Aspects of a Multicultural Organization - Research Paper Example

? ASPECTS OF A MULTICULTURAL ORGANIZATION Features of Multiculturalism in Organizations Organizations today are increasingly becoming varied in termsof race, gender, nationality and ethnicity. This multiplicity brings considerable amount of prospective advantages such as greater creativeness and novelty, improved decision making capacity, and more thriving marketing approaches to various categories of customers. However, improved cultural diversity within a group of workers also paves the way for the impending costs in interpersonal divergence, communication hurdles and higher employee turnover. A multicultural organization consists mainly of 6 key features namely pluralism, structural incorporation, complete amalgamation of unofficial networks, elimination of discrimination and prejudice, equivalent recognition of organizational objectives with all the diverse teams and nominal amount of inter-team conflicts (Cox, 1991). In the following paragraph we are going to discuss about all the six features of a multicultural organization – Pluralism refers to the mixed group of members in an organization and it also means taking proper measures to involve all the employees entirely that are different in terms of the central group dominating the organization. The concept of pluralism should take into account all the factors relating to race, religion, language, ethnicity, gender and culture which proves to be the basic component of a person’s identity and hence are sensitive facets of a person’s life. Pluralism is a part of the acculturation process. Acculturation helps to a great extent to introduce the concept of pluralism among the employees. Acculturation is the means by which the cultural disparity between the host/dominant cultural group and a minority cultural group are treated or resolved. There are a number of options for practicing acculturation within the organization, among which the most well-known being: 1. An unilateral procedure by which members of the minority culture take on the values and norms of the principal group within the workplace (this is called assimilation); 2. A course of action by which both majority and minority members of different cultural backgrounds accept some customs and rules of the other group (this is known as pluralism); 3. A state of affairs where there is modest scope of variation from each of the culturally different groups (this situation is referred to as cultural separatism). Pluralism further refers to the means of encouraging the minority culture groups are to enact the practices from the other cultural groups as well as from the dominant cultural group. They are as a result capable of retaining a sense of individuality within their minority cultural group. The concept of acculturation on the other hand is related to the cultural (customs and attitudes) characteristic of amalgamation of the diverse teams, as contrasting to simply make themselves physically available in the same setting (Buenker & Ratner, 2005, pp.18-20). Full structural integration: An organization generally comprises of people from various backgrounds and different locations. When the firm has minority team members offering their service at every organizational level like responsibly handling all functions and enthusiastically taking part in all work teams, then it is said that the firm has attained full structural integration. Though, in order to obtain an appropriate knowledge of the structural integration framework it is significant to look further than the organization oriented summary data, and study the cultural blend in terms of function, individual work team and the level of work done. This involves dealing out with educational specializations and the variations in expertise and treating those evenly all through the organization. Full integration of informal networks: integration in informal networks in a multicultural organization is fostered through supervising and mentoring programs, particular social occasions and sustaining the cultural groups for the minorities. Such firm provides the minority groups platforms to communicate their cultural distinctiveness and distribute components of their own teams and involving those within the governing groups. The dominant team members then help in better understanding the traditions and cultural heritage of the minority members. This facet recognizes that vital contacts on the basis of work are frequently formed beyond the regular work hours and in a range of community tasks and organizations. This element focuses on the stages of enclosure of the minority-culture employees in lunch/dinner gatherings, athletic and golf outings, and social associations conducted and repeated by organizational managers. It also takes into account the facets of counseling and several other informal developmental aspects within organizations. Absence of Prejudice: Any kind of prejudice or bias is avoided in a multicultural organization. A multicultural firm is a framework that forms a favoritism free environmental setting within an organization through the means of Bias Reduction Training Programs and Equal Employment Opportunity Seminars. Thus the employees are treated alike in this kind of organization. However prejudice might tend to occur among the members of the minority-culture as well as among the members of the dominant-culture. It must be given significant emphasis that the realistic effect of prejudice formed by the members of the majority-culture is far more than that of the members of the minority-culture for the reason that their decision-making power is far greater than the minority-culture teams. Equal identification with organizational goals with all groups: Within a