Cultural Diversity in Organizations Essay Example for Free

Cultural Diversity in Organizations Essay Diversity has arrived as a descriptive word for the American lifestyle in the modern world. With increasing immigration of people from many countries, many races, and many cultural backgrounds to the United States, the country has become a nest of diversity. Several factors shape the fact that the workforce is becoming increasingly culturally diverse: women represent an increasing percentage in organizations; the difference in age is becoming more evident on all levels; due to continuously changing demands organizations are employing more and more people with diverse professional and specialist backgrounds; there is a growing number of immigrants having different customs, religions and cultures and finally, the ongoing globalization is causing an influx of a large number of expatriates, who comes from various countries in the world, also contributing with different values and cultures. This increasing cultural diversity is both an opportunity and a challenge. Diversity brings with it a wide range of creativity and fresh thinking into the system. Diversity is here, in the population, in the workforce and in the marketplace. Racism, discrimination in the workplace, social stratification, and conflicts in social lifestyles are all negative byproducts of diversity. Thus cultural diversity in America is a highly debated issue because of the numerous problems arising due to it. One of the most serious and explosive issues in the United States today is meeting the business goals within an environment of multicultural diversity. When companies fail to create a culture of diversity and inclusion effectively, the costs can be high – costs arising due to ‘diversity training† and settlement of discrimination lawsuits. Many well-known companies have spent millions of dollars on â€Å"diversity training,† after settling discrimination lawsuits totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Moreover, diversity also raises issues of interpersonal relations and communications among employees. This fact is underlined by increasing discrimination and class action lawsuits. Diversity impacts every person, every project, and every transaction in todays business world. Some companies approach it in terms of the noticeable differences among people. What many fail to realize is that diversity is really about personal interaction and emotions, and creating a corporate culture that welcomes all kinds of differences. Managing Diversity: Managing diversity is all about approaching the issue proactively as a business opportunity. There needs to be a culture of diversity within the organization. One of the major obstacles in managing diversity is that many companies view diversity as a problem that needs to be solved. They just take a reactive approach. Supposing there is a lawsuit brought under the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, they just take an initiative that would solve the problem in the short run. Though this approach seems to be successful, in the long run, there is likely to be no impact on the corporate culture in a positive way. Such reactive approaches can negatively impact the workforce morale as they don’t appear to be a genuine commitment to diversity. The path to diversity is not always an easy one. One of the most common obstacles is resentment from white male managers who see diversity as threatening to them. Since diversity is typically framed to be about white women and people of color, the focus is rarely on examining what it means to be white and male, say Bill Proudman and Michael Welp, Partners at White Men as Full Diversity Partners LLC, a consulting firm based in Portland, Oregon. White men, and sometimes others, thus conclude that diversity is not about them† (Goffney, 2005) Another obstacle that can arise in a multicultural business environment is resistance to change. When new diversity programs are introduced, it is essential that the employees view it as a genuine effort. Hence, these diversity programs should be tailored to meet the needs of the company’s workforce and integrated into the daily environment. Any diversity initiative should be tied to the company’s bottom line. Even though top management may make the commitment to diversity, if the initiative is not tied explicitly to the company’s bottom line, it does not become a priority for middle managers. The diversity initiative should be integrated into the tools and processes they use to manage employees, including orientation, training and education, and interpersonal communication. If not, existing employees will not accept the diversity initiative and new employees are likely to get disillusioned with a taste of it. Top management must ensure that the commitment to diversity has buy-in at all levels of the organization by making diversity an integral part of company success. Yet another obstacle to managing diversity is that the diversity initiatives might be restricted to training alone and is left as an ‘HR issue†. This narrow focus results relegation of diversity to a single department and companies thus miss out on opportunities to improve and integrate the diversity initiative into other areas of the company. Any corporate initiative should be feedback based, dynamic and flexible. Else, there is the danger that the initiative will remain static. Too often diversity initiatives begin and end with the first efforts undertaken. Diversity and inclusion are part of company culture, and like the culture, diversity must continue to evolve (Adams and Ruch, 2006). Managing all these obstacles require the ability to value a diverse world. This means there should be individual assessment of beliefs about work values. People from differing backgrounds having different experiences bring to work the biases and â€Å"veils† as well as the strengths that arise out of cultural differences. To work effectively with persons from diverse backgrounds, it is necessary to understand others– people from other racial, ethnic and cultural heritages, and people whose values, beliefs and experience are different. This involves learning to recognize when new competencies are needed, knowing how to develop the requisite new competencies, and implementing the competencies effectively. Companies need to assess their state of diversity: What is the state of diversity in our company? Are we making the most of diversity? Do we speak with one voice with respect to diversity? Companies that ask these questions on a continual basis, set strategic goals, measure their progress and evolve their programs in sync with their overall organizational change will be the