Avoiding charges of harassment and even the appearance of discrimination is a cornerstone of most workplaces' diversity policy. But promoting tolerance is not always easy. Quite often, there is a great gap between one person's perception of something as a joke, and another person's perception of the phrase as harassment, if they come from different cultures. Furthermore, different cultures have different standards as to what constitutes genuine harassment. A company with branches in France and Italy may be unpleasantly surprised when an international work team suddenly finds itself riddled with complaints from female, American employees, regarding the behavior of their male European colleagues, who see nothing wrong with what perceive as harmless flirting. A conservative Christian employee may feel threatened when a fellow worker brings his male partner to a company outing.

Keeping channels of communication open can at least allow misunderstandings to be discussed. This hopefully results in tensions being...

Communication must take place horizontally as well as vertically -- colleagues must be able to feel comfortable talking to one another, as well as to mangers when problems arise. Diversity awareness and effective communication techniques should ideally be taught together, and education in such initiatives should be continuing, and not merely confined to sessions orienting new workers. Meeting the challenges of diversity is a continual process, and a positive struggle and source of growth.
References

Beer, Jennifer. (2002). High and low context. Culture at Work. Retrieved October 12, 2009 at http://www.culture-at-work.com/highlow.html

Facts about sexual harassment. (2002, June 27). Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Retrieved October 12, 2009 at http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-sex.html

Leading a diverse workforce. (2009). The Department of Transportation (DOT).

http://dothr.ost.dot.gov/toolkit/Diversity_/Leading_a_Diverse/leading_a_diverse.html