Effects of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace - Coursework Example

Cultural Diversity in the Workplace: the Positive and Negative Effects 2007 This paper is dedicated to cultural diversity in the workplace. The topic is of great importance in many countries of the world due to globalization. It is especially significant in the USA, which nation consists of numerous ethnicities and different races. After defining the notion of cultural diversity and major issues associated with it, the paper highlights the benefits and disadvantages of diverse workplace. Cultural diversity is the reality of the USA to be considered and managed properly. First of all, it is necessary to define the term ‘cultural diversity’. Cultural diversity incorporates differences based on race, ethnicity, sex, social class, nationality, religion, color and sexual identity (Thomas and Ely 2001, p. 229). Members of a cultural identity share common worldviews, values, norms, goals and cultural heritage, cultural markers being communicated through communication style, shared meanings and dialects or languages. Cultural identity is socially constructed, complex, and dynamic and is associated with some power position, status, and a certain degree of prestige. For instance, in Western society males have a more powerful status and higher positions in political system than females, just like whites have a more powerful position than people of color, heterosexuals are more powerful than homosexuals, etc (Thomas and Ely 2001, p. 229). The discussion of the diversity in the workplace began early in 1990’s. The US workforce was changing rapidly. Traditionally it was represented mostly by white males. However, since 1970s ever more women and minorities joined the workforce. In 1993 it was expected that by the year 2000 only one in seven of new employees would be a white male. The old way of assimilating diversity (people were expected to hide their cultural differences to fit into the company’s dominant culture) was abandoned. Diversity started being treated as an asset bringing “a broad range of viewpoints and problem-solving skills to the company” (Black Enterprise 1993, p.1). Workforce 2000 Today survey showed that by 1991 “issues of cultural diversity and women in the work force were becoming increasingly important in decision-making and strategic planning – especially strategic planning”. 60 percent of the respondents said their management viewed diversity as an asset, not as a problem (Black Enterprise 1993, p.1). However, Ben Harrison questioned the reliability of those 60% emphasizing that most managers didn’t have a clue as to what diversity meant. He explained that the management of diversity is “about operations and procedures, and policies. You are managing the diverse needs of your employees, not their cultural differences. Diverse, yet very common needs, such as child care, flextime, working at home, leave to take care of elderly parents, paternity leave as well as maternity leave. Those needs are in the workplace, and it has nothing to do with a persons cultural difference” (Black Enterprise 1993, p.1). The human resource approach to the issue recognizes that, in fact, cultural diversity includes every employee. Today human management bases on the premises that people are the key resource in an organization. According to George Henderson (1994, p.4), there are four assumptions providing basis for this approach: 1) organization exists to serve human needs, 2) organizations and people need each other; 3) when the fit between the individual and the organization is poor, one or both will suffer, 4) when the fit between the individual and the organization is good, both benefit. Organizations are as healthy and effective as people who work there. A diverse workforce isn’t a new concept. Already in 1994 Henderson noted that effective managers had always been aware of the cultural differences in their employees. In 1983 Rosabeth Kanter cited a study demonstrating that “companies with progressive affirmative action and equal opportunity programs had had unusually high profitability and financial growth over a twenty-five-year period” (p.9). Henderson points out to several benefits of diversity:1) CEOs valuing diversity and promoting a harmonious workforce, are able “to better serve customers and clients who are culturally diverse; 2) managers and supervisors skilled in managing culturally diverse subordinates run productive departments; 3) managers and supervisors who are comfortable with culturally diverse employees facilitate less worker turnover and greater work efficiency; and 4) employees who value diversity interact more effectively with each other, thereby enhancing productivity and job satisfaction” (Henderson 1994, p.9). Cultural diversity is natural for the USA founded on the principle “all men are created equal” and concepts like “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”. Data show that employees having experience of working with people of other races, ethnic groups and ages demonstrate greater preference for a diverse workplace (In Henderson 1994, p.5). One questionnaire conducted in Australia in 2000 showed that 95% of respondents supported the diversity in the workplace, distinguishing the following benefits: possibility to learn and grow from each other; benefits for the clients, diverse ways of doing things, exposure to different cultures and beliefs; development of tolerance and understanding; increased ability to achieve goals set; increased knowledge; fun and more interesting workplace; alternative approaches; diverse abilities and experiences. Diversity facilitates change and brings social, cultural and intellectual enrichment, richer exchange of ideas and achievement of social justice and respect for individuals, assists in decision making and increases the opportunity for access and entry. Diverse workplace reflects the society