How to manage a multicultural project team or employee that is dis-integrated and likely not interested to work at all?

as unconventional as it may seem i will tell you to bring  a western native leader, american or european  ,i have found that many ethnic group respect and accept orders and instructions from leaders that they feel are superior to them.

i do apologize for using this approach,but it really does work.

Most important thing is the comfort you are providing to your employees. You are aware that i have diversified team and their needs are different. Understand their needs, evalute their competencies and than assign them responisibilities. I don't see anything like disintegration or not interested to work. If a person is hired for any job or project at the time of hiring he is aware of his jd's. Secondly, revamp is not the solution for improving project KPI's. It will affect more if such a strategy is applied. In my opinion good PM should overcome such kind of issues by applying appropriate PM techniques.

I find that quite often the problem is with management rather than the individual/team, in particular culture ignorance and lack of respect.  My opinion is that if you want your team to go that 'extra mile' you should be prepared to go the extra mile for them.  I have worked with many multicultural teams and the first thing I notice is the 'us and them' attitude, especially when dining - segregation is not the best way to gain the trust and confidence of your team.  Personally I never ‘tell’ a member of my team to do something, I ask – “Could you do this for me please” or “we have a problem with his, what do you think”.

 

Treat your team as you would like to be treated yourself and you will go a long way.  Two months ago two of my team knocked on my door at11pm to tell me we had a problem with a burst water main, they suggested we wake other crew members to help deal with the problem, I said no, we can deal with it.  At one point I was hip deep in water when one of the kitchen staff walked by, before I know it he has rallied other guys (from different departments) to help bail out.  We got stuck in and sorted the problem in short time.

 

Respect and Lead by Example is the carrot I use for my crew.

 

 

My staff call me Sir - this in normal, but when I return from leave and they each shake my hand and with a big smile say “welcome back BHAI” I know it will be a good tour.

The first thing I will do in such a case is to build effective communication in the project plan.

As far as the people who don't want to waork at all, I will exclude those from the project team and replace them by others willing to cooperate. If I can't, I will work to understnad thier issues and seek support from HR and management to resolve their issues. I will continue to control them and treat them as a potentials risk and plan its mitigation within the project plan.

It is best to use the carrot and stick policy. Try to motivate the team. At least some people would be motivated by incentives. And those who are not motivated fear factor about loosing the job would motivate them to minimum acceptable performance.

Hmm, not interested in work , means lack of trust on each other or on completion of the project , which all boils down to one thing, whether the mgmt (I.e. me) can assure accountability and cohesion in the team and also show the little results to motivate them that the project shall get completed. India itself has a multi cultural environment, ad to this a mix of European smes trying to replicate there African success, and there is distrust everywhere. Now accountability translates into cohesion, because mgmt becomes the goto person for keeping track and managing lapses. When cohesion of the slightest degree is achieved, the team automatically trusts its capability to perform and deliver.

give the team members responsibility in the Project. Ask them what they see as a problem and also ask them to think of two solutions for it. Discuss this together. Then solve all the problems together, preferably with the solutions presented, but keep the lead, this is the most difficult part.

Agree with Mr Amer and Mr Tohamy. 

If you are talking about a specific employer in your teame then there is a big chance that he is being harrassed and threatened by another .If you are talking about a whole team then there are two words "project dead line " and " Pay check"

you can inforce people to work with others they don't like but you will lose because people will resist by natural; they will not say we will not work but the performance will degrade on the time. you can see the signs such as mistakes, delay, low quality & this will lead to repeat efforts & you are welcome to the headaches pool.

 

 

 

 

Investing in staff is a long-term investment so:

At the outset should be detected if the employee is good, but is unable to integrate into the job assigned to him during the follow-up to the archives. And working on guidance to what interest and creativity ...

In the event the employee is not good must be replaced