the smart pms blog http://thesmartpms.posterous.com Most recent posts at the smart pms blog posterous.com Sat, 23 Oct 2010 17:46:00 -0700 Managing a Multicultural Team - Part 2 http://thesmartpms.posterous.com/managing-a-multicultural-team-part-2 http://thesmartpms.posterous.com/managing-a-multicultural-team-part-2

Haptics studies the physical contact in nonverbal communications.
For humans touch is an extremely important sense since it provides information about surfaces and textures and is an important component of nonverbal communications in interpersonal relationships.
Touching varies in cultures and range from low/moderate to high contact cultures (i.e. Latin countries are high contact)
Not any area of the body can be touched and this also varies depending on the culture. It's common to identify non vulnerable body parts (NVBP) and vulnerable body parts, which would be inappropriate to touch in any social setting.
In this segment the call center manager wonders why he cannot "connect" with his team.
Is appropriate for him touch his team members in the office environment?
Is appropriate to keep his "American office environment" behavior with his Indian team mates?
Check the video and decide.

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Sat, 23 Oct 2010 17:26:00 -0700 Managing a Multicultural Team - Part 1 http://thesmartpms.posterous.com/managing-a-multicultural-team-part-1 http://thesmartpms.posterous.com/managing-a-multicultural-team-part-1

NBC is broadcasting the sitcom "Outsourced" in which an American call center manager is transferred to India to run the call center. 
The new manager's cultural intelligence is very low and he does not know how to approach his new team formed by locals from different geographic areas from India. 
In the sitcom some cultural situations are shown and due to the lack of cultural background may seem funny but this is a real issue that project managers face when managing a multicultural team.

Note the call center manager's "first impression" of India and how he greets the call center team members. In some cultures the "touching" for some cultures may be misunderstood and may be a source of conflict.

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