multicultural environment the members of the diverse teams play a crucial part in influencing the firm’s course of action and forming decision on how to reach its objectives and thus in this way they tend to understand the firm better and can realize their position within it. Minimal inter-group conflicts: In a multicultural firm, proper care is taken for maintaining least amount of inter-group conflicts on the basis of cultural disparity, through Conflict Resolution Training and Survey Feedback. (Fine, 1995, p.190) Multiculturalism’s competitive advantage for an organization Multiculturalism refers to the diversity within an organization that makes it prepared for uncertainties within and outside the organization. With the advancement and modernization of technology, diversity has become a growing need for all the teams in an organization so as to facilitate proper understanding and communication in team work, superior contribution, accomplishment of the underlying objective, and withstanding the competitive market. Diversity in workforce can be often regarded as a positive force paving the way for the efficient team functioning (Knight, 1999). Diversity has been defined by CIPD as “Diversity is valuing everyone as an individual – valuing people as employees, customers and clients” (CIPD, 2005). It gives rise to variety of ideas, innovation and creativity, thus resulting in enhanced team performance. A diverse team includes people with different skills and competencies and together they form a creative unit with lots of new and innovative thoughts. It is necessary for the manager to know how to handle the subject of diversity within a team. One central resource for workplace diversity best practices is the U.S. G.A.O.’s statement on “Diversity management: Expert-identified leading practices and agency examples”. The GAO’s 8 leading best practices for managing team diversity are- 1. Top leadership commitment—an idea of diversity communicated and demonstrated all through an organization by top-level administration. 2. Diversity as part of an organization’s strategic plan—a strategy of diversity and a diversity plan that are aligned and developed with the organization’s strategic framework. 3. Diversity linked to performance—the perception that a more inclusive and diverse work ambience can aid to improve organizational and individual performance and capitulate greater productivity. 4. Measurement—a cluster of qualitative and quantitative estimation of the consequences of various facets of a general diversity curriculum. 5. Accountability—the way to make sure that leader is accountable for diversity by connecting their compensation and performance assessment to the advancement of diversity program. 6. Succession planning—an enduring, strategic development for recognizing and forming an assorted pool of talented employees for a firm’s prospective future managers. 7. Recruitment—the procedure of drawing a supply of competent, diverse candidates for employment. 8. Diversity training—managerial endeavor to inform and instruct administration and employee about diversity’s advantages to the organization (Kreitz, 2007). Thus our argument states that diversity in team reaps positive benefit only when the manager handles the team efficiently, but it reaps negative results when the management fails to handle it successfully. Thus when a Multicultural Organization manages its diverse workforce efficiently by following the above steps, it obtains various benefits in terms of: Cost- handling diversity well or maintaining multiculturalism can result in trimming the costs of gathering diverse workers by the introduction of innovation and creativity within their regular performance and thus creating an improved set of output. Resource Acquisition- firms that have the finest repute for preserving multiculturalism or handling diverse workforce will have an increased scope of recruiting the best existing diverse staff. Marketing- improved knowledge and cultural understanding will develop the advancement and marketing of goods and services for different segments of the market. In other words, a diverse workforce would help the organization to address and serve a wide range of customers belonging to diverse backgrounds. Creativity- practice of multiculturalism enhances the ranges of creativity and originality throughout the firm by the means of diversity of thoughts and perspectives. Problem solving- the process of problem solving will improve by the introduction of teams with more diverse viewpoints and ideas that will make the decision making process smoother and faster. System Flexibility- forbearance and respecting the diverse point of view all through the organization will make the functions of the firm simpler, more flexible and more approachable to the environmental and other transformations. Reference Buenker, J.D. & Ratner, L.(2005). Multiculturalism in the United States: A Comparative Guide to Acculturation and Ethnicity. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group. CIPD. (2005). MANAGING DIVERSITY: PEOPLE MAKE THE DIFFERENCE AT WORK – BUT EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. CIPD: UK. Cox, T. (1991). The multicultural organization, 1 Vol. 5 No. 2. [Pdf] The University of Michigan. Fine, M.G. (1995). Building Successful Multicultural Organizations: Challenges and Opportunities. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group. Knight, D. (1999). TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM DIVERSITY, GROUP PROCESS, AND STRATEGIC CONSENSUS. [Pdf] Available at Kreitz, P. A. (2007). Best Practices for Managing Organizational Diversity. [Pdf] Available at < http://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/getdoc/slac-pub-12499.pdf> Read More