- 05/04/2013
- Posted by: essay
- Category: Free essays
An issue of cultural diversity at the workplace became an important element of human resource management and strategic management overall. The reason of it importance lies in the international nature of business.
Globalized business needs a new effective approach in managing multinational staff. Companies worldwide consider intercultural communication an important tool of organizational success.
The cultural diversity is a critical factor not only for the global corporations, but also for the small companies, because the population becomes more ethnically and culturally diverse in the majority of regions.
Current business environment is very competitive and communication plays an important role in success. Relations with customers, suppliers, and partners are based on effective communications.
I was influenced by Tom Heuerman’s opinion that was expressed in his article “The Identified Losers: Reality or Perception?” . Author has demonstrated an aspiring example of effective management in the situation of cultural and ethnical diversity. Although, I need to note, that the whole tone of this article sounds a little bit idealistic. Heuerman describes the perfect community and the ideal cooperation among the diverse staff.
The company described by Tom Heuerman was some kind of a pioneer in appreciation of employees’ differences and paying attention to their personal strength and talents.
Managing multinational team isn’t easy and organization has to face a number of challenges. At first, the company’s leaders should realize the possible advantages of diverse staff and see it as the competitive strength. This stage was successfully demonstrated in the mentioned article.
Team is a common form of work process used by multinational companies. The major condition of successful team functioning is the team members’ ability to work jointly.
The perception of the leaders has a great influence. Their views and policies consistently form team’s attitudes towards each other, management and organization in general.
Employees that respect each other, share values and vision are “challenged by their differences – not separated by them.” (Heuerman, Web)
The main principle of success in intercultural communication is a realization that every member of organization has a crucial role in overall success. All employees no matter of their race or religion should be respected. Each contribution into the company’s achievements should be valued and rewarded.
It needs to be added that perception of the leaders, the identified losers and other organizational roles should be reviewed.
What can be done in order to increase the cooperation within the diverse teams? Their perception of each other should be improved. Participation in the special trainings and some cultural events may help to increase the understanding and loyalty between the members of organization.
There are some cultural peculiarities (in other words, cultural patterns) that have to be taken into account while working in the diverse teams: personal space, touching, body language, eye contact, and others.
In conclusion I would like to add that multicultural team may become the major competitive advantage of any organization under conditions of the right leader that knows how to create an appropriate comfortable work environment where every person feels like a full-valued element.
The employment in the culturally diverse environment gives a brilliant opportunity to improve the interpersonal skills and to learn new approaches in different work situations.
Works cited
Heuerman, Tom and Olson, Diane. “The Identified Losers: Reality or Perception?”, Selfhelp Magazine, Web, 6 January 1998, revised on 1 January 2009
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