ones to leverage the full potential of diversity (Adams and Ruch, 2006). Individual Reactions to Diversity: Diversity may be viewed positively or negatively depending on the individual reaction to diversity. In a culturally diverse workplace, there is likely to be prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination. This is because of self-fulfilling prophecies. The perceiver develops false belief about a person from a different cultural background. He then treats the person in a manner consistent with that false belief. Ultimately, the person responds to the treatment in such a way to confirm the originally false belief. Other negative reactions of individuals to diversity may include: tension among staff, distrust of anything new, gossip and rumor, open hostility or bullying, absenteeism, tarnishing of the agencys reputation, low staff retention rates, lack of response to customers and falling standards of service quality (NSW, 2006). In the positive sense, diversity that brings with it community language skills and cultural competencies can be seen as valuable assets to an agency (MSASS, 2006). Customer service improves when employees are able to tackle customers from a range of backgrounds. When employees are encouraged to learn from one another, their skills and knowledge are also enhanced. Diversity can reduce skill shortages at specific times. In a business, diversity gives the advantage of utilizing the language, international expertise and cultural knowledge of staff to identify successful export opportunities. When employees are encouraged to work in their areas of strength and capability, they are happier, more productive and more likely to stay with the agency. Productive diversity is based on the concept that there are potential economic benefits to be gained from valuing different experience, perspectives, skills and the cross-transfer and integration of these into the agency and local economy. Productive diversity makes good business sense in an environment where local diversity and global interconnectedness play a critical economic role (Muhr, 2006). Diversity effects on groups and teams: In the context of working in groups or teams, diversity seems to cause contrasting goals, miscommunication or inter-group anxiety, thereby prohibiting teamwork creativity. Miscommunication and the lack of a common language make it difficult for team members to engage in an exchange of ideas and questions, an exchange, which is essential for effective teamwork (Nahapiet Ghoshal, 1998). If individuals carry out negative stereotyping of outgroups it can prevent them from trusting and engaging with others and can threaten communication patterns within organizations. This is mainly due to a lack of common context and language usage. Anxiety in the team occurs when people identify themselves as placed among people belonging to different diversity categories. Thus, diversity will in this situation make it difficult for the individuals to identify with the team, since there is no unified perception of what values the team represents (Muhr, 2006). In a diverse work team, the values and perceptions of different diversity categories may be contrasting or even mutually exclusive, which is likely to bring about incongruence in goals. Incongruence in goals can limit communication, which is fundamental to the creation of interpersonal relationships and trust. Furthermore, goal incongruence may also prevent individuals from sharing and combining knowledge all together, if they are not able to reach agreement on common goals for pursuing such knowledge processes (Muhr, 2006). On the positive side, it has been shown that diversity in fact improves creativity by promoting variations, thinking out of the box and avoiding ‘groupthink’. Several analyses have shown that teams made up of people with different cultural and educational backgrounds, different personalities, different professional backgrounds and different skills are potentially more creative and innovative than relatively homogeneous teams. This is because diversity creates variations variations in perceptions, values, ideas, opinions, and methods, which are highly essential for developing a stimulating creative environment (Mohr, 2006). Conclusion: In the global economy today, most companies operate globally. Diversity of thought, culture, geography, race, and gender enables companies to deliver the best solutions to their customers and markets. Diversity pays off both internally and externally. A company that embraces diversity can offer a challenging and creative work environment, and as a result, can attract and retain top talent with diverse backgrounds. There is also a connection between diversity and increased productivity. Diversity also fosters organizational creativity. But despite these benefits of diversity, work teams will not truly benefit from diversity unless sufficient communication, trust and openness are nurtured in the organizational climate. The powerful advantage of embracing diversity in organizations is best brought out by the words of Ted Childs, IBM’s vice president of global workforce diversity. In a recent issue of Fast Company magazine, in a feature article was entitled: Difference is Power†, Ted Childs suggests that, No matter who you are, youre going to have to work with people who are different from you. Youre going to have to sell to people who are different from you, and buy from people who are different from you, and manage people who are different from you. This is how [companies] do business. If its (diversity) not your destination, you should get off the plane now (Meisner, 2006). Bibliography: Adams, Brandon and Ruch, Will (2006). Diversity as a core business strategy. http://www. versantsolutions. com/knowledgecenter/EB_DiversityAsACoreBusinessStrategy2. pdf NSW (2006). What is Diversity? http://www. eeo. nsw. gov. au/diversity/whatis. htm Muhr, Louise Sara (2006). Openness to Diversity –Turning conflict into teamwork creativity. Paper submitted for the 10th International Workshop on Teamworking. http://www. mau. se/upload/IMER/Forskning/Diverse/Muhr%5B1%5D. pdf Nahapiet, J. , Ghoshal, S. 1998. Social Capital, Intellectual Capital and the Organizational Advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23(2). MSASS (2006). Valuing a diverse World. http://msass. case. edu/downloads/academic/diverse. pdf Goffney, Phyllia (2005). Champions of Diversity. Essence. May 2005. http://www. findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m1264/is_1_36/ai_n13660850 Meisner, Lora (2006). The American Quilt Workplace Diversity. http://career. thingamajob. com/general-career. aspx/The-American-Quilt-Workplace-Diversity. aspx

