An ethnographic investigation was held at a large company in the New York City. The team under investigation consisted of people of different ages, nationalities, religious beliefs, representatives of various professions. The purpose of ethnographic investigation was to trace specific manifestations of the national psyche and its influence on the behavior and interaction of people, especially in a tense working relationships; to examine the processes of teamwork, the elements of organized culture, relationship between the participants involved in the work. Since the U.S. is a home to many nationalities, who have equal opportunities in employment, the majority of teams in organizations are diverse, that is why the investigation is highly relevant and practical significance, which led to the choice of theme.
The main objective of this investigation was to study the identity of the Spanish national psyche and to reveal the specifics of its influence on the behavior of members of this ethnic group in conflict with other people.
The hypothesis of the study was the following:
a) national psychology influences the interaction and behavior of people, gives them a definite shape and specificity results in quality parameters and characteristics of these processes;
b) behavior of the Spaniards and other nationalities in the conflict interaction with each other has its differences, which are due to historically developed peculiarities of each nation and its social perception of other ethnic communities, the specific expression of their values ”‹”‹and motives, the national non-individual personality and social and psychological qualities peculiar styles and strategies with other people.
Ethnographic study included close communication with the participants, acquaintance with the kinds of activity among the participants and discussion of their work. Ethnography was chosen because of the possibility of an extensive description of the culture of communication and work between different members in the team. Other approaches were less suitable: for example, theoretic research is used rather to construct a theory than a description, and phenomenology is focused more on the individual experience than at the cultural level.
The role of the researcher was to fix the content and process of team cohesion and communication for over 40 hours of study during 4 weeks. All characteristics of the behavior and communication between participants, their responsibilities were reported in the form of notes, as the basis of generalizations and conclusions, after each study session. Acting in accordance with the investigation strategy, the researcher tried to identify specific details and additional models. As we can see, a researcher takes a central role in the ethnographic study, acts as a leader, directs and tracks the progress of the pilot process.