Ways of Creating Cultural Awareness - Literature review Example

? BUSINESS Assignment Module Seminar Leader’s 24 October Introduction In today’s world, people from different ethnic backgrounds, life experiences, and social practices come together to work in order to reach a common objective. This provides an opportunity to eliminate existing differences between culturally diverse individuals in the work place. According to D’Almeida, when people with different ethnic and social backgrounds and life experiences come together to work, this improves motivation, productivity, and frequently results in positive experiences for involved individuals (2007). Despite this, there are theories that argue that cultural diversity has a tendency of contributing to lack of performance in the working environment (D’Almeida, 2007). According to Quappe and Cantatore (2007), Cultural awareness is defined as the foundation of communication and the ability of people to become aware of their cultural values, perceptions and beliefs. This answers the questions that people often have in the mind regarding why things are done in a certain way, how people perceive the world, and why they react the way they do. Cultural awareness becomes an important object when one has to interact with people from other cultures who see things differently, have different opinions, and ways of evaluating things. What is often more appropriate in ones culture could be different and inappropriate in the other’s culture, and this provides an opportunity for conflicts in the work place. With this view, it is therefore important to create awareness and have knowledge on the impact of cultural diversity amongst work mates. Many researchers have been dwelling around the issue of cultural diversity in organizations and other work places and in the process, many theories have been put in place, the purpose of these researches is to ascertain the importance of having awareness of the impact of multiculturalism in organizations. D’Almeida (2007) found out that the integration of cultural diverse groups has been involved in many parts of team dynamics in organizations with different types of customers, this has increased misunderstandings, resulting in negative effects on the side of production, job togetherness, and the quality of service has been greatly affected. In order to address the issue of negative effects of cultural diversity in organizations, there are varieties of measures that organizations should undertake. One of them is leadership approaches and trainings, which should be good enough to address the issues faced with regard to cultural diversity. Many issues have to be overcome so that individuals can reach the objective of increasing motivation and targeted productivity levels. Amongst the awareness created is knowledge on individuals’ identities, perceptions on various things, variations in geographical setup, together with the internal and external environments. Beck and Rubaii- Berret, who are cited in D’ Almeida (2007) point out that individuals in the work place must understand and observe morals towards other people in workplace; doing this brings about motivation and effectiveness to the workers and they can therefore reach the targeted production level in the organization. Cultural awareness is very crucial for multicultural groups to maximize their business potential. It helps members of a multicultural group to identify wrong doings and best ways of solving conflicts. This can be effected through training, and by also identifying the most crucial regions that need attention and formal cross cultural awareness. There are various ways in which cultural differences can manifest from within a group of closely related people, and in this case, the workmates. According to, Kwintessential (n.d) creating real cross cultural harmony is accomplished through appropriately designed cultural awareness training. Ways of Creating Cultural Awareness 1. Treating colleagues as individuals To effectively deal with the issue of diverse cultures, people have to lean to treat one another in individual terms, rather than as a group. Though information in some cultures is normally based on generalization, it is very difficult to apply this to every individual. It is better and advisable to try and deal with people as individuals (Kwintessential, n.d.). 2. Learning to implement ones cultural knowledge Once one has discovered important information about his culture, it is advisable that that person puts to test what he has identified, so that he can learn the benefits and even more values concerning the learnt cultural attribute. 3. Avoiding assumptions It is one of the cultural awareness rules that one should refrain from making assumptions on whether he is wrong or right. Being judgmental towards others could lead to biasness. It is therefore better to avoid making conclusions about people. Whenever there is cultural diversity in an organization, various operations are placed at risk of failure. An example of multicultural diversity is what was experienced by the Egyptian government. The government had initiated a project though it had no appropriate expertise to carry out the duty. The government was consequently forced to search for experienced personnel elsewhere, and more than 5,500 workers from different cultural environments were brought to task (D’ Almeida, 2007). These people faced different customs and languages way before the project began, there was also conflict concerning the work days because some of them could not work from Monday all through Friday, due to their religious beliefs. Now that the government wanted to ensure that the work was carried out successfully, it had to accommodate these varied cultures and at some instances, tired to suggest the use of English as a medium of communication though not all could use it. For this reason, there workers were also given freedom to express themselves using their preferred language (D’ Almeida, 2007). This is an example of a well managed issue on cultural diversity, and is the one that is most desired and required to serve as an example to others when it comes to the matters of cultural diversity; it was able to meet the target without marginalizing any group. The government applied motivational techniques such that the organization was able to meet the target and increase productivity. Having awareness of cultural diversity and how to handle it is vital and also a good management practice that helps organizations reach their strategic objectives. In order for a company to reach the manageable levels, it has to motivate its workforce to appreciate cultural diversity so that everyone involved in the working environment benefits in equal measure. For an organization to give value to cultural diversity, those involved have to be molded to give in and support the presence of varied ethnicity and culture. Though this move often meets a lot of resistance and fears, everyone is bound to benefit as motivation and productivity are also improved. Winning the minds of leaders in this concept is essential to the transformation of an organization, in regard to cultural diversity. The work being performed in a work place is also diverse in that it is meant to serve all communities whose cultures and practices are different and unique from one another. It is therefore mandatory for every employee to understand several cultures