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...
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...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
Some feel that affirmative action in universities is the answer to the end of racism and inequality. If more black students get into and graduate from good colleges, more of them will go on to even out the lopsided numbers in the work force. Prejudice secretly slips through everyone¹s thoughts. Or so Barbara Ehrenreich believes when she writes of a quiet, subliminal prejudice that is caused by statistics that prove the fewer numbers of blacks in high profile jobs. When we see ninety percent of leadership roles in the corporate world held by white men, we begin to doubt other¹s competence in that field. With so many minorities in menial roles, people begin to believe the white man is best for ...
Cañas, K. A. & Sondak, H. (2011). Opportunities and challenged for workplace diversity: Theory, cases, and exercises. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.
This document will explore what a company can do to foster diversity in the workplace. The business case highlights the development and implementation of organizational initiatives that could:
Schawbel, D (2012, Nov, 8). Why Diversity Matters in the Workplace. retrieved May 6 2014, from American Express Web Site: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/why-diversity-matters-in-the-workplace/
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.
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
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.
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Moyer (2016) found that “Diversity programs and Diversity teams do not exist to solve an actual or perceived problem but rather exist to cover the companies … to make it look like the company is doing ‘something’ to solve a ‘problem”. This proves that diversity groups are inefficient, which allows discrimination to continue in the workplace and the company does nothing more to prevent. Companies are not taking another step towards improving the situation, rather they conform to the reality and allow it to continue because, in the end, they only care about the profit they make from their employers. According to Dover, Major, & Kaiser (2016) “Even when there is clear evidence of discrimination at a company, the presence of a diversity policy leads people to discount claims of unfair treatment. In previous research, we’ve found that this is especially true for members of dominant groups and those who tend to believe that the system is generally fair.” This shows that the dominant race, or whites, believe that the system( diversity teams) are fair and prove the assistance minorities need;however, that is proven to be unrealistic according to research. The evidence shows that companies only have those programs available to make people
For the purpose of this paper, I will define what the term Diversity means, and then I will concentrate on the diversity as a result of geographic origin or ethnic diversity. I will look at how ethnic diversity is managed generally and then how my employer, deals with the diverse ethnic groups in its organization and what it needs to improve on.
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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.