The management of multicultural teams: Opportunities and challenges in retirement homes

Abstract Demographic and socioeconomic changes in many developed countries are increasing the demand for nurses in health-care institutions, such as retirement homes. This increasing demand cannot be met through a local supply, making it necessary to hire nurses from abroad. This results in a cultural diversification of the nursing workforce and the consequential formation of multicultural teams. The aim of this research paper is to find out the particular opportunities and challenges faced by culturally diverse nursing teams. An online-based survey was used to test hypotheses and employs national diversity as a surface-level measure of the teams’ cultural diversity. Results from the online survey show that when commitment to the team is high, increasing levels of diversity induce decreasing levels of commitment. Furthermore, increasing team diversity is associated with increasing levels of both process and delegation conflict. When relationship conflict was low, increasing levels of team diversity were associated with increasing levels of relationship conflict. Results also indicate that when communication is effective and misunderstandings are low, increasing levels of diversity are in negative association with the overall communication outcome. Based on a discussion on the research findings, recommendations to manage cultural diversity within health-care institutions are given.