitation roles so different students practice managing group dynamics
• Create multiple channels for contribution (written input, smaller breakout groups, digital collaboration tools)
• Address the issue directly by having a team conversation about inclusive participation practices

Conclusion

Working in teams is a vital skill for professional success. While all teams experience challenges as they move through their life cycle, intercultural teams may experience additional strengths and challenges. Recognizing the role of culture in feedback can be an important part of conflict management, as can using strategies to think non-judgementally about experiences in teams, such as the DAE model.

Chapter References

AI Statement: Examples in this chapter are adapted from content generated by Perplexity. (2025). Perplexity.ai (AI Chatbot) [Large language model]. https://www.perplexity.ai/