Expanding diversity consciousness in organizational settings

Diversity Consciousness

Expanding Diversity Consciousness

Diversity can be viewed in many ways and it can be experienced in both outer and inner phenomena. We find that diversity of people is present in our dreams, feelings, states, religions, thoughts, ethnicities, ages, political views, sexual orientations and physical abilities. A life can become more sustainable and richer through these differences. We all know that there is not one kind of vegetable, person or point-of-view. In simple words diversity can be defined as a welcoming attitude and an integration of diverse people and elements. This research paper is based on learning, identifying and evaluating diversity practices in any place. I want to explore how the environment and places help people to create and compare their intended purposes.

Expanding Diversity Consciousness

Introduction

Every state or a country has some ethnic minorities. These minorities are basically the groups that differ in their language, religion or way of living. Similarly in an organization we find some diverse groups and they have a different way of reacting and working as compared to the other people working under the same roof. This research paper is based on the study of diverse consciousness and how we can expand it while working in any organization. To clarify my actual purpose of writing this research paper, I have selected an ethnic minority group and have considered an organization where diverse groups are working together.

Literature Review

We have to develop our diversity consciousness while working towards the wholeness of life. In this way we can live a sustainable life easily. Diversity consciousness can be explained through various everyday problems such as an individual person, whether a man or woman, can experience troubling feelings. These feelings may depart from the person's own identity or image. Angry feelings can trouble a peaceful person similarly a weak or needy feelings can disturb a strong person. But the same feelings can make the respective person get connected to others more easily. These disturbing experiences or feelings can be embraced or avoided and later can be integrated in to the personality. They can be welcomed as gifts and often they are the right solutions to the person's problem.

Collective situations such as communities, organizations or families have evolutionary moments. These can be blocked. This is because every evolution is first perceived as a trouble. Basically the person's mainstream body is troubled.

Every organization should take pride in being liberal and open-minded. It often happens that any woman that was once criticized in the organization later becomes an inspiration for others. This is because once she denied accepting any forceful charges and left the organization. She was the one who took a step against discrimination that happened with her or with her diverse working group. Later being a former client she returns and gets engaged in the services of the organization. She is now inspired for all the important changes that she brought in the organization.

"From a diversity conscious point-of-view, heterogeneity and variety should be respected as natural and complex circumstances. An integral part of this is the recognition of those influences which specific affiliations and proportions of power have on behavior, attitudes, patterns of interpretation and individual positions" (Winkelmann, Scharathow & Eisele, 2008)

"Different bodies of diversity theory address different linkages among the patterns and with the realized Niche." (Bestelmeyer, Miller & Wiens, 2007).There are several theories based on diversity. In order to understand diversity as a whole I selected three research papers. One of them focuses on six dimensions of diversity such as gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, race and national origin. "Humans judge each other on surface-level characteristics..Group membership based on these characteristics implies true similarities or differences between people which.creates the formation of in-group and out-group distinctions.these judgments.result in outcomes that may have negative effects for minority or out-group members" (Shore, Chung-Herrera & Dean, 2009).

There are several theories used for the study of ethnicity as variable of interest. Many of these theories originate from micro-theatrical perspective. These theories explain behavior from a perspective within any work group or from an individual. "The most widely used perspective for explaining the negative outcomes of team diversity is social identity theory, it is predictable that people will exhibit a favorable bias toward others who are viewed as members of their in-group, and they will view themselves as being in conflict with out-group members" (Joshi & Jackson, 2007). When surviving in any organization or a workplace, we consider several factors that make us work and move in a better way. "Developing mechanistic, material explanations that do not rely on terms like organization, or on the efficacy of unarticulated external factors, and considering regeneration as an integral component of development and of life cycles" (Sunderland, 2008).

Within the literature on diversity and race, there are some theories that focus on possible positive outcomes or positive predictions of ethnicity diversity. The term "value in diversity" argues that for a team outcome the benefit and value is created by diversity. If there will be an increase in ethnic diversity, the respective work group will definitely experience some possible positive outcomes. These positive outcomes include enhanced ability of problem solving, increased information, constructive debate and conflict, higher quality decisions, increased creativity and an increase in understanding of various cultures.

