Date of Graduation

2003

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College/School

School of Education

Program

Organization & Leadership EdD

First Advisor

Patricia Mitchell

Second Advisor

Alma Flor Ada

Third Advisor

Rosita Galang

Abstract

With the advent of an increasingly interdependent world, organizations and businesses around the globe either purposefully seek or have no other option than to integrate work teams with members from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds. This is true in government, the corporate world, education, and the social service fields and community development endeavors, among others. However, multicultural teams most frequently experience frustrations and, at times, significant impasses in their performance. This phenomenon is directly related to differences in values and beliefs towards work, as well as to habits and expectations regarding teamwork (Bennett and Stewart, 1991; Cox, 1994; Donnellon, 1996; Hofstede, 2001). Consequently, a careful exploration of intercultural issues relating to work and teams is imperative in order to shed light on how to better equip working groups facing this reality at the dawn of the Twenty -First Century.

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