Analysis Of Relationships In Fijian Society :: essays research papers

Fijian relationships between men and women have undergone many changes since the introduction of Western influences. These changes are due to the desire to become more "Westernized" and therefore, incorporating the ideals that they perceive are important within Western society to their culture. This has caused relationships based upon an idealized version of "love". These Western influences, such as movies, magazines, and books make it seem as if many people have casual sex, and that they are all in "love" relationships. They portray love as this necessary aspect in a relationship and do not focus upon the amount of time that the majority of people feel is necessary in order to fall in love. Fijian society does not encourage relationships that are conducive to the Western view of "love" because they focus upon separation between men and women, and do not encourage cross sexes to spend time together before they are married. Even after marriage, separation between the sexes is promoted through division of labor and male dominance within the marriage. Since Fijian relationships have applied the idea of "love" to relationships which are based upon separation and male domination, idealized "love" relationships are occurring. This can be seen in premarital relationships in the fact that many of the couples do not have a friendship before they have a relationship, and often claim to be in love Premarital relationships are not based upon significant amounts of time spent together. Couples do not get to see each other often and when they do they often meet in crowded areas so that it is not suspected that they are together. It is not uncommon to have long distance relationships Many of the traditional means for choosing a spouse, such as parents influence and male domination, have remained as strong influences. This is because premarital relationships are based on this idealized view on "love" and therefore, are not strong enough to basis marriage choices upon. Marriage relationships have changed due to Western influences, they however are also retaining many of the traditional views. Traditionally marriages were arranged. However, due to Western influence Fijians are now having "love" marriages. These marriages are facing many of the same issues that premarital relationships are. Because of separation of the sexes, these marriages are not based upon significant amounts of time spent together. They are instead being based upon traditional views. These relationships are based on little contact.

