CULTURAL DIVERSITY AT WORK PLACE

CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION TO DIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL DEVIERSITY IN ORGANISATION:

MEANING

Cultural diversity is the variety of cultural expressions, including customs, practices, beliefs, and
worldviews that exist within a population. It can be defined as “the collection of human cultural
traits and behaviors distributed through time and space.” Cultural diversity is important in the
workplace because it can lead to better communication, teamwork, and creativity.

OR

Cultural diversity is about bringing people together from a diverse of backgrounds and cultures,
then creating environment that not only recognizes the difference between those cultures and
back grounds, but celebrates them.

DEFINATION

According to Dr.Richard : cultural diversity will increase significantly in the coming years.
Organizations must recognize the need for immediate action and be ready and willing to spend
resources on managing diversity in the workplace now.

OR

According to Oxford dictionary: “the existence of a variety of cultural or ethnic groups within
a society”. From the business perspective, types of workplace diversity include race, ethnicity,
age, ability, language, nationality ect.

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Characteristics of CD:

 age
 religion
 gender
 sexual orientation
 ethnicity
 education
 languages
 abilities

Benefits of CD

1. Innovation and creativity: one of the most significant advantages of cultural diversity is
the infusion of creativity and innovation within the organization. Diverse teams bring a
plethora of perspectives, informed by their varied backgrounds experiences. This
diversity of thought leads to more creativity solutions to problems and innovative ideas
for products or services, fostering a competitive edge in the market.
2. Improved problem solving: culturally diverse teams are better equipped at solving
complex problems. The varied approaches and viewpoints within a diverse team can
analyze issues from multiple angels.
3. Market insight and customers satisfaction: A cultural diverse workforce can provide
valuable insights into different market segments, allowing organizations to cater to a
broader range of customers.
4. Talent attraction and retention: organization known for their commitment to diversity
and inclusion are more attractive to potential employees
5. Enhanced reputation: companies that champion cultural diversity are often seen as
more ethical, socially responsible, and progressive. This enhances their reputation not

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only among potential employees but also customers and partners, contributing to long-
term success.
6. New ideas
7. Wisdom
8. flexibility

Challenges/limitations of CD:

Language barriers: one of the main disadvantages of cultural diversity is its

tendency to create language barriers. Social segregation often occurs when
speakers of two mutually unintelligible languages live side by side.
Social tension: social tension can occur as a result of cultural and linguistic
differences.
Positive economic effects: immigration provides economics benefited to the
United States. Many immigration works in low-paying jobs that most of the
not willing to work.
Hiring just for diversity’s sake
Potential harassment issues
Lack of budget to make changes

EVOLUTION OF DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT:

The term evolution refers to the gradual or phase development of an activity. Evolution of
diversity management here refers to how cultural diversity is managed by organizations stage
by stage. The cultural diversity issues were first made priority for organizations both morally
and business point of view.

In 1960s workplace diversity initiatives first started to emerge. Prior to this many companies
had deep-rooted histories of discrimination and lack of cultural diversity with no or zero
training. Neither protocols nor accountability in workplace were existing regarding cultural
diversity. Civil rights movements in the US gave way for initiating workplace diversity.

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Indian organizations, cultural diversity concept has taken roots from the day the
organizations come into being. Because, India has different cultures in different states.

Indian culture: is the heritages of social norms and technologies that originated in or are
associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse India. The term also applies beyond India to
countries and cultures histories are strongly connected t India by immigration, colonization,
or influence, particularly on south Asia and Southeast Asia. India language, religious, dance,
music, ect. And customs differ from place to place within the country.

Indian culture, often labeled as a combination of several cultures, has been influenced by a
history that is several millennia old, beginning with the Indus valley civilization and other
early cultural areas. Business organizations across India recruit people from different sates of
the country. Thus cultural diversity is found in every organization of the country and has
become a crucial aspect of management of any work place. Managing cultural diversity in
organization is a challenge to HR manager

HR mangers of organizations have to consider following aspects to manage diversity:

1. Understanding the different cultures in workplace: one of the best ways to do this
is to learn about the different cultures represented in workplace. By understanding the
customs, values, and beliefs of the colleagues.
2. Teamwork: one way to promote team work is to encourage employees to share their
culture with others. This can be done through lunch-and-learns, cross-training, or
simple fostering an open and welcoming environment.
3. Respect the cultural differences and customs: the key managing cultural diversity
in the workplace is to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable
communicating their needs and expectations. By creating an open and respectful
workplace, managers can help their business by utilized the full potential of its
workplace.
4. Effective communication: the cultural diversity in the workplace can present
challenges with effective communication can serve as one of the tools to face

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challenges. Effective communication essential for making need to be respectful of

cultural differences. S
5. Clear policies and procedures: it is also important to establish clear policies and
procedures for handling questions or concerns about cultural differences. Clear
policies can help to foster a respectful and inclusive environment.

6. Time: cultures differ in how they view time.

7. Schedules: workplaces are also impacted by cultural and religious events. The
business runs according to calendar that country follows.