itself (Ward 2001, p.3). TESM manual on management of diversity in the workplace also underlines the benefits of diverse workplace, while it provides a wide range of knowledge, skills, experiences and cultures, offers a greater pool of talents, promotes greater productivity and employee job satisfaction, develops enhanced creativity, helps to build better relationships between people and utilize worker capacity to the maximum (TESM Manual 7 2001, Chapter 8, p.88). Cultural traits really can be an asset. For instance, Asians are viewed as great at leading and building teams. Representatives of minorities are bilingual and usually possess unique language skills. Knowledge of Hispanic, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean or Japanese is the linguistic skill sought after. “Being familiar with another culture...makes individuals more tolerant,” says Ana Herrera-Malone, director of marketing and development for the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA). Being from Colombia she is used to doing more with fewer resources which is her advantage. “That kind of creativity is great as it gives us minorities more of an edge in the workplace,” she says (In Sappal 2005). In 2003 there was a real boon for female and minority directors. “Theyre (corporations) finding that having more diverse representation on their boards is good business because it can lead to better products and services for growing minority and international markets,” explained Sappal (2003). Cynthia Estlund in her book Working Together: How Workplace Bonds Strengthen a Diverse Democracy (2003) develops the idea that cultural diversity in the workplace serves the purposes of social integration, which is still a problem in the USA. Slavery, which existed here during the first two centuries of the US history, left deep traces in the mentality of people. American society is marked by discrimination and racism, while diverse workplace should unite citizens belonging to different cultural groups but one nation. “Over weeks, months, or years of working together, co-workers learn about each others lives and develop feelings of affection, empathy, sympathy, and loyalty for each other”, - explains Estlund (p.6). – “They often become friends. They also experience friction and conflict, even anger and resentment. But, with a paycheck and everything else that is at stake in a job, they often find ways to work through or around conflicts and to get the job done in spite of personal differences. The bottom line is that more people say they get “a real sense of belonging” among their co-workers than among any group other than family or friends—more than among neighbors, more than among fellow members of religious congregations or clubs” (p.7). Later she suggests that “even the partial demographic integration that does exist in the workplace yields far more social integration—actual interracial interaction and friendship—than any other domain of American society” (p.9). Researchers have long been interested in the behavior of individuals in organizations. It has been found that both proportional representation and group composition have their impact on workers. Proportional representation has two sides. On the one hand, with the numeric increase of people traditionally underrepresented in a group enhances effectiveness of the group removing the cultural barriers and enabling people to be maximally productive. On the other hand, the same process causes the resistance of the traditional majority that feels threatened. This results in discriminatory behavior limiting the power of the minority. Diversity in group composition enhances its productivity, increasing the available amount of resources contributed by workers to complex problem solution, these including perspectives, styles, networks, knowledge and insights. However, the proper functioning of individuals in a culturally diverse group must be provided by managers (Thomas and Ely 2001, p.231). However, people still often don’t know how to behave in a diverse group or how to manage it properly using its advantages. It is still considered polite not to notice differences, while they are assumed as deficiencies. Managers often misunderstand their personnel of different cultures. Each nation and ethnicity possesses some unique feature that can be misinterpreted in another cultural setting. For instance, Asians value modesty and humility, which are misinterpreted as a weakness or low-esteem in the USA. They tend to be “more concerned about the well-being of a group, as opposed to the individual self,” – says Denise Wolfe, a Filipino-American, executive coach and diversity trainer in Pasadena, Calif. – “To maintain harmony, they will be reluctant to complain. But the downside is that important issues may not get raised because corporate America equates no complaints with no problems. Generally, Asians believe that if you work hard and give your best, you will be recognized and promoted. But thats not necessarily the case in the Western corporate reality” (Sappal 2005). Representatives of minorities note that very often values perceived as positive in their culture are viewed as detrimental in the US corporate workplace. As a result, minorities are often overlooked for promotion. Carmella Gomez, a marketing executive at a Miami consumer-goods company shared her experience, saying: “Hispanics are often criticized for bringing family matters into the workplace, so I concentrate on being professional and getting the job done and play down any biases or stereotypical behavior to help me get ahead. Basically, I’m a completely different person at work compared to who I am at home”. However, she believed that her cultural identity made her to miss out on a promotion – a job offer that would have required an out-of-state move. Gomez blamed herself for reverting to stereotype and feeling “uncomfortable about moving to another state away from