ICT Specification for a spreadsheet for the Hairdressing business

The specification points are very useful because they are like a shopping list and help us to make sure we follow a list of requirements that are important in order for us to ensure that the system that we will create will be able to do certain things in the list below. To have a list of specification points so that when it comes to planning and creating the spreadsheet it will be much easier for us. The list below is extra support and a helpful list to guiding me when I create the spreadsheet for the Hairdressing business. 1. Allows creating a booking system for example an easy way to organise all the clients in a useful way for example in alphabetical order. The booking system is able to store and organise the clients details in alphabetical order this can be done by left clicking ascending order. 1. The system should be allowed to create queries such as multiple criteria or simple search criteria search. To help find for only certain clients that I need to find for example if I there is a discount on women’s haircuts so then I will need to identify only females in the system. Queries can be made on the system for example multiple or simple searches. This will help to identify the people that are only needed to find. 1. I will have a validation rule to minimise errors in the database. E.g. presence check or a formula checks in the system. Validation rules have been entered to reduce the amount of errors occurring in the database system In order to keep the records correct and up to date. 1. The system must be able to have a print button and save the work quickly and easily I will have a print or save button. The system I have created will have a print button on it. 1. I should be able to edit for example to delete old clients and store details and keep record of the data and keep record up to data and recent. Records on the table are able to be stored deleted and kept up to date on the recent data. 1. Include a menu page for the system to make it easy to navigate from page to page and this should help get us easily from page top page. My system has a menu page in order to help to ease the use of navigation 1. Include a primary key to give clients in the system a unique number so it will be easy to find him or her with reference to that specific unique number that is supplied to them in the system. The primary key has been put on the booking ID field because this is recognised to be the key field. 1. To have a back up strategy in case the system is hacked into or is lost or damaged so the back up program is a USB or a CD containing the program/system on it and their details. The information has been stored on my USB and that there is anti-virus is stored to prevent any data or memory loss. 1. To have tables and then link the tables together by relationships and this should make it easier for the user to navigate from page to page quickly. Relationships have been attached to both the tables the Customer details table and the Appointment booking table. 1. I will create a form that will make it another way of presenting the information to the user or the receptionist. Forms will be created to help make the reading of the details and the information easier for the person using it. The testing that we had previously carried out helped to improve my system and the evaluation has helped to make sure that all the criteria of the specification points have been met. The specification points have helped me to carry out the task as a whole more efficiently and to make sure it has appeared on my database the way I have wanted it to turn out. Testing made sure that all the specification points were all able to be fulfilled and achieved but at the same time realistic in order for me to carry them out efficiently. The new database system can now carry out some new and amazing functions it can now make the spreadsheet function well. For the database I have made macros/ navigation buttons to help make moving from one table to another much more simpler and easier. The Database will help me to store my information and store the data precisely in ascending order. There have not been many problems that have occurred from the database that I have created because the database that’s been created has hardly and errors and is functioning well it seems to be making good progress. The database has been made with the purpose to help to make sure that the new Hair Salon will be able to function properly. The two tables that I have created will help me to quickly find out which appointments have been appointed for which person and which person and the customer details have been sorted to keep them safe and in a more reliable way. This also makes it easier to view the information for each customer.

Factors Influencing The Teacher s Perspective - 1725 Words

The primary researcher and second researcher, both occupational therapists, analyzed the interview transcript independently. Both researchers identified common themes of factors influencing the teacher’s perspective. Categories from both researchers were compared and merged. Also, these categories were verified against the survey and participant observation data. Similar to findings of the interview analysis, survey participants acknowledged benefits of integrated therapies. Also, survey findings showed the teachers’ sense of control and availability of support influenced implementation of integrated therapies in classrooms. The importance of teachers’ sense of control is evident in one participant’s response, â€Å"†¦use of picture boards†¦show more content†¦Teacher’s perception of the cost and benefit ratio was crucial in considering the intervention as beneficial. Her responses, â€Å"But I think overall, the interventions help rather than letting the kid sit in the classroom and not have anything to make things better† (34-36), and â€Å"it is better than them standing and running around the room. It is less of a distraction† (248), reflect the teacher’s comparison between the cost and benefits of interventions. She identified â€Å"getting their energy out†, â€Å"calm them†, task completion, and cooperative behaviors as some of the benefits of interventions. In contrast, classroom disruptions and off-task behaviors were identified as the cost of the intervention. Similarly, the teacher’s sense of control influenced her perspective of the intervention. Her sense of control depended on the ability to negotiate classroom demands which were influenced by her personal context, the support she received, and dynamics of the classroom structure. Her personal context included her experience, knowledge of interventions, and a repertoire of strategies. 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