Various forms of diversity in India:

 Religious diversity: India is a land of multiple religious. Apart from the tribal societies
many of whom still live in the pre-religious states of animism and magic, the Indian
population consist of the Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and jains and
Hindus divided in to several sects.
 Linguistics diversity: languages spoken in Indian belong to several language families.
 Racial diversity: 1931 census classified India’s racial diversity in the following groups.
Such as –Negrito, mongoloid ect.
 Caste diversity : Indian is a country of the term caste has been used to refer to both
Varna as well as jati. Varna is the four –fold division of society according to functions
differentiation .such as-Brahmins, Kshatriyas, vaishyas and shudras and an outcaste
group.
 Cultural diversity: cultural patterns reflects regional variations because of population
diversity, there is immense variety in Indian cultures as it is a blend of various cultures.
 Geographical diversity: India is a vast country with great diversity of physical features
like dry desert, evergreen forest, lofty mountains, follow their own tradition and culture.

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Diversity and Affirmative action:

Affirmative action:

Affirmative action refers to a policy aimed at increasing workplace opportunities and education
for people who are under-represented in various areas of society.

It focuses on demographics with historically low representation in relationship and professional

roles.

Overview of diversity:

Meaning of Diversity:

Diversity in the workplace means the acceptance and inclusion of employees of all backgrounds.
A diverse workplace is an important asset, since it acknowledges the individuals strengths of
each employee and the potential they bring.

Advantages of diversity:

 Increased productivity: a diverse workplace adds new ideas and inputs. This diversity
of talent means a broader range of skills among employees and a variety of experience
and perspectives.
 Increased creativity: as various cultures and backgrounds works together, the
opportunity for creativity increase.
 Improved cultural awareness: a range of cultures within the workplace allows
companies to deal with the different problems within a global marketplace. This can lead
improved workplace relationship.
 Positive reputation: potential employees want to join companies that have a mixed
workplace. All the companies backgrounds and treat them fairly. Diversity in workplaces
brings reputation to companies.

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 Increasing adaptivity : companies and other business houses who are having a broader
skill base deriving from diversity and often more products and services of varied nature
can help them to have the competitive advantage of adaptability.
 Opportunity for personal growth: business will attract talented, ambitious, and
globally-minded professionals who will appreciate the opportunity for personal and
professional growth.

Impact of diversity on business:

 Diversity improves business performance

 Improves employee engagement and retention
 Public reception of the organization
 Impact on cooperative and competitive behavior

Scope of diversity:

Diversity in the workplace means a business hires diverse personnel with different
characteristics. It results from workers' traditions, values, practices, or beliefs grounded on race,
age, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or gender.

It is employed in organizational settings by employing and hiring persons with various features
such as age, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, education, languages, abilities, and
cultural background. By implementing this, the organization will become more inclusive.
Consequently, creating a more accepting culture will positively affect people and link everyone
in the organization.

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Nature/Diversity trends:

The growth of the minority workforce

Significance increase of women in the labor force
Companies embracing the addition of sensitivity training or multiplicity
Increasing in aging worker pool
Increased transparency in goals

Challenges and issues of diversity management:

Facing cultural diversity and managing the work environment efficiently is not and easy task for
HR manager .they face several challenges.

1. Aligning diverse cultures with organizational goals: this is a great challenge for HR
managers. Organizations will have their own unique goals to be achieved .HR managers
have to find solutions to align diverse cultures of employees with organizational goals.
They have conducted a diversity focused survey that helps in identifying specific gaps in
the organization.

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2. Implementing successfully the initiatives: HR managers may design and develop the
most thoughtful and detail-oriented diversity program. If the workforce down the line is
not capable thought to implement the design programmers, it serves no purpose. This
challenge can be addressed by developing a separate team to effectively implement the
diversity program.
3. Incapable managers: many organizations do not have capable HR managers to manage
diverse employees. Managing diversity requires the cooperation of all employees. If HR
Managers are unable to handle workforce coming from different cultural backgrounds, it
poses a challenge to such organization.
4. Unconscious bias: humans are biased, which is why people tend bring bias into their
everyday interactions in workplace. This will be an additional investment to the
organization which brings significant positive result.
5. Resistance to change: some employees will be just uncomfortable with having a diverse
range of people working with them and may take time to adjust. Normally any change in
a workplace is often met with resistance .it is a human tendency.

Global organization:

Global organizations are the ones that operate on a global scale. They can be found worldwide
and have seen exponential growth.

Meaning of global organization:

Global organizations are those business houses that do business internationally, often having
multiple offices throughout different countries and utilizing virtual project teams and project
managers to lead their organizational products.

Global organization:

A. Preparing a list of potential candidate to recruit

B. Consider diversity aspects while training recruitees
C. Develop cultural competency among employees

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D. Establishing effective communication system

Global diversity

Global diversity refers to the range of differences that describe the composition of group of
two or more people in a cross-cultural and multi-national context. A company believes that
focusing on global diversity will allow it to adopt more inclusive practices around the world.

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