This consensus decision-making activity uses discussions of the relative usefulness of pieces of advice related to effective cross-cultural collaboration. In striving to arrive at a consensus, the members of the group analyze and understand the cost and benefits of different pieces of advice.
Synopsis
The participants individually study a set of practical advice for effective cross-cultural collaboration. They rearrange the items in order of their usefulness. Working as a group, the participants share and discuss their individual arrangements and arrive at a consensus arrangement. They compare their arrangement with that of a group of experts and make appropriate changes.
Purpose
To prioritize (and apply) pieces of advice for effective cross-cultural collaboration.
Participants
Minimum: 2
Maximum: 8
Best: 4 to 6
Larger numbers of participants can be organized into several smaller groups.
Time
20 to 40 minutes
Handouts
Random Arrangement. Alphabetized list of five pieces of advice for effective cross-cultural collaboration
Expert Arrangement. List of five pieces of advice for effective cross-cultural collaboration, arranged according to experts’ opinion of their usefulness
Preparation
Write five pieces of advice. Review the literature on effective cross-cultural collaboration and interview experts on this topic. Write five pieces of practical advice, making sure that each piece of advice is distinctively different from the others. Arrange these pieces of advice in alphabetical order and number them. Print copies of this random (alphabetical) arrangement of pieces of advice.
Rearrange the list. Enlist the help of experts on cross-cultural collaboration. Ask them to rearrange your list of five pieces of advice according to their usefulness. Print copies of this expert arrangement of pieces of advice.
Flow
Distribute copies of the random list. Give a copy of this handout to each person.
Here’s the list we used during a recent play of this game:
An effective way to discover relevant cultural differences is to undertake a small project with your colleague from the other culture. Then debrief what worked and what did not.
Different cultures have different views of cross-gender collaboration. Figure out the dos and don’ts with your collaborator.
If you cannot tolerate ambiguity, you cannot function in a cross-cultural setting. Learn to thrive and flourish under uncertainty.
Incompatible preferences? Don’t give in and don’t coerce. Discuss to find a third approach.
Treat your perceptions about people from other cultures as probabilistic statements, not as absolute reality.
Rearrange the pieces of advice. Ask the participants to independently study the pieces of advice and rearrange them in order of their usefulness. Suggest that the participants estimate the different costs of applying each piece of advice the its potential benefits. Also ask the participants to take into account how frequently a piece of advice is likely to be used in their workplace situations. Announce a 3-minute time limit for this task.
Arrive at a consensus. At the end of 3 minutes, ask the participants to work together as a group. Invite them to share and discuss their independent arrangements and come to a consensus on an arrangement that everyone agrees to. Suggest a 3-minute time limit for this consensus task.
Present the consensus list. Ask a representative of the group present its consensus arrangement. Invite the group members to explain the logic behind their arrangement.
Compare with the experts’ arrangement. Distribute copies of the list of advice arranged by the experts. Ask the members of the group to compare their arrangement with the experts’ arrangement and pinpoint the differences. Ask the group members to come up with their guesses about the logic used by the experts.
Here’s the experts’ list that we used in the activity:
An effective way to discover relevant cultural differences is to undertake a small project with your colleague. Then debrief what worked and what did not.
If you cannot tolerate ambiguity, you cannot function in a cross-cultural setting. Learn to thrive and flourish under uncertainty.
Treat your perceptions about people from other cultures as probabilistic statements, not as absolute reality.
Incompatible preferences? Don’t give in and don’t coerce. Discuss to find a third approach.
Different cultures have different views of cross-gender collaboration. Figure out the dos and don’ts with your collaborator.
Adjust the arrangement. Ask the group members to align their arrangement with the experts’ arrangement if they want to. Assign a suitable time limit for this task.
Justify the final arrangement. At the end of the time limit, ask the participants whether or not they changed the order of their arrangement to match the experts’ arrangement. In either case, ask the group members to justify their final arrangement.
Conduct a debriefing discussion. Use the following types of questions to encourage the participants reflect on the activities and share their insights:
What different types of costs (financial, time-based, and interpersonal) influenced your decisions?
What different types of benefits influenced your decisions?
Did you pay attention to probable frequency of being able to apply each piece of advice?
Could you modify the last item in your final list to improve its usefulness?