The scope and goal of cultural diversity

 To appreciate diversity, a person must go beyond tolerating and treating people from
different racial and ethnic groups fairly
 The true meaning of valuing diversity is to respect and enjoy a wide range of cultural and
individual differences, thereby including everybody.

Inclusive = Diversity

 focus on the similarities among people rather than differences

 inclusion in reference to the diversity initiatives at Capital One
 diversity is inclusive of each and every one of us
 Diversity focuses on the uniqueness each person brings into the environment to create
alchemy
 To be diverse is to be different in some measurable way
 It's possible that when you meet a team member, you won't like them.
 Be obvious that the person is different because he or she is dyslexic, colorblind, LGBT,
etc.
 People of color are expecting not just to be stirred into the melting pot but to be
acknowledged and celebrated for their cultural differences. – Jilma Misenes
 Diversity Umbrella – includes everyone in an organization since it allows individuals to
accept and appreciate their cultural differences

The competitive advantage of diversity

 diversity sometimes brings a competitive advantage to a firm
 “diversity program” must be offered

1. Managing diversity well offers a marketing advantage, including increased sales and
profits
- gender diversity in toplevel management was associated with higher profits
- this approach can enhance creativity, drive innovation, and help company
expand their reach

2. Effective management of diversity can reduce costs

- A diverse organization that welcomes and fosters the growth of a wide variety of
employees will retain more of its minority and multicultural employees
- Also, effective management of diversity helps avoid costly lawsuits over being
charged with discrimination based on age, race, or sex
- If the management can handle the diversity well, it cannot cause any trouble that
might reach to a costly lawsuit.
 3. Companies with a favorable record in managing diversity are at a distinct advantage
when it comes to recruiting talented people
- Companies that have a good track record of handling diversity have a significant
advantage when it comes to recruitment.
- The recruitment and retention of global talent have become an essential element
of corporate success in today’s economy

4. Workforce diversity can provide a company with useful ideas for favorable publicity
and advertising
- A culturally diverse workforce or its advertising agency can help a firm place itself
in a favorable light to targeted cultural groups.
- run ads aimed at showing its understanding of and respect for African Americans’
sense of family and community

5. Workforce heterogeneity may also offer a company a creativity advantage

- Heterogeneity – race, type class, describe a quality of cultural diversity
- creative solutions to problems are more likely when a diverse group attacks a
problem

6. Avoiding cultural gaffes

- Gaffes – unintentional act or remark causing embarrassment to its originator
- A culturally diverse staff can also offer the advantage of helping a company avoid
publicity and advertising that is offensive to a cultural or demographic group
- The culturally diverse staff still has to be hyper-alert to what might possibly offend
a cultural or national group

Potential Problems associated with diversity

 Initiatives to promote cultural diversity are usually successful.

 When putting together heterogeneous groups, keep in mind that the members of
the group may or may not function well together.
 Group members must also share knowledge with each other for the
heterogeneous groups to be successful
 Less cohesive – less pagkakaisa
 Another problem is that diverse groups may be less cohesive than those groups
with less cultural diversity among the members. Since they didn’t have same
values.
 the true benefits of diversity surface only when there are support-based
relationships among dissimilar workers
 Culturally diverse groups sometimes might enter into conflict because of value
differences related to their culture
 says that culture clashes are everywhere
cross cultural values
 values are a major force underlying behavior on and off the job
 culture can be as important as personality traits in influencing how a person might
behave on the job
 One way to understand how national cultures differ is to examine their values
 Differences in cultural values are stereotypes, reflecting how an average person from a
particular culture might behave
 Cultural values follow a normal curve, as do personality traits. People within a culture are
likely to vary considerably among themselves

1. Individualism versus collectivism

- Individualism – a mental set in which people see themselves first as individuals

and believe that their own interests take priority
- Members of a society that values individualism are more concerned with their
careers than with the good of the firm
- Collectivism - a feeling that the group and society receive top priority
- Members of a society that value collectivism, in contrast, are typically more
concerned with the organization than with themselves

2. Power distance
- The idea that members of an organization have different levels of power
- High power-distance culture - the boss makes many decisions simply because
she or he is the boss.
- Group members readily comply because they have a positive orientation toward
authority
- India, France, Spain, Japan, Mexico, and Brazil.
- Low-power-distance culture - employees do not readily recognize a power
hierarchy
- They accept directions only when they think the boss is right or when they feel
threatened
- United States, Israel, Germany, and Ireland

3. Uncertainty avoidance
- people are not afraid to face the unknown

4. Materialism versus concern for others.

- Materialism – emphasis on the acquisition (pagkuha) of money or material
object.
- A de-emphasis on caring for others
- Concern for others - emphasis on personal relationships, and a concern for the
welfare of others
5. Long-term orientation vs Short-term orientation
- Long-term orientation - are thrifty and do not demand quick returns on their
investments.
- Short-term orientation - characterized by a demand for immediate results and
a propensity not to save

6. Formality versus informality

- Formality attaches considerable importance to tradition, ceremony, social rules,
and rank. At the other extreme, informality refers to a casual attitude toward
tradition, ceremony, social rules, and rank
- The workplace across the world is becoming much more in- formal, with workers
at all levels making less use of titles and last names. The informality of
communication by Internet has fostered informality

7. Urgent time orientation versus casual time orientation

- Urgent time orientation - scarce resource and tend to be impatient
- Casual time orientation - unlimited and unending resource and tend to be
patient

8. High-context versus low-context cultures

- High-context cultures - make more extensive use of body language.
- Low context cultures - and make less use of body language
- People in low-context cultures seldom take time in business dealings to build
relationships and establish trust.

9. Work orientation/leisure orientation

- A major cultural-value difference is the number of hours per week people expect to
invest in work instead of leisure or other non work activities

10. Performance Orientation

- the degree to which innovation, high standards, and excellent performance are
encouraged and rewarded