Managing Cultural Diversity at the Workplace.
Introduction
Cultural diversity management can be difficult, but ultimately, any business system will gain more by bringing in insights and viewpoints from a diverse workforce, expanding cultural horizons, and understanding. Cultural Diversity refers to the differences among people because of their racial or ethnic backgrounds. Also, it is depicted by a variety of variations within an organization between the individuals. Diversity Management covers not just how individuals view themselves but also how others interpret them. Workplace diversity includes race, gender, nationality, age, religion, sexual orientation, citizenship status, military service, mental and physical conditions, and other distinct differences (Dyson, 2020). Various work teams should allow individual workers to get to know and respect each other, which can help break down preconceived ideas about cultural misunderstandings.
First, Cultural Diversity can be managed by prioritizing communication; Organizations need to ensure that they effectively communicate with employees. Policies, health regulations, and other relevant details should be designed to address language and cultural differences by interpreting documents and, where appropriate, using images and symbols. In companies where workers respect each other, they are more successful in retaining and maintain employees. Second, Cultural Diversity can be by treating employees as separate individuals. Stop creating assumptions about workers from different backgrounds. Instead, judge them based on the individual’s achievements and defeats rather than attributing acts to their context.
Third, workplaces can educate and give training about other people’s cultures, making them more sensitive towards discrimination and other employee’s feelings. Companies can also include training on how to handle the occurrence of cultural clashes. According to Kundu, giving employees mentors from the workplace will aid in networking, therefore decreasing discrimination (Kundu, 2001). Finally, managers can be made more accountable by including diverse accountability in job descriptions to intensify their actions on the workforce.
Conclusively, organizations that retain a diverse workforce serve better in multi-cultural markets. Which makes employees feel connected and relate more to the company they are working at (Farren and Nelson, 1999). Companies that can effectively handle diversity workforce in a global talent market have a clear competitive advantage over others in terms of differentiation, creativity, and company branding.
References
Dyson, E. (2020, February 5). “Managing Diversity in the Workplace.” PeopleScout. https://www.peoplescout.com/insights/managing-diversity-in-workplace.
Farren, C., and Nelson, B. (1999). Retaining Diversity. Executive Excellence, 16(5), p.7.
Kundu, S. C. (2001). “Managing Cross-Cultural Diversity.” A Challenge for Present and Future Organizations. Delhi Business Review, 2(2).