Diversity in the Workplace
Many places of work, today, have become a beacon of multicultural individuals from all over the world. This is because of globalization as well as some managerial concepts of expanding cultural diversity at the workplace. However, different leaders at the workplace may call for inclusion or assimilation depending on their different understanding. While inclusion accepts the cultural differences and aims to maintain them in spite of the predominant culture, assimilation calls for blending or infusion of the minority culture into the predominant culture.
However, managers are advised to embrace inclusion since it brings diversity into the workplace. However, a workplace that recognizes and embraces diversity my experience certain problems. Notably, some people actively reject or show prejudice against the minority culture. This has been a rampant problem in most multi-global organization. Language barriers and cultural beliefs may also affect the productivity of individuals in the workplace. Managers should properly tailor their management skills to encourage their employees to appreciate difference and diversity within their social groupings. They should also educate employees on cultural issues that may breed uncomfortable working environments like personal space and body language.
As a manager, I would be very well predisposed to lead in an inclusive work environment because I have had adequate experiences with multicultural associations. Through my experiences, I have learnt certain cultural differences that may work against creating an amiable working environment for all cultures. For example, I understand that different cultures use different body language when communicating. The Japanese on one hand my need a lot of space when communicating with their fellow employees while Arabs and Spanish speakers stand much closer. As a good manager, I would pass down such knowledge to the employees to create cultural awareness that may lead to better working environment at the workplace.
The challenges that I would expect to face, as a manager would be communication. This is because many people take such a long time to adjust their communication habits for everyone to understand what they are saying. The use of slang, metaphors, or even certain vocabulary would confuse most members of different cultures even if they were English speakers. I would, therefore, encourage my team to be aware of these issues and encourage them to use graphics when explain certain issues to their fellow employees.
