Lesson 4: Resolution of Team Divergence

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is made from the words ethnic (ethno) and center (centrism) and is used to describe the tendency of people to believe that their ethnic group or culture is superior to all others (Hall, 2005, Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2005, Ferraro, 2006). Any foreign behavior, values and standards are evaluated in terms of the behaviors, values and standards of the person's original culture. The more similar a foreign culture is to yours the better it is perceived. An example of this would be U. S. citizens stating that Canada is just like the United States. Although there are many commonalities, there are key differences between the two countries and cultures. Ethnocentric attitudes may be the result from an egotistical superior attitude or simply a naïve understanding of the other culture.

Ethnocentrism is the greatest single obstacle to understanding another culture. It prevents one from having a desire to explore, examine and understand other cultures. It refuses to learn different, new and, in some cases better, ways of doing things. Ethnocentrism supports conflicts as any divergence from one's original culture is viewed as deviations from the "correct" or "natural" way to do something. As long as one persists with ethnocentric views it prevents conflicts from being handled in a fully successful manner

All people are ethnocentric to some degree. Understanding your ethnocentric views and how they affect your relations with others from a different culture is an important step to avoiding or working through conflicts. While no one is expected to abandon all of his or her ethnocentric beliefs, understanding your own ethnocentric beliefs allows you to identify areas that you may compromise on and areas that you hold to be true. It helps to establish boundaries for team members to work with.

On a GV team ethnocentric attitudes may be manifest in a lack of respect for the other team member's culture when establishing team goals, processes and protocols. Part of the team may only see value in doing things the way they have been taught and do not examine how other cultures approach a task . It prevents team members from learning from other cultures and adopting practices that improve the final product.