Cultural Diversity in the Work Place

Introduction:

Now that the demographics of the United States have expanded rapidly in recent years, there are numerous cultures and ethnicities represented in many areas of our everyday lives. The workplace has become a much diversified environment; which can be very interesting and intuitive at times, but can also be a hassle at the same time. With the introduction of different cultural beliefs, ethnic backgrounds, and native languages in the work place, the ability to convey one’s message to fellow colleagues can be a bit chaotic. The employees and managers of companies need to make a conscious effort to break through the culture barrier to make interpersonal communication run smoothly in the workplace. The world “diversity” is often correlated with positive social interactions between those of different race, ethnicities, and culture. Therefore if diversity is supposed to be positive, why is it difficult to achieve cultural diversity in the workplace and how can we do so?

Background:

The general consensus on how to handle these issues with cultural diversity is “expect members of the minority culture to adapt to the cultural requirements of the majority group,” (Amaram, 2007). But in reality, that is not fair to those coming from the minority culture, nor is it very efficient or effective. America has been geared towards equality of gender since Women’s Suffrage and equality of race, primarily black and white, since the Civil Rights Act in the 1960’s. But since 9/11 in 2001 other races such as Asians and Middle Easterns have had a hard time fitting into niches in the workplace due to racial profiling. The number of immigrants has nearly tripled since 1970, increasing from 9.6 million to 27 million in the past 30 years (Kundhal & Kundhal, 2003), therefore making the expectation for adaption in the workplace to this culture shock to be immediate.

Critical Assessment:

The pursuit for cultural diversity brings many challenges with it, sometimes making it difficult for those involved in the workplace to reach a steady medium. One of those challenges that employers and employees need to overcome is the different cultural beliefs that people from different backgrounds, upbringings, and countries may add to the “office’s melting pot”. The way that someone is raised usually carries a lot of weight when it comes to how they conduct themselves later in their adult life, especially during their profession. Depending on someone’s political views, religious beliefs, family values, and other factors that go into one’s character, an employee could be offended by their colleague’s words or actions.

Along with the idea that a person’s culture can affect how they intake and interpret an action or words from their colleague, culture can also have an effect on the opposite; what someone says and does to one of an unfamiliar culture. This type of behavior is found very prevalent in cultures when “pride” for one’s country, area, or neighborhood is of very high priority and they would die, literally, to authenticate their pride. “Organizational members from minority subgroups also face obstacles from ethnocentrism within an organization’s culture” (Amaram, 2003), which is when those of the prominent race in the office believes that they are more entitle than the minority, which leads to prejudice and discrimination. This kind of behavior can lead to confrontations and misunderstandings in the workplace which cause a rift in the office’s diversified environment.

Advice for Best Practices:

When it comes to making improvements to ensure that these types of challenges can be overcame, the work that needs to be done is almost solely on the shoulders of a company’s management. The plan of action must be made by those at the top to trickle down into the ethics and ideals of those at the bottom.

They should make sure that there are clear guidelines and even clearer consequences if those guidelines are broken to ensure that employees do not clash cultures. It is very easy for one to insult another’s culture so by enforcing a code of ethics, the office can be ran much more smoothly. It is said that “there should be a mechanism to hold managers accountable for meeting diversity goals” (Amaram, 2007), which in the end makes managers conscious and aware of the overall objective of complete diversity in the workplace.

Employers should also implement an education program to help employees further understand the differences and similarities between other cultures, religions, and values. “Formal cultural training has been found to improve the cultural competence of health care practitioners” (Kundhal & Kundhal, 2003), therefore the competence of employees in a business can also increase from formal training. Sometimes one can go into a situation in the office blind and unaware that what they say could offend another party. So by educating everyone on how other cultures handle different situations, certain confrontations can be avoided.

Lastly, the management should consider various activities, exercises, and tasks that promote team-building and working in a team to complete the objective. This type of bonding gives others the ability to learn about their colleagues’ cultures without digging their head into a handbook or company manual. Face-to-face interaction and conversation is the easiest and most effective way for anyone to begin to understand the differences they may have with someone and work towards settling their differences.

Conclusion:

Despite all that has been said, cultural diversity is something that can achieved through precise and well-thought out plans of action by the management of a company. With the sudden spike of immigration in the past 30 years, successful diversity in the workplace is important for a company’s success. And with all the cogs moving together, the employees, managers, and all the way up to the top of management, cultural diversity is a feasible goal within the interpersonal communication in the workplace.

References:

1. Amaram, D. (2007). Cultural Diversity: Implications For Workplace Management. Journal of Diversity Management, 2(4), 1-6.

2. Kundhal, K., & Kundhal, P. (2003). Cultural Diversity: An Evolving Challenge to Physician-Patient Communication. JAMA, 289(1), 94-94.

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