"If organizations want to achieve diversity in the workplace, they really must commit to a workplace diversity strategy. There are plenty of organizations that understand the business value of implementing diversity-management initiatives and having their workforce represent the society in which they live" (Luber, 2010). Yes, it is absolutely true that various organizations exhibit themselves as being very liberal. They bring employees belonging to diverse cultures under one roof. After the formation of in-groups and out-groups, these organizations fail to maintain the awareness of accepting diversity. It creates difficulties for the employees working in that organization.

To promote a clear idea of expanding diversity consciousness, I have chosen a linguistic minority and that are the "Asians." I have selected three field sites and I have considered employees working in an educational institute (university), in a multi-national organization and running restaurant business. I will be focusing more on the multinational organization and this I have chosen as the central field site for my research paper study.

In the past few years I have observed gays either being criticized severely or accepted whole-heartedly. Initially I wanted to focus on rights of gays and that how they are treated in any workplace. Whether they work in an organization or they study in a school, somehow they face criticism from the people in their surroundings. Acceptance of gays has become a serious problem especially in schools. "The growing conflicts are centering on three issues: whether classrooms are an appropriate venue to explore issues of homosexuality, whether schools should lend sanction to extracurricular activities in which gay culture is a focus and whether textbooks that acknowledge homosexual relationships are suitable for younger children" (Janofsky, 2005). I could not find much material on this issue therefore I chose a major issue of diversity that happens with the Asians or even with Hispanic families. Before moving further I would like to mention the major countries that are a part of the Asia continent. These include Afghanistan, China, India, Pakistan, Georgia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Philippine, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and etc.

Interviews of Employees belonging to Three Different Field Sites

As I mentioned before, I selected three field sites and I interviewed three employees, each related to any one of the field sites. The first field site I selected was the restaurant business. Before meeting the person who works in a restaurant, I went through a few articles on the internet and I came across an article that explained how to interview a person belonging to a diverse culture; also if the restaurant owner is willing to hire him for the restaurant business. "The assumption of these theories seems to be that deep-level differences underlie surface-level differences, research has concluded that demographic characteristics do not consistently relate in a meaningful way with knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values (Harrison, Price, & Bell, 1998).

One of the famous restaurants in my town is "Food on your Platter." It has gained popularity in a very less period of time and I often go there with my family. I interviewed the restaurant's manager; his name was Simon Miller. He was 32 years old guy with a smiling face all the time. One thing that I liked about him was his welcoming attitude. I asked him a series of questions regarding his age, qualification, family background, cultural values, friends, his hobbies and etc. He and his family migrated from India. They were Christians and belonged to a lower class family. Despite of being Christian he had seen his family following several Hindu traditions since his childhood. He was a vegetarian and he faced a lot of difficulties after he was selected as a waiter at the restaurant. He was very efficient and within six months he became the manager of the there. I asked him about the conflicts and criticism that he faced when he was appointed as a waiter there. Since he was a vegetarian, he had to serve meat and chicken dishes as well. The left over food in the restaurant was served to the waiters so that nothing goes waste. Being an Asian he had always seen his mom and sisters in decent dressing. Here Simon had to see girls in short clothes working with him as waitresses. Also he used to keep a distance while communicating with women and girls working in the restaurant. He could not eat egg, meat or chicken no matter how hungry he was. He faced difficulties being an Asian; the only reason he was made the manager of the restaurant was his honesty and efficiency. In order to blend in the cultural differences, Simon started to make friends. He always behaved friendly with all the waiters working with him. He learned the new cultural values here and soon he was made the manager of the restaurant.

