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Principles of managing diversity
What are some potential problems that must be overcome when using multicultural teams in today's organization
Reflection on cultural competence
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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.
There are many different characteristics of a diversity mature individual. The most important characteristic is when a person accepts diversity management responsibility. The person will need to understand the different types of ethnic backgrounds in the organization, and the different types of techniques he or she will have to use to motivate the staff. He or she will also understand how to treat everyone equal no matter what gender, or ethnic background the employee may be.
Diversity mature individuals must demonstrate contextual knowledge. This knowledge is showed by understanding his or her personal objectives. The individual must know what he or she plans to accomplish before working with others to help develop their personal goals. Also by knowing the organizational objectives, the individual can develop a team to strive towards the bottom line of the organizational goals. Finally, the individual must be able to provide conceptual clarity to the team. This clarity will help the team understand how and why these ideas were created. The one thing a manager does not want is for the team to think everything is just busy work and not for a specific purpose.
Other characteristics of a diversity mature individual include a person who challenges conventional wisdom, and engages in continuous learning. When a person challe...
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...tes is known as the melting pot of the world. This country is the home of many different cultures from many different areas. Cultural competency in the workplace is an issue that everyone needs to understand. By understanding the characteristics of a diversity mature individual, employees can focus on developing themselves to hold a management position in the future, and be able to relate to other cultures in the organization. Companies continue educate their staff on affirmative action, and what it takes to manage a diverse group. These companies want to supportive workplace behaviors in the organization to help achieve the bottom line, increase stockholder value.
References
Cox, T., & Beale, R. (1997). Developing Competency to Manage Diversity. San Francisco
CA: Berrett-Koehler Publisher Inc.
Martin, C., & Tulgan, B. (2002). Managing the Generation Mix. Amherst, MA:
HRD Press.
Subramaniam, R. (2005). Diversity at Workplace. The Star Online,. Retrieved
March 15, 2005, from http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story/asp.
Thomas, R., & Woodruff, M. (1999). Building a House of Diversity. New York, NY:
Amacom.
In attempts to comply with federal laws and in relation to fairness, organizations and business in the United States started increasing women’s representation and employment of people of color. These efforts resulted in a trend where women representation across all types of jobs increased while the workplace was characterized with people from different cultural backgrounds. Organizations and businesses sported multicultural and multilingual hues that resulted in a paradigm shift in the concept of workplace diversity (Srikrishna,
From this paper one can see that diversity is much more than just cultural differences. Occupation, differences in skills and abilities, personality traits, and values and attitudes are just a few of the types of diversity that impact individual behavior.
Cultural competence has to do with one’s culture. Culture affects among other factors, how children are raised, how families communicate, what is considered normal or abnormal, ways of coping with issues, the way we dress, when and where we seek medical treatment, and so forth. I should know because I come from a very cultural home where it is considered bad to talk to a male doctor about anything gynecological.
Diversity management initiatives are long term and strategic in focus. They strive not only to recruit, but to actively develop, promote and capitalize on the different skills and perspectives of minority employees (Marquis, 2007.) Every day, peopl...
With the current change in demographics throughout the workforce, organizations are feeling the effects of a larger percentage of baby boomers retiring and a large percentage of millennial new entrants. The words used to describe millennial employees, “spoiled, trophy kids, ambitious”, seem to be as everlasting as the constructive and negative perspectives attached to them. Many can debate on the entitlement of these employees within an organization, how these employees can be groomed and managed to better fit the organization, the positive and negative attributes they bring into the workplace, and how the preceding can benefit or derail the effectiveness of an organization. Nonetheless, a harder debate, comes about in denying that organizations must adjust to and integrate these employees into the workforce.
According to Kinicki, diversity represents the multitude of individual’s differences and similarities that exist among people. When developing a cultural diversity training program, one has to manage diversity with a new approach of inclusion and recognition. Managing diversity enables people to perform up to their maximum potential (Kinicki p. 111). As we analyze diversity, we will evaluate some common barriers and challenges in managing diversity. In developing a diversity program, we will analyze methods and procedures that will be apart of the program. Kinicki (p.*) says an important first step in overcoming these obstacles is for leaders to convey to their employees why the organization values diversity.
“Cultural competence is the ability to engage in actions or create conditions that maximize the optimal development of client and client systems” (Sue & Sue, 2013, p. 49). Multicultural competence includes a counselor to be aware of his or her biases, knowledge of the culture they are evaluating, and skills to evaluate a client with various backgrounds (Sue & Sue, 2013). Client assessment involves gathering information pertaining to the client’s condition. Making a culturally responsive diagnosis involves using the DSM-IV-TR axis (Hays, 2008). Following the axis backwards is ideal to discovering the client’s diagnosis, understanding the client’s ADDRESSING outline will help to come to a closer resolution for a diagnosis.
Diversity in the workplace is very important in today’s global workforce because workers in the economy all over the world are currently made up of many different ethnicities, varied cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds. People that are involved in management such as managers, and supervisors could greatly benefit from being accustomed to diversity in the workplace because their job entails dealing with a multicultural work environment on a daily basis. Knowing how to handle diversity in the workforce and having the necessary skills for supervisors would be beneficial not only to them but also to the success of the company and economy because a strong, diversified workforce will create a more “creative, innovative, and productive workforce.” (Kerby, 2012).
Traditionally, diversity refers to an assortment of races, ethnicities, genders, ages, disabilities and perhaps sexual orientations. A definition of diversity, however, should not be constrained by traditional categories such as these. Such a definition should also include categories such as religion, educational level, life experience, geographic location, socio-economic background, marital status and work experience. Indeed, each person employed by a company possesses unique qualities that encompass many factors.
‘Cultural competence is about our will and actions to build understanding between people, to be respectful and open to different cultural perspectives, strengthen cultural security and work towards equality in opportunity. The underlying principles in cultural competence are trust, respect for diversity, equity, fairness and social justice’ (DEEWR 2010, p. 23). Cultural competence is also one of the 8 practices underpinning the EYLF. The Framework explains that to be cultural competence, we need to be aware of our own world view, and develop positive attitude to embrace cultural difference. As a result, we gain knowledge of difference cultural practices and also develop skills for communication and interaction across cultures (Hydon 2013,
Diversity and inclusion should also apply to humans; by bringing people together who are different, it can create a whole that is enhanced by the uniqueness of each individual. What are the dimensions of cultural diversity? In this week’s readings, the subject of dimensions of cultural diversity were covered comprehensively in both books. Understanding and Managing Diversity presented a nicely laid out illustration. Primary Dimensions Secondary Dimensions Age Geographic Location Gender Military & Work Experience.
Culture is a combination of characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people. These characteristics are defined by everything from language, traditions, and customs to religion, music, and art. The close relationship between humanity and language makes translation and editing the biggest tool for understanding each other around the world. Cultural competence We can define "cultural competence" as a consistent set of values, behaviors, attitudes, and policies that enable a system, organization or people to work effectively in a particular cross-cultural situation.
Barak, M. E. (2005). Managing diversity: toward a globally inclusive workplace. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
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.
In the workplace, it is common to encounter individuals of different cultures, ethnicities, and genders. This diversity can either lead to an introduction of new work methods, or it can lead to conflict between coworkers. In order to avoid conflict, and have all employees work as a cohesive team, managers must educate themselves, and their employees on the topic of cultural diversity. In order for your practices to be considered effective, you must not only respect and recognize an employee’s diversity, you must use their difference to benefit them.