her family.” It must be mentioned that family-orientation is characteristic with Gomez also because she is a woman. On the other hand, women are still treated as “minority”, notwithstanding the fact that females comprise the major half of the US workforce. Anyway, Abe Tomás Hughes, chairman of the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE) also pointed out to unwillingness to move or relocate far from family as “a big drawback for many Hispanics” (Sappal 2005). African-Americans are typically perceived as argumentative or overly aggressive. Greg Hinton, vice president of talent acquisition at U.S. Cellular admitted that this was true about him early in his career. “In my younger days, I, too, spoke up and, looking back, I did offend people, who subsequently didn’t feel comfortable around me,” told Mr. Hinton. “Not being able to understand the difference between assertiveness and aggressiveness can be a problem for African-Americans. There’s a fine line between the two. African-Americans dont like to give in, because they interpret it as ‘selling out’ or ‘surrendering themselves’”. Because of the existing stereotypes, some minority employees feel reluctant to reveal their cultural background. They fear that stereotypes can hinder their career prospects, especially at higher levels. As a result, minority employees often feel “caught between two worlds”. However, suppressing cultural identity they often do themselves a disservice. “Not only is it physically and emotionally draining to have two separate identities, but unless you reveal the real you, you may be losing out on opportunities,” – believes Rosanna Durruthy, president and chief talent strategist at Aequus Group, a human-capital-development consulting firm in New York. – “In fact, when looking for leaders, management doesnt just want people who can deliver, but wants to know the real them, i.e., what drives or motivates them”. Differences, being the capital of huge value, must be underlined and used for common benefit, concludes Pepi Sappal (2005). Another problem associated with diversity is low representation of women and minorities in senior-level management positions. “There is indeed a glass ceiling--an invisible barrier that prevents a disproportionate number of women and minorities from rising to top corporate positions,” wrote Henderson in 1994 (p.5). Sappal demonstrates that the issue still stayed of importance in 2004. Yet, Tomás Hughes explained that after numerous diversity programs launched in organizations all over the country, many of them were appointed to midlevel managerial positions. “But because of a lack of leadership skills, often as a result of inadequate training from the start, they get stuck in a rut, passed over for promotion and end up leaving.” However, lack of promotion often results in retirements of employees. As a result organizations lose money due to employee turnover (In Sappal 2004). Diversity workplace is that reality of the US life, integrated into the foundations of American society. It offers numerous benefits, due to a greater pool of diverse talents, skill, perspective, approaches, etc. Untraditional workers and representatives of minorities, in fact, comprise the major part of the US workforce. Yet, notwithstanding widely implemented diversity programs there are many issues to be resolved. Diversity workplace should guarantee comfort and equal promotional opportunities to all employees. Much depends on the corporate culture and management. Diversity managers should understand the basic needs of employees, not differing much in various cultures, and be able to utilize the potential of diverse workforce. Unskillful management and distorted corporate culture cause problems associated with diversity workplace. References: Balck Enterprise (1993). The challenge of managing diversity in the workplace: corporate America is responding to the changing demographics of the work force with a variety of diversity management programs - Special Advertising Section. Earl G. Graves Publishing Co., Inc. July. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_n12_v23/ai_13220969 - 28k Estlund, Cynthia (2003). Working Together: How Workplace Bonds Strengthen a Diverse Democracy. Oxford University Press, New York, 240 pgs. Henderson, George (1994). Cultural Diversity in the Workplace: Issues and Strategies. Praeger, Westport, CT, 268 pgs. Sappal, Pepi (2005). Cultural Traits Can Be A Hindrance or a Help. The Wall Street Journal, July 27. Career Journal Europe.com. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from http://www.careerjournaleurope.com/columnists/diversityreport/20050727-sappal.html Sappal Pepi (2004). Diversity Organizations Strive To Improve Minority Retention. The Wall Street Journal, July 29. Career Journal Europe.com. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from http://www.careerjournaleurope.com/columnists/diversityreport/20040729-sappal.html Sappal, Pepi (2003). Companies Seek Diversity In the Corporate Boardroom. The Wall Street Journal, September 02. Career Journal Europe.com. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from http://www.careerjournaleurope.com/columnists/diversityreport/20030902-sappal.html TESM (2001). Managing Diversity in the Workplace. Managing People in School, English Manual 7, Chapter 8, pp. 87-90. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from www.kzneducation.gov.za/manuals/tesm/manuals/e_manual_7/EnglishManual7-Chapter8.pdf Thomas, David A and Ely, Robin J. (2001). Cultural Diversity at Work: The Effects of Diversity Perspectives on Work Group Processes and Outcomes. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 46 (2). Pp.229-277 Ward, Vicki Kaye (2001). Diversity in the Workplace: A Definition for the Workplace and behaviors in the Workplace. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from http://www.adcet.edu.au/uploads/documents/vickiward1.pdf. Read More