The second person I interviewed was an Asian laborer. He worked at a construction site, where a shopping mall has to be built. His name was Raj Machandera. He had migrated from Sri Lanka. He too faced a lot of diverse culture issues when he got the labor job at the construction site. I met him at a barber shop. He was 28 years old, when he introduced himself to me, I found him as the right person to interview for my project. I did not expect that I will be able to find people from diverse cultures working in my town at different field sites. Before moving further I would like to quote the blending of diversity at work. Diversity terminology can have a direct positive or negative influence on people" (Pati & Bailey, 1995)

He told me that first he was not accepted among the group of laborers since they all were already living in the western society. Only he was the one who was a Sri Lankan and somehow he managed to get a job here. He had a different way of dressing, communicating and working. He felt as if he is an odd one out. He decided to work quietly and used to make required communication only. Slowly his fellow workers started to know him and his personality and then he managed to make a place of his own. He had a different religion and language but he tried to learn their language as quickly as possible. According to Raj, it was his willingness to work with the rest of them. He had to maintain his own culture within himself and had to accept the host culture as well. He further added that he might have not blended his diverse culture factors so quickly if there was another laborer having the same or a different diverse cultural background too.

Last but not the least, the third person I interviewed was an Indian too. His name was Rajesh Chaawla. He worked in a multinational organization (a telecom company). He was working on the post of Vice President of the company. To interview an employee working in a multinational organization and having a diverse cultural background was my main objective. I wanted to know all about him therefore I asked him a series of questions. I was surprised to know the behavior of his fellow employees in the beginning of his career at the respective telecom company. Rajesh Chaawla was now 40 years old and he was an Indian. His family had migrated a long time back but they had followed their own culture and traditions very strictly. Initially he had very difficulty finding jobs. Luckily he got an opportunity to work in this telecom company. He was very happy to be a part of it but soon he started facing conflicts with his co-workers. Difference of language, religion and the overall outlook; he started to feel isolated. He faced several misunderstandings due to difference in the cultural interpretation. Initially his language was a barrier while communicating with them. He was good in writing English and did not have good spoken English. He was ignored and things changed slowly. He started to broaden his recruitment reach and focused on his competencies and skills. In order to avoid bias, he used a formal and consistent application process. He was promoted within six months but he never felt authoritative and discriminated among other employees. He supported the employees working under him on the basis of performance only and did not give advantage to the ones belonging to his culture.

Brief Summary of the Three Interviews

I reviewed the interviews of the three people, who work at different field sites. I concluded that it is the majority that makes the diverse minority feel inferior. Yes, it is true that not all employees are same and some behave in a very friendly way also. I personally believe that being a part of any diverse minority, as I have considered Asians here, one should try to blend in the host culture. If we being an employee are appointed in any multinational firm; it is completely on us that how we prove ourselves. We can deliver a friendly attitude but not ignoring our professional responsibilities. If we are working on a low designation then we can access and communicate with the members belonging to our diverse minority group and can have some recruitment classes. In future if we get an opportunity to work on a senior designation then we should not promote or support our diverse group only. Just like Rajesh (the third person interviewed by me), I would grade everyone on the basis of performance only.

Recommendations for the Employees belonging to a Diverse Minority Group

I would like to recommend all the employees that are working in a multinational firm but unfortunately they are part of a diverse minority group. They should take this factor in a positive way. Being an employee, a person is hired on the basis of qualification and skills. The employee should give his best while surviving in such a huge organization. Instead of fearing from isolation or ignorance; try to learn the culture of the host group (majority group). Try to maintain your own culture as well as their culture. Enhance your skills in order to gain success. Diverse cultures are criticized in workplace but if the employee is willing to make his place, he can be successful.

How Employer Codes of Ethics apply to Diversity Practices in a Multinational Firm

The employer codes of ethics can be easily applied to the diversity practices in any multinational firm or organization. The employer should never compare his religion, race or age with the religion, race or age of the other employees. Every organization has its own culture; ultimately the majority and the minority groups have to become a part of the respective organization culture. The employees should maintain a balance in between their diversity practices and the organization's culture, without any fear of isolation or ignorance.