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Cultural Diversity: What Is It?
Cultural diversity is that quality or characteristic of any society, community, group or family that consists of a variety of cultural and/or ethnic backgrounds. Thus, for example, a nation like America could be said to be culturally diverse because it is represented by various cultures and ethnicities throughout the land. At the same time, being culturally diverse is also about showing respect and appreciation for and towards the various cultural and ethnic groups within the community. Diversity is something that is recognized rather than something is suppressed or ignored. True cultural diversity is not just the physical make-up of the group of community but also the state of mind of the members of that group regarding how they think about and view diversity. Yet, as DiMaggio and Bryson (2000) show, cultural diversity remains a controversial subject for some.
One of the main challenges of cultural diversity is the idea that all cultures should be respected and appreciated in their own right. Opponents of "political correctness," for instance, view cultural diversity as a means of getting rid of "Western culture" and its attendant values (DiMaggio, Bryson, 2000, p. 2). Others view cultural diversity as a means of informing a community/society about its heritage, differences, similarities and ethnic/cultural history: it is an acceptance and celebration of the reality that not everyone in society comes from white, protestant, anglo-saxon backgrounds.
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Understanding how to navigate the pathways of a culturally diverse workplace environment so as to be respectful and appreciate over the various ethnic backgrounds of members of the workplace while at the same time expressing a unified vision of workplace mission can be a difficult task for some (Day, 2007).
Day (2007) recommends taking a developmental approach to dealing with cultural diversity in the workplace. A developmental approach is one in which the cultural differences of the workplace are viewed as opportunities for learning and developing acceptance for on another's ethnic and cultural beliefs and attitudes. This is a more positive approach than the alternative defensive approach, which views differences as obstacles and hazards that are to be avoided. Once it is accepted that uniformity in background is not going to be the case in most workplaces, a true development process can be implemented that can help all team members within an organization to come together more effectively through learning and acceptance.
Turner-Vorbeck (2005) states that another way to overcome the challenge of cultural diversity is to expand the way we think about diversity. In fact,…
References
Day, R. (2007). Facing the Challenge of Cultural Diversity. Retrieved Nov. 2010 from http://farnhamcastle.blogspot.com/2007/09/facing-challenge-of-cultural-diversity.html
DiMaggio, P., and Bryson, B. (2000). Public attitudes towards cultural authority and cultural diversity in higher education and the arts. Retrieved December 2012 from http://www.princeton.edu/~artspol/workpap/WP11%20-%20DiMaggio%2BBryson.pdf
Turner-Vorbeck, Tammy A. (2005). Expanding multicultural education to include family diversity. Multicultural Education,13(2), 6-10. Retrieved August 2013 from ProQuest.
The solutions are numerous and more diversified. Knowledge is crucial for business success. There are two types of knowledge: explicit or tacit. The explicit type is easily codified, stored and transmitted to other individuals. As opposed to the former, the tacit one is embedded in people. The size of the tacit knowledge is proportional to the diversity of the workplace. Therefore, organizations face the increasing challenge today of finding ways
Thus, more skilled individuals are more likely to possess these. Ensure that the Culturally Diverse Human Resources is Rare Any firm's human resource must be rare, especially if it aims to be the source of sustained competitive advantage. Human skills are normally dispersed in the population, but human resources with high skill levels are rare (Jenson, 1980). In the same manner, the responsibility attached to working in a company or firm
Unlike the culture of my interviewee, African-American isn't really broken into subgroups. I was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, which is very close to the Canadian Border and the "U.S. Peace Bridge." I grew up speaking English, and it is the only language I speak. My religion is not typical of most African-Americans, who tend to be Baptist, Methodist, or Lutheran. I was raised as a Catholic and still
Corporate Cultural Diversity There are numerous studies in the field that reveal the importance of cultural diversity, and its effects on productivity, performance, and corporate success. In an article posted in the Houston Chronicle, Paul Merchant describes some of these effects (Merchant, 2013). The article is titled "the Positive Influence of cultural Diversity in Organizational Behavior" and can be also found on the online version of the publication. The article addresses
cultural diversity issue of non-American employees communicating frequently in their own native language creating an environment of sensitivity and bias amongst the non-Hispanic community. Handling Diversity in an Organization The contents of this paper focus on the cultural diversity involving Films Recovery Systems, an American company located at the heart of Chicago, Illinois. The paper takes an insight into the issue and also proposes solutions that can resolve the problem. The
Recruiting Methods on Cultural Diversity The Effects of Recruiting Methods on Cultural Diversity Maintaining cultural diversity in an organization can lead to innovation and an increased competitive advantage in the marketplace. In the past, the term cultural diversity referred to differences in race or religion. Now, the term cultural diversity means much more than that. As the uniqueness of each individual is recognized, the term cultural diversity has grown to encompass many