Majority and Minority Perceptions and Behavior in Cross-Cultural Teams

Four hundred and fifty-six students were constituted into 1 14 four-person cross-cultural teams in which the three man majority in each group were American White Males. An American White Female, American Black Male or Foreign Male was the single minority member. After 13 weeks of joint tasks, data on roles claimed for self and attributed to others were collected by questionnaire and essay. Interviews supplemented the questionnaire. The American White Male majority claimed task leadership for themselves or attributed it to other AWM's. They perceived all minorities as generally following and contributing relatively little. In turn, most minority members did not claim leadership. Those few that did strive for leadership were usually rejected. American White Females tended to respond with complementary stereotypic behavior: they were relatively passive, claimed non-leadership, adhered to group norms and were cooperative. In contrast, American Black, European and Latin American Males tended to violate group norms and frequently to withdraw from the team. Japanese males remained active in their groups and tried to conform but were sometimes excluded by the majority.