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Effective Multicultural Teams: Theory and Practice Advances in Group Decision and Negotiation Volume 3 Series Editor Melvin F. Shakun, New York University, U.S.A. Editorial Board Tung Bui, University of Hawaii, U.S.A. Guy Olivier Faure, University of Paris V, Sorbonne, France Gregory Kersten, University of Ottawa and Concordia University, Canada D. Marc Kilgour, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada Peyman Faratin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A. The book series, Advances in Group Decision and Negotiation — as an extension of the journal, Group Decision and Negotiation — is motivated by unifying approaches to group decision and negotiation processes. These processes are purposeful, adaptive and complex – cybernetic and self-organizing – and involve relation and coordination in multiplayer, multicriteria, ill-structured, evolving dynamic problems in which players (agents) both cooperate and conflict. These processes are purposeful complex adaptive systems. Group decision and negotiation involves the whole process or flow of activities relevant to group decision and negotiation – such as, communication and information sharing, problem definition (representation) and evolution, alternative generation, socialemotional interaction, coordination, leadership, and the resulting action choice. Areas of application include intraorganizational coordination (as in local/global strategy, operations management and integrated design, production, finance, marketing and distribution – e.g., as for new products), computer supported collaborative work, labor-management negotiation, interorganizational negotiation (business, government and nonprofits), electronic negotiation and commerce, mobile technology, culture and negotiation, intercultural and international relations and negotiation, globalization, terrorism, environmental negotiation, etc. Claire B. Halverson • S. Aqeel Tirmizi Editors Effective Multicultural Teams: Theory and Practice Editors Claire B. Halverson School for International Training Brattleboro, VT USA ISBN: 978-1-4020-6956-7 S. Aqeel Tirmizi School for International Training Brattleboro, VT USA e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-6957-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2007941590 © 2008 Springer Science + Business Media B.V. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com I dedicate this book to my daughter Renya Halverson Larson who encouraged me to write this book and helped me with her outstanding writing skills - Claire My mother Nighat Sultana taught me to embrace kindness and patience which continue to enrich my life and my father Ahmad Raza has always encouraged me to pursue my dreams - I dedicate this book to them - Aqeel Preface Multicultural and multinational teams have become an important strategic and structural element of organizational work in our globalized world today. These teams are demonstrating their importance from the factory floors to the boardrooms of contemporary organizations. The emergence of multicultural teams is evident across a variety of organizations in the private, public, and civil society sectors. These developments have led to an increasing interest in the theory and practice of multicultural teams. Management educational and training programs are giving increasing attention to these developments. At the same time, there is emerging interest in research about and study of multicultural teams. This boo