Arizona State University

OGL 350 – Paper 1

By: Allison Phillips

May 21, 2020

 This week we learned about diversity and culture and how they may affect organizations.

Learning that culture is described as what we do and learn as humans within a particular society.

We acquire our knowledge of culture through the individuals we grow up around, the education

we go through, the laws of our communities, and any other customs we are brought up around, or

habits we form for ourselves. Not everywhere you go will have the same culture as where you

are from, and that is okay, it just means that you need to learn and accept that people and places

are different.

Part 1:

Diversity management, as defined in chapter 10 of the Managing Diversity: Towards a

Global Inclusive Workforce text, is “…the voluntary organizational actions that are designed to

create greater inclusion of employees from various backgrounds into the formal and informal

organizational structures through deliberate policies and programs” (Mor Barak, 2014, pg. 235).

Being able to bring together diverse individuals will help create more balance throughout the

workplace. Not just focusing on the new individuals that are “different” and new to the company

but working with each employee to mix together the new employees with the already existing

ones. The text really emphasizes that diversity management isn’t just hiring new people, its

learning how to blend everyone to work effectively and efficiently together. One thing that stuck

out to me from this reading was that a hiring process included finding people that fit the

characteristics and work styles of past successful employees, but if the new hires did not fit well

enough they would be fired (Mor Barak, 2014, pg. 240-241). I have experienced this in the past.

I got hired and felt that I was understanding the material that was being taught to me, even

though the employee training me was distracted by other issues, and eventually we found out that

we had experienced an odd incident that involved both of us outside of work. The organization
had a unique notion of personalities each individual possessed, and I guess I did not fit that bill. I

was let go less than a month of being there, told that I should already know the job and not be

making the mistakes I was making, and when I questioned the issues the manager could not give

me any in depth information. Normally, I feel that three months is usually a good amount of time

to be able to learn the job and then judge whether or not I am qualified, yet this was not the case

with this issue. I learned from that situation and found myself at a new company where I get

along great with the diverse group I work with.

Expanding diversity in the global market is helping organizations broaden their teams and

expand their knowledge on the world views. Stephanie J. Creary shares in her article that

harnessing and integrating the social identity each individual brings to the table. This included

bringing together different backgrounds to share their thoughts and ideas which would help the

team members feel a as if they are contributing to each project and a part of the success of the

organization. To integrate this harnessing aspect the organization would need to pull from

different backgrounds and create an inviting space where those team members feel safe bring up

their ideas and contributing to the conversations. It is, in my opinion, important to let each

member openly talk, while keeping an open mind and hearing what the person has to say. This

does not mean that one has to always agree with the ideas thrown out, but it could lead to a new

perspective on an idea which can guide the team to a successful outcome. Recently, at my place

of work, we had our very first team meeting. I have worked for this company for almost 2 years,

and this was our first meeting with our department, I know it is shocking. We as a team brought

up concerns and issues and offered up ways to improve our situations. Each person was given the

opportunity to share what they felt was an issue and we came up with ways to work through
them. Overall, it was a good opportunity to get together and be able to work as a team. This gave

us a sense that we are all included and that to improve the workplace it would take a team effort.

A good starting point in understanding diverse groups of people is learning about one’s

own identity. Identity is the understanding of our own affiliations which can include gender,

race, culture, religion, and so forth. (Thomas, K, 2004, pg. 182). Each individual has their own

identity and will differ from others, thus creating diversity. It was interesting to learn about the

different stages of identity: preencounter/conformity, encounter/dissonance, immersion-

emersion, and internalization. These stages help to contribute to how we think and accept the

people we work with, the work we do, and then grow to become more aware and understanding

of the differences our society holds. We start thinking that we need to just believe our own racial

stereotypes and conforming to them, but then we run into an incident that has us rethinking our

viewpoints of ourselves and the environment(s) we find ourselves in. This then leads to

questioning the processes and realizing that we have more to offer, to finally leading us

accepting our independence and challenging us to challenge the status quo.

Having our own identity and understanding

it helps us create our own pie charts of ourselves. In

my self-affiliation pie chart I have included these

items: my age which is 29, my religion being

Christian, my ethnicity being a biracial Asian-

American (and proud of it), that I am a woman, I

come from a divorced family, as well as I am also a

divorcee, I am a mother of two little girls, I take joy

in getting outdoors and going on adventures, and I am outgoing and personable. These items that
I have chosen are just the base of who I am. I was not exactly sure as to how many options to add

to the chart, so I just chose the main points of myself to narrow things down. I feel that the items

I chose do not just define me, but I define them. Yes, I may come from a divorced household,

and I may be divorced myself, but I am a strong woman who has learned to overcome the

obstacles thrown my way. Right now, I have run into an incident with my oldest daughter, so

learning that how to overcome this stressful situation, I am finding is tough. I do not know what

the outcome will be, and how it will change things, but being a mom is tough in its own way and

obstacles are going to happen. I just need to be strong and know that in the end whatever

outcome occurs things will work out.

Next to discuss was my cultural intelligence test. I was slightly confused with how to go

about scoring this. I added up my scores and got an 89, but I could not figure out how to compare

my score to figure out my strengths and weaknesses. From my understanding with the test seems

that I am lease knowledgable about how other cultures are, but my action and strategy levels are

pretty well off. I am good about interpreting my surroundings and adjusting myself to work with

others.

Part 2:

The Klockhorn and Strodtbeck cultural values model was interesting to me. I enjoyed

understanding that it is the basis of the cultural values. Their module helps establish the basic

human nature with evil natures, good natures, or a mix of both natures. There is an understanding

that knowing people is a sense of importance, and there are types of ways to know people. My

favorite is the group aspect because it uses the sense of working together as a group of people

instead of individually or with status determining who works above who.

 In relation to my family, we have a good sense of status, “I’m in charge so you have to

listen to what I say” aspect. I would much rather have a group effort amongst us, but I do know

that as a parent I need to be in charge of the kids to make sure they learn the importance of right

and wrong, the understanding of when to say yes and no, as well as structure to build strong

individual people that I can be proud to send out in the world. I do feel that we have more of a

sense of being, as Klockhorn and Strodtbeck share in their model. I feel that I work to live. I

work hard in school to build myself up and grow my knowledge to find a better career to live a

better life and provide a better life for my family.

Reference:

Creary, S. F. (2016). Resourcefulness in Action: The Case for Global Diversity Management. In

Positive organizing in a global society: understanding and engaging differences for

capacity building and inclusion. New York: Routledge.

Mor Barak, M. E. (2014). Diversity Management- Chapter 10. Managing Diversity: Towards a

Global Inclusive Workforce. (3rd Ed.), Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Thomas, K. (2004).  Individual Diversity Orientation Chapter 11 in Diversity Dynamics in the

Workplace. Wadsworth.