Diversity management - Essay Example

Diversity management Introduction One of the greatest tasks individuals face is communicating across differences resulting from different cultural diversity. There is always fear that exists that what an individual will intend to say will be understood in a way that they never meant it to be due to cultural differences in a team (Chauvet 2009, p. 221). My research team was composed of seven members that were four local students and three Chinese. Through the group activity, I have personally gained a lot from working with my research team on diversity management. The paper analyzes my self-awareness on cross-cultural issues and provides an insight into our chosen research topic ‘benefits and challenges of a cross-cultural team’. The paper further analyzes the implications of diversity management in an organization as a manager. My self-awareness on cross-cultural issues From the group activity, I was able to learn that cultural awareness is the base of communication and it entails the ability of individuals to stand back and become aware of their cultural values, beliefs, perceptions and differences. It is essential for individuals to understand the reason why they do things differently, why they react differently in a particular ways and perceive the world in different ways. Cross-cultural awareness is central when individuals interact with people from different cultures as individuals will evaluate and interpret things in different ways. What can be considered as inappropriate behavior in one culture is considered as appropriate behavior in another culture (van Knippenberg & Schippers 2007, p. 523). As an U.K local, it is almost automatic to perceive the Chinese as individuals who always work and talk about business over tea and lunch breaks instead of sitting down and enjoy their meals. Thus, it is crucial to understand the meaning that people give to certain activities according to different cultures. Misinterpretations are bound to arise when individuals lack cross-cultural awareness and project them to others. In the absence of adequate knowledge, individuals will tend to assume certain issues and behaviors instead of finding out what the behavior means to the persons involved. I.e. a straight look into an individual face is considered as disrespectful between the Chinese (Chevrier 2003, p. 142). However, becoming aware of our own cultural dynamics is not an easy task as culture is not conscious as individuals learn to do and see things at an unconscious level. Our values, experiences and cultural background lead individuals to see and do things in certain ways. However, it is important for individuals to step outside their cultural boundaries for them to realize the impact that culture has on their behaviors. It is crucial to gather feedback from fellow colleagues on our behavior to determine clarity on our cultural behaviors. When individuals assume that others are similar to them, misinterpretations are bound to result (Gelfand et al. 2007, p. 511). Thus, when working with culturally diverse individuals, it is essential to remember that individuals will vary across different cultural continuum. Understanding identity issues and cultural differences is important to provide an understanding of culturally different people. This entails individuals learning to value, respect and understand the diversity involved. Insight on Benefits and challenges of a cross-cultural team Cross-cultural teams are bound to have a fair share of challenges once the novelty of interaction among the people diminishes. Cultural differences impede interpersonal and communication relationships in cross-cultural teams (Oertig & Buergi 2006, p. 26). Communication is an essential concern for everybody in a group could be speaking in a certain language, but their slang could not be clearly understood leading to misinterpretations. In such a situation, teamwork needs to be a collective effort, and the team members need to understand the direction that the discussion is taking. If members aim for clarity misinterpretations, need to be kept to a minimum otherwise, the effectiveness of the team is bound to suffer. Another challenge of a cross-cultural team is informational gaps as members are from different cultural backgrounds. It is key for the members to understand each other and ensure that they remain in harmony (Chauvet 2009, p. 221). There is also a concern that a particular section of the team with a certain similarity will attempt to dominate the team process and overrule the rest. Everybody should be given an equal opportunity for participation to ensure success in the team. Many benefits result from a cross-cultural team. In the team, individuals are able to learn about themselves and others as people are exposed to information and facts about their own worldviews, culture, and preconceptions, as well as that of others. Cross-cultural teams also help to break down barriers occurring between the different cultural groups. Each individual has certain barriers such as stereotypes, preconceptions and prejudices that obstruct the understanding of other people and are broken down by interactions in the cross-cultural teams. Moreover, they enhance trust and help in building confidence. When individual barriers are lowered, a mutual understanding emerges that result in greater trust (Edmondson & Nembhard 2009, p. 129). The implications of diversity management as a manager Manager should adopt cross-cultural team management in their organizational management. Effective utilization of cross-cultural teams is key in the provision of a source of experience and innovative reasoning in an effort of enhancing competitiveness in the organization. One of the greatest strengths of an increasingly diverse workforce is the fact that diversity is essential to bringing about innovation, fresh perspectives and enhancing problem solving in organizations (Yang Yang & Konrad 2011, p . 25). Thus, for a manager to utilize the variety of perspectives and skills that the different employees bring on the table, it is crucial for them to examine and expand their own frame of reference that they see the world for them to build more effective work groups and develop inclusive workplace environments. However, it is crucial to recognize that cultural differences can interfere with the successful completion of tasks in the organization (Ramburuth & Welch 2005, p. 14). In order to achieve the stipulated organizational objectives and avoid miss understanding it is important for the managers to be culturally sensitive and enhance motivation and creativity through flexible leadership. A good manager should also have the ability of understanding the cultural diversity among the employees to enhance their management (Furunes & Mykletun 2007, p. 981). Conclusion Cross-cultural awareness is the base of communication, and it entails the ability of individuals to stand back and become aware of their cultural values, beliefs, perceptions and differences. It is central when individuals interact with people from different cultures as individuals will evaluate and interpret things in different ways. When individuals assume that others are similar to them, misinterpretations are bound to result. Thus, when working with culturally diverse individuals, it is essential to remember that individuals will vary across different cultural continuum. Cultural differences, informational gaps, superiority in a group impede interpersonal and communication relationships in cross-cultural teams. However, individuals are able to learn about themselves and others; cross-cultural team’s breaks existing cultural barriers and build trust and confidence in a team. Manager should adopt cross-cultural team management in their organizational management, as effective utilization of cross-cultural teams is essential for the provision of a source of experience and innovative reasoning in an effort of enhancing competitiveness in the organization. References Oertig , M. & Buergi , Thomas , 2006. The challenges of managing cross-cultural virtual project teams. Team Performance Management, 12, pp.23–30. Chauvet, M., 2009. Cultural diversity of distributed teams. Proceedings of the special interest group on management information system’s 47th annual conference on Computer personnel research - SIGMIS-CPR  '09, p.221. Chevrier, S., 2003. Cross-cultural management in multinational project groups. Journal of World Business, 38, pp.141–149. Edmondson, A.C. & Nembhard, I.M., 2009. Product development and learning in project teams: The challenges are the benefits. In Journal of Product Innovation Management. pp. 123–138. Furunes, T. & Mykletun, R.J., 2007. Why diversity management fails: Metaphor analyses unveil manager attitudes. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 26, pp.974–990. Gelfand, M.J., Erez, M. & Aycan, Z., 2007. Cross-cultural organizational behavior. Annual review of psychology, 58, pp.479–514. Van Knippenberg, D. & Schippers, M.C., 2007. Work group diversity. Annual review of psychology, 58, pp.515–541. Ramburuth, P. & Welch, C., 2005. Educating the Global Manager: Cultural Diversity and Cross-Cultural Training in International Business Education. Journal of Teaching in International Business, 16, pp.5–27. Yang Yang & Konrad, A.M., 2011. Understanding Diversity Management Practices: Implications of Institutional Theory and Resource-Based Theory. Group & Organization Management, 36, pp.6–38. Read More