ISSN 2029-8587

PROBLEMS
OF PSYCHOLOGY
IN THE 21st CENTURY
Volume 5, 2013

WORK IN MULTICULTURAL
ENVIRONMENT
Stanislava Stoyanova
South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Bulgaria
E-mail: avka@abv.bg

Many people meet the differences of national cultures not only as tourists but also in their
everyday working life, because the fast process of migration, internationalisation and globalisation
inevitably integrate cultures within the framework of multinational organizations (Konečná,
2006).
Multicultural environment means diversity in terms of ethnicity, gender, religious, social be-
longing, etc. Multicultural environment retains workers from a variety of cultural backgrounds. The
work is such environment differs in the various approaches to time, information, planning, decision-
making, relationships, communication style, power, resolving conflict, developing leadership and
motivation (CHARIS, 2012).
Organizations and cultures whose values are weak uncertainty avoidance, femininity, and low
power distance strive for maximizing the benefits of diversity – like in the case of Scandinavian
countries for example (Hofstede, 2001). The knowledge of cultural differences may help the workers
operating in multicultural environment to reduce the possible misunderstandings and it enables them
to foresee the possible reactions of their partners (Konečná, 2006). Work in multicultural teams re-
quires flexibility, adaptation, understanding and respect for different cultures and values, tolerance,
open-mindedness, friendly communication and good non-verbal communication skills.
The employees who strive to demonstrate only acceptable in the organization emotions would
probably suffer from harmful consequences related to their health, relations, and work performance,
including burn-out. The correspondence between the experienced and demonstrated emotions is not
related to such harmful consequences (Mesmer-Magnus, DeChurch & Wax, 2012).
Environment that constantly changes provokes stress and tension (Petrov, 2006). The require-
ments of the work (tension, physical exhaustion) are the main risk factors for burn-out (emotional
exhaustion, depersonalization, and less successful coping, less personal realization) (Recchia &
Steffgen, 2007).
There are different educational methods and approaches for work in intercultural environment.
The interactive methods are used, as well as discussion, the methods of the concrete situation – ca-
sus, role-playing games, games for intercultural competence; games for introduction, cooperations,
etc. Their goal is increase of tolerance, intercultural sensitivity and intercultural communicative
competence (Totzeva, 2012).
Communicative competence in multicultural environment includes the proper use of verbal and
non-verbal expressive linguistic messages - appellative (strive for impact on the others), informa-
tive, evaluative, and self-revealing ones. The implicit appeals in the process of communication are
expressed in an indirect way by means of establishment of such emotional climate that makes the
other people execute the untold wish – for example, if someone looks sad, we strive to make him/
her glad. The paradoxical appeals in the process of communication aim to provoke the opposite reac-
tions to these that they announce as aiming to provoke. For example, if a child in the kindergarten
does not want to eat, this child is told that the food is not for him/her and s/he must not eat it. The
explicit appeals are avoided because of fear of self-revelation, fear of denial, fear of limiting the
other’s freedom, reluctance to take responsibility (Mizova, 2004).
Stanislava STOYANOVA. Work in Multicultural Environment ISSN 2029-8587
PROBLEMS
OF PSYCHOLOGY
IN THE 21st CENTURY
Volume 5, 2013

Work in multicultural environment has different aspects from the points of view of the organi-
5
zations, managers, employees, and their families.
The boys till 5th grade in Korea, Japan, and USA are more interested in the numbers and in the
objects than the girls who are more interested in the words (Henderson, Marx & Kim, 1999). The
boys are more competitive than the girls are in the Anglo-American, Indian and Mexican cultures,
but the opposite trend is found for Israeli children (Strube, 1981).
The children raised in the institutions do not trust the world in the unknown and unsure situ-
ations. They do not take the initiative in the play. Their play misses the organizational part related
to role distribution, planning, and plot development. They strive for possessing the toys. Their play
could have a correctional and therapeutic function in a secure environment of a restricted place where
the child feels protected and the child’s behaviour is not assessed (Milenski, 2009).
The scientific journals like Problems of Psychology in the 21st Century are the result of the efforts
and the co-operative work of the authors, the editors, the reviewers and the readers in multicultural
environment. Its aim is to promote scientific knowledge that could improve mutual understanding
and coping strategies in everyday life situations.

References

CHARIS (2012). Managing the Multicultural Environment. Winner of the “Excellence through Diversity”
Award. .,http://www.chariscorp.com/mime.asp
Henderson, B. B., Marx, M. H., & Kim, Y. C. (1999). Academic Interests and Perceived Competence in
American, Japanese, and Korean Children. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 30 (1), 32-50.
Hofstede, H. (2001). Kulturi I organizatzii: softuer na uma [Cultures and organizations: mind softwere]. Sofia:
Klasika and stil.
Konečná, Z. (2006). Cross-Culture Management: Worker in a Multicultural Environment. Vadyba / Manage-
ment, 3–4 (12–13), 58-64.
Mesmer-Magnus, J. R., DeChurch, L. A., & Wax, A. (2012). Moving emotional labor beyond surface and deep
acting: A discordance-congruence perspective. Organizational Psychology Review, 2 (1), 6–53.
Milenski, I. (2009). Osobenosti na igrata pri detza vazpitavani bez roditeli [Peculiarities of the play of the
childrens raised without their parents]. Psihologia jurnal, 6 (1-55), 14-17.
Mizova, B. (2004). Ubejdavashtata verbalna komunikatzia [Persuasive verbal communication]. Insight, 4,
35-37.
Petrov, D. (2006). Postdinamikata [Post-dynamic]. Insight, 3, 55-56.
Recchia, S., & Steffgen, G. (2007). Risk factors of teacher burnout. Paper presented at Xth European Congress
in Prague, Czech Republic, in July 2007.
Strube, M. J. (1981). Meta-Analysis and Cross-Cultural Comparison : Sex Differences in Child Competitive-
ness. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 12 (1), 3-20.
Totzeva, Y. (2012). Pedagogicheski tehnologii za rabota v multikulturna sreda. Avtorska programa [Pedagogi-
cal technologies for work in multicultural environment. Author’s syllabus]. Association “Professional
forum for education”, Retrieved on July 2012, from http://ytotseva.blogspot.com/

Received: January 31, 2013 Accepted: February 27, 2013

Stanislava Stoyanova PhD., Associate Professor, South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, 66 Ivan Michailov Street,
2700 Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.
E-mail: avka@abv.bg
Website: http://acad.swu.bg/cvp.php?uid=avka