around, or at least be able to deal with challenges of meeting people from different cultures, other than his. To enhance this, mindfulness and multicultural counseling competencies have to be encouraged. The developmental landmark in promoting multi-cultural counseling draws the importance of creating and promoting cultivation of cultural awareness. Developing skill and knowledge on culture is a platform of creating improved anticipation and understanding of the life experiences of clients. This practice should be treated as an ongoing process and can be built further through supervision, consultation with clients’, education, and consulting cultural experts (Ellis and Carson 2013). Self positioning is a paramount tool of self reflection. It enables one to know where he is, where he comes from, and the direction to which is heading to. In other worlds cultural awareness begins from an individual and entails his ability to make continuous discoveries of how to position himself, with respect to others. Lum (2010) reminds individuals that when dealing with a client, they must be aware of their position when it comes to culture and that there is a gap between the culture of the client and themselves, and that this gap has to be closed. Such situations mark the difference between employees who are culturally aware of culture diversity. Workers are encouraged to take a bold stand in developing relationships between themselves and clients. This theory is a conjecture adopted from critical theories, which state that knowledge is a process that is partial; it has perspective and is developed through understanding of cultural principles (Lum, 2010). The most affected group of workers faced with the issue of cultural diversity, are the social workers. At one point or another while serving clients, social workers have to dig out through the histories of the clients. Such interaction is mostly guided by an understanding of the cultural background of the client. This gives a reason as to why it is essential for social workers to have a greater understanding of multicultural groups of individuals. Culture awareness goes hand in hand with the need for second language proficiency. The importance of the two functioning together is better understood with the fact that in the current world, all nations are interdependent on one another for the purpose of economic growth. Learning a foreign language enhances interaction and provides an opportunity for growth in terms of cultural awareness. According to Diaz (2008), cultural knowledge is part of foreign language, and the role of the foreign knowledge in this case is to provide workers with the opportunities to use the language knowledge, in understanding and creating cultural awareness. Learning a particular language offers the best opportunity to be in the fore front in understanding various cultures, rather that just being around them. Cultural awareness plays a major role in identifying a wrong and the best way of handling differences among workers. According to Kwintessential (n.d.), without the knowledge of cultural awareness, it is most difficult for people in multicultural organizations to get to know the region of misunderstandings that may arise, and subsequently have a difficulty in identifying the means of solving disputes that may arise. Culture differences can be noticed through various ways. Some basic means to which it manifests itself is through actions and behaviors of individuals. Other regions of manifestation are through communication, decision making and feelings towards conflicts, as well as reaction to events. Despite the many negative impacts that may be associated cultural diversity in workplace, the creation of its awareness helps eliminate most of these negative impacts and instead, positive effects are impacted, so that major advantages can be drawn for the benefit of the organization and the employees. According to Alpert (n.d.), cultural competence is regarded as one of the most essential skills that is required for effective performance in workplace in the current century, and is most basic to meet the extensive workforce in the globalization of business activities. Once people from diverse cultures learn to work together, then many problems are avoided and instead, worker production and competence are promoted. Other advantages associated with culture competence are the ability to make good understanding with one another, effective interaction across cultures, and ability to have proper and substantial communication. There are various ways of managing cultural diversity, some are listed as below: Communication: Different people from diverse cultures have different ways of approaching an issue, but the best thing that benefits all is harmonization of the means of communication, which should include providing accurate information that is effective to both the work and team performances. Harmonization will help bridge the gap that may exist across the diverse group members with regard to information conveyance. Working as a team: Some cultures believe in working as individuals. An example to this is in United States of America, where people prefer doing odd jobs alone (Albert, n.d.). And while other communities’ value working together, the latter is most preferred as it brings people together as a team, and helps maximize the advantages of multicultural ideas. Time management: Variation of working periods can be a great source of misunderstanding among people working in an organization. Depending with their cultures, some have specific times that they are not supposed to work. The best scenarios are the Muslims, Christians, and the Jews; all have different worship days and holidays. Therefore, if such an issue is not carefully handled, it may lead to fluctuation in terms of its efficiency. Conclusion Properly managing cultural diversity is vital in every organization. This is because it is a determinant of organizational success. This is because differences and conflicts among workers from different cultural background reduce productivity, while harmony among workers from different cultural backgrounds promotes productivity. In this age of globalization, knowledge regarding the impact of culture in organizations is of paramount importance. Reference List Alpert, R. T., n.d. Cultural Diversity in the Workplace, part 1. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 24 October 2013]. D’Almeida, C. M., 2007. The Effects of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace. Ann Arbor: ProQuest Information and Learning Company. Diaz,C. M.,2008. Service- Learning and Spanish: Language Proficiency and Cultural Awareness. Ann Arbor: ProQuest LLC. Ellis, C. M. and Carlson, J., 2013. Cross Cultural Awareness and Social Justice in Counseling .New York: Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Kwintessential, n.d . Cultural Awareness in the Multicultural Workplace. [online] Available at:< http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/cultural-awareness-multicultural.html >[Accessed 24 October 2013]. Lum, D. ed., 2010. Culturally Competent Practice: A Framework for Understanding: A framework for understanding Diverse Groups and Justice Issues. Belmont: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning. Quappe, S and Cantatore, G, 2007. What is Cultural Awareness, Anyway? How do I build it? [online]Available at: [Accessed 24 October 2013]. Read More