The Challange of Cultural Diversity in Corporate America
The expanding conflict over cultural diversity
in corporate America may present as many opportunities
and problems as affirmative action. Today, cultural
diversity is an important fact of life and business,
due to the changing face of society, and therefore,
the work place. It is growing ever more essential for
people to interact with others outside of their racial,
ethical, religious, regional, social, etc. boundaries.
To stay on top of their competitors, corporations must
change their approach, and see diversity not as a necessary
evil, but as a source of enrichment and opportunity
that may bring a wealth of benefits to the company.
In an examination of the U.S. workplace and
specifically looking at management positions, it is
clearly evident that minorities are "under"
represented. The reasons behind this seem to vary
depending on which point of view it is looked at.
Some argue that minorities "haven't been in the labor
pool long enough to work [their way] up". It is
ridiculous to believe this because there are plenty
of qualified minorities for any of those jobs.(1)
Others argue that "minority employees don't know the
rules that allow one to 'win' in the corporate 'game'".
If this is true, then what is keeping them from
learning these "rules" and what can be done to teach
them?(2) While these reasons may hold some truth, it is
also, as proven time after time in this country's
media, a matter of race and/or gender.
There is an inherit distrust on the part of
today's managers (typically white males who grew up
with little exposure to people from other cultures)
in the abilities of others outside of the white, male
work-forc...
... middle of paper ...
...of this society and this country. "Understand
that over the long term, the successful manager is
going to have to deal with large numbers of minorities
and women in business, and [it is] presume[d] most
managers want to be successful, want their company to
be successful. Therefore, don't walk away from
[diversity], walk up to it".(8)
1 Copeland, (June, 1988), pg. 53
2 Copeland, (July, 1988), pg. 44
3 Copeland, (June, 1988), pg. 54
4 Copeland, (June, 1988), pg. 54
5 Copeland, (July, 1988), pg. 45
6 Copeland, (June, 1988), pg. 53
7 Copeland, (June, 1988), pg. 54
8 Copeland, (July, 1988), pg. 49
Bibliography:
Copeland, Lennie (1988, Jun). "Making the Most of
Cultural Differences at the Workplace", Personnel,
pp. 52 - 54
Copeland, Lennie (1988, July). "Valuing Diversity,
Part 2: Pioneers and Champions of Change", Personnel,
pp. 44 - 49
Organizational diversity is a vital attribute causing rapidly growing controversial debates in today’s public and private business sectors. Many of the adversarial perspectives regarding organizational diversity have manifested in various organizations due to the implementation of laws, sanctions, programs and other initiatives designed and mandated to create a more equalized employment workforce.
Cultural diversity in the workplace is becoming more and more prevalent. Corporations in all industries are encouraging minorities, women, elderly workers, people with disabilities as well as foreign workers to join white males in the workplace. The following analysis will focus on these groups and how companies are encouraging them to join an ever-expanding workplace.
The workforce of America is more diverse than it has ever been. White male upper class men no longer solely dominate companies. Women, people of color, and other minority groups are now rising in the ranks and demanding change. How can one know all the ways to manage such a diverse group of employees? Through a variety of ideas, experiments, and attempts, leaders across the nation are looking for solutions to this answer. Not only are people coming from different ethnicities, we are also experiencing a great influx of workers from nations all across the globe. To keep the level of job satisfaction high, workers must be able to feel comfortable in their workplace environment. It is almost impossible for a person to know everything about all cultures and be aware of what may or may not offend a person from a different ethnic group. What must be done is to teach cultural awareness and diversity training. Basically what I have discovered in reading the journal articles is that there is no one right way to run a company but there are definitely ‘better’ ways when it comes to cultural sensitivity in the workplace. As I continue my research, I am looking to find what some of the most effective ways to manage a culturally diverse workplace. Some of the issues that I am coming across are related to gender, race/ethnicity, communication patterns, and power struggles. I feel this subject is very relevant to our course because as we focus on management and human relations, we must take into account the humans that we are managing. Even if we just look at the diversity of our class we see how different our perspectives can be. To be an effective manager in this day and age, cultural diversity issues must be given serious consider...
Diversity is the key to growth in today’s aggressively competitive global marketplace. Leaders can no longer hide behind their lack of cultural intelligence, but embrace diversity. To enjoy its benefits. Cultural diversity refers to the varieties of human cultures and the cultural difference that exist in the organization, society or the world as a whole (Amadeo, K., 2014). The characteristics of diversity include race, language, ethnicity, religion, value system, education, nationality, social structure, beliefs, sex, and physical appearances. Cultural diversity is increasingly growing in the United State workforce. A report shows a projection of decline in white working age from 83 percent to 63 percent and an increase in the minority group from 18 percent to 37 percent by 2020 (NCPPHD, 2005). The cultural diversity has contributed substantially to the social and economic growth of the country. Leaders in an organization should not ignore the substantial benefits of cultural diversity in the workplace, but maintained and value it to increase the organization’s reputation and productivity.
