MultiCultural Diversity

“POLITES TOU KOSMOU”CITIZENS OF THE WORLD

Multicultural Diversity or Pluralism

Started in the late 1900s as a “Philosophy of Toleration” The ability to co-exist with people of different social background, nationality or

ethnic group, education, ethics and not forcing one’s views that of the other one.

Lack of Toleration resulted to:•Slavery•World War•Colonization

The quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture, as in the global monoculture, or a homogenization of cultures, akin to cultural decay. The phrase cultural diversity can also refer to having different cultures respect each other's differences. The phrase "cultural diversity" is also sometimes used to mean the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole. The culturally destructive action of globalization is often said to have a negative effect on the world's cultural diversity.

Multicultural Diversity also resulted from industrialization which produced steamship, airplane, telecoms, railways, making travelling settling from one territory to another easier, faster, hence making people diverse, also making tourism possible.

Three Dimensions of Diversity

Primary Dimension• Race • Ethnicity • Gender • Age• Disability

Secondary Dimension

• Religion• Lifestyle • Economic status • Culture • Sexual orientation• Family status • Geographic origin • Nationality • Work experience• Language • Education

Tertiary Dimension

• Beliefs • Assumptions • Perceptions • Attitudes • Feelings • Values• Group Norms

Cultural Relativism•says that there are no wrong standards, everything is acceptable because everything depends on culture, region, Nihilism, means the absence of any standard of good and evil.

from Latin “NIHIL” = nothing

Cultural Imperialism•Happens when indigenous cultures are replaced, so instead of multicultural diversity/ pluralism we get monopoly of culture, colonial mentality, hence cultural nationalism (defense of own culture) disappears.

PRINCIPLES OF CULTURE

THREE PRIMARYORGANIZATION TYPES

1. Monolithic Organization- characterized by a homogeneous work force composed primarily of white males with few women or minority men in management positions

2. Plural Organization- has a more heterogeneous membership than the monolithic organization and takes steps to be more inclusive of persons from cultural backgrounds that differ from the dominant group.

3. Multicultural Organization- include integration of minorities into all structural levels of the company

1. Increased Adaptability

2. Broader service range

3. Variety of Viewpoints

4. More effective execution

Advantages of Diversity

1. Increased Adaptability Organizations employing a diverse workforce can supply a greater variety of solutions to problems in service. Sourcing, and allocation of resources. Employees from diverse backgrounds bring individual talents and experiences in suggesting ideas that are flexible in adapting to fluctuating markets and customer demands.

2. Broader Service Range A diverse collection of skills and experiences (e.g. languages, cultural understanding) allows a company to provide products/service to customers worldwide.

3. Variety of Viewpoints A diverse workforce that feels comfortable communicating varying points of view provides a larger pool of ideas and experiences. The organization can draw from that pool to meet business strategy needs and the needs of customers more effectively.

4. More Effective Execution Companies that encourage diversity in the workplace inspire all their employees to perform to their highest ability. Company-wide strategies can then be executed; resulting in higher productivity, profit, and return on investment.

Disadvantages of Diversity•Diversity renders communications and integration more difficult. People from different culture fail to understand one another. They do not work in the same ways or at the same place.

•The potential for increased ambiguity, complexity and confusion becomes highest when the organization or project requires direction and clarity- convergence (Adler, 2002). Cox (2001) mentions that increasing diversity presents a double edged sword; hence the challenge of managing diversity is to create conditions that minimize its potential to be a performance barrier while maximizing its potential to enhance organizational performance.

Challenges & Benefi ts

•Communication Barriers

•Resistance to Change

•Socio-cultural Factors

•Education, age, and gender

•Personality and Background

1. Communication Barriers Ineffective communication of key objectives results in confusion, lack

of teamwork and low morale. Barriers to communication are factors that block or significantly

destroy successful communication. 2. Resistance to change

Refusing to accept new policies

Why change something that works

We’ve always done it this way

Scared of failure and not being able to learn/adapt to new things

Not wanting to spend time and effort changing

Not understanding what is expected (the fear of the unknown)

3. Socio-cultural Factors•How one was raised, will give them certain beliefs at a young age. Their believes may be a slightly different than those that we were brought up to believe.

•In any form, our behavior was established, regardless of your background. Rules and behavior that one models is what they were taught. Beliefs may be different, making it difficult to understand the reason why you may have offended someone, if you are not familiar with their background.

4. Education, age, and gendereducation. Different education levels can impact effective communication. Complex words and explanations may not be understood by a person less educated, or not educated in a certain field. Imagine a doctor explaining that you have a broken leg in medicalterms!

Age is another challenge in today’s workplace. People may not be used to communicating with different age groups . Older people may use old phrases/words to explain things not understood by a younger audience. Younger people may also use words too modern and not understood by an older generation.

Gender can affect communication as men and women often think about things differently. In Islamic culture especially, when a female and male communicate, certain traditions are followed, such as lack of eye contact and shaking hands, affecting perception and communication.

5. Personality and BackgroundPersonality clashes can effect communication. If you do not like a person or the way they present themselves, you may not listen to what they have to say, or believe what they have to say. However, if you like a person’s personality and agree with what they are saying, you may be more likely to listen, respect what they have to say and take-in what they are saying.

APPROACHES AND STRATEGIES FORMANAGING DIVERSITY

1. Manage and Recognize Cultural Diversity2. Define and Establish Cultural Diversity. 3. Transforming Organizational Behavior 4. Influencing Cultural Diversity. 5. Sustaining Positive Influence Programs

THANK YOU! BESA, ALLAN PAUL

BUTIONG, JOSE RAFAELIBASCO, JAMEE NOELLE

UPAO, CHARLENE