Schein in his book “Organizational Culture and Leadership” explains how different believes and behaviors start to be logical when we understand their cultures by stating “When we learn to see the world through cultural lenses, all kinds of things begin to make sense that initially were mysterious, frustrating, or seemingly stupid” (2010, p. 13). This kind of foresight should be the starting point in order to manage the tremendously growing diversity in the workforce nowadays. Leaders and administrators of both public and private organizations through their influence are responsible to promote and manage diversity in an ethical manner.
Gender, racial, and ethnic diversity means different things to different people. Some believe that diversity is about quotas, and affirmative action. Others believe that diversity is something that will happen on its own with out intervention. Some experts who study diversity, however, believe that diversity is not something that should be left up to chance. It is important, therefore, for organizations to take action to encourage and foster diversity in the workplace (Clarke, 1995, p. 13).
Today’s management in the workforce is composed of all types of people verses thirty years ago when white males held a majority of upper-management positions in companies. These positions are now held by a mixture of ethnic back grounds and women who hold just as many if not more management positions then men. Just by looking at the changes in management demographics shows how important it is for people to understand cultural competency in the workplace. Dr. Roosevelt Thomas Jr. (1999) stated, “Diversity is the collective mixture of whomever we have in our workforce characterized by their differences and similarities” (p.11). Managers and supervisors must understand the characteristics of a diversity mature individual; they also need to be able to articulate the differences between affirmative action, managing diversity, understanding and valuing diversity to build skills that transforms awareness into productive and supportive workplace behaviors.
In my readings, I have agreed with the term for culture in the book?? Cultural Diversity?? written by Jerry V. Filled. It states that "One 's culture becomes one?s paradigm, defining what is real and what is right.? in other words culture is taught to children by family it is a variety of learned behaviors, beliefs, values, traditions etc. All of which help shape a person and is a huge portion of who they are.
Workforce diversity has become a reality in organizations. More organizations have written workforce diversity policies or programs. Although there is still no consensus on how to define workforce diversity, diversity policies and program are producing positive effects in organizations. Diversity in the workplace is a way of defining acceptable behaviors of employees. Diversity represents all the ways in which individuals are both similar and different. It involves a variation of characteristics such as: age, sex, color, religion, national origin, disability, or any other differences. Although diversity initiatives are common in the workplace today, this is due mainly to the federal government use of constitutional amendments, legislation, and executive orders, along with court decisions to interpret the laws for equal rights (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2010). The way an organization defines diversity and how it manages its diverse workforce may determine its effectiveness.
Being an American has a different meaning to everyone. When I think of America, I think of freedom, diversity, and equality. In America, everyone is free to do what they want, when they want. America represents diversity. There are many different types of people who have different beliefs, but we all can get along. America represents equality because everyone has equal rights. Nobody has power over one another and everyone has equal say in decisions like the presidential elections.
Ultimately, to create a culture of tolerance that helps attract and retain employees, top executives need to set a tone that accommodates diversity practices. There is no point in diversity programs if management does not get it. And, there is no point in addressing age, and religion. The demographic diversification of the American workforce is well underway and will become only more challenging in the future.
The United States is a nation that is made up of cultural diversity because of the high number of people immigrating to America for freedom, financial success, and education. People have different reasons of choosing to migrate whether it is the harsh conditions in their native homeland that makes the people take action and leave to a better environment or etc. The number one question that most American ask to themselves is: Why does America attract about 20 percent of the world’s international immigrants? The answer is that America benefit its people civil right and their privileges that can’t be taken away. Thanks to the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Service immigrants are becoming citizen by the naturalization process which means they
Everyday people are discriminated against because of their religion, skin color, or race, and immigrants are not an exception to this. The government should not favor certain religious and ethnic immigrants over others. If the government treats all immigrants equally, diversity in America will increase and the U.S. can easily benefit. Some people think that certain religions and ethnicities have more terrorists and criminals than others and choose to treat innocent people unfavorably, but their accusations are wrong.
In today’s society that we live in we face multicultural. Even though we live in America. We live around people of different race, culture, religion and so on. Some of the multicultural speak English and some don’t. Some have the same religion and some don’t. We even live near some who are same in race but speaks different languages. I think it is very interesting learning about other cultures.
Diversity is all around us and how organizations deal with the notion of diversity can be complex and quite diverse. We know that being diverse in the workplace is important to the organization's success, should be recognized, accepted, and embraced. It’s how the organizations live up to what they believe in and must go above and beyond legal compliance and requirements to promoting diversity and inclusion. Otherwise, employees may view the organization's vision and policies as lip service and only be tolerant of diversity because the organization said so.