An accumulation of knowledge, beliefs, values, attitudes, experience & religion by a group of individuals is collectively called culture. People normally do not think about these elements.
Cultural Competence
Culture is not static & it changes from time to time as an ongoing process. Cultural competence refers to the utilization of interpersonal and social knowledge & skills that show the comprehension & admiration of the differences & similarities among individuals & groups.
Cultural Diversity in the Workforce
The working environment of organizations is changing into diversified surroundings. In modern days, organizations strive to retain a workforce that belongs to different cultures & geographical areas. There are some advantages linked with cultural diversity in the workforce, along with a few disadvantages as well. But if organizations properly manage their diverse workforce, then maximum advantages can be obtained & almost all the side effects of diversification of the workforce can be eliminated.
The advantages may include development of employees, an increase in creativity & problem solving, business growth & improvement in customer services, etc. For this purpose, information technology (IT) provides assistance in connecting different employees to share knowledge & experiences with each other.
Reasons for Cultural Diversity in the Workforce
There are basically two main reasons for this cultural diversity in the workplace, which are as follows:
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The changing structure of the population of the country
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Globalization
It has been proven through research that cultural diversity in the workforce is a universal trend. The population of a country changes because the birth rate in ethnic minority groups increases along with an increasing rate of immigration.
On the other side, globalization is increasing day by day because every domestic or large organization is facing foreign competition & these organizations work in international markets. For this purpose, organizations try to operate in an advanced manner by searching for & retaining talented employees from different cultures.
Advantages of Cultural Diversity in the Workforce
Cultural diversity in the workforce provides potential benefits to organizations, but management must deal with diverse workforces carefully. The following are the main advantages of a diversified workforce from different cultures:
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The productivity & efficiency of employees increase as they are valued by the organization. Therefore, they work with more commitment & motivation.
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New talented employees come with new ideas & concepts which are fruitful for the organization in solving certain issues.
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Diverse employees assist in designing diversified products for different geographical groups. Unique marketing efforts are advised for the respective markets.
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Customer services can be made effective through a culturally diversified workforce.
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Business growth is directed toward the right track by employing people from different cultures.
Disadvantages of Cultural Diversity in the Workforce
In earlier days, managers considered a culturally diverse workforce as a harmful aspect of the organization because at that time they could not properly manage the diverse workforce. But still, if diverse employees are not effectively managed, they can create serious disadvantages for the organization, which are as follows:
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The financial costs of the organization increase due to a high rate of absenteeism, lawsuits, or turnover. Also, organizations spend much money on training new diversified employees, and when those unsatisfied employees leave the organization, the loss is borne by the organization.
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Cultural diversity in the workforce may also result in low productivity as people from different cultures may feel prejudice, and sometimes they do not accept the policies & norms of the organization. This results in low commitment & motivation, which in turn reduces the productivity & innovation of employees.
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In some cases, the departure of diversified employees from the organization creates a bad image of the organization with respect to culturally diversified workforce. When there is a shortage of labor in the organization, new diversified employees are not attracted to the organization due to its bad image.
Issues of Managing a Culturally Diversified Workforce
In managing a culturally diversified workforce, there are two main issues which are as follows:
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People Management
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Knowledge Management
People Management
The management of diverse employees in an organization is one of the biggest challenges of today’s modern world. For this purpose, managers should identify the differences that employees hold & therefore managers should value them so that these differences can be employed in favor of the organization. For making a diversified workforce a useful asset of the organization, there are certain concepts & beliefs that prevent the process.
a) Ethnocentrism:
It is the belief of an individual (employee) that his culture is superior to that of another culture. This creates a monocultural concept in the organization in which only one method of performing duties & tasks is promoted under a single set of ideas & beliefs. As an ultimate result, the smooth functioning of the organization is hindered.
b) The Glass Ceiling:
The glass ceiling is an invisible hindrance that prevents women & other minority groups from acquiring top management positions. There is an unidentified concept among the workforce that women or individuals belonging to minority groups are not eligible to become top executives in the organization.
Knowledge Management
Knowledge is a valuable resource that is present in the minds of employees & when it is effectively utilized, it adds value to other assets of the organization. Another important fact in this regard is that when diversified employees use their knowledge for the progress of the organization, their knowledge does not reduce but rather increases.
In knowledge management, the main aspect is the sharing of knowledge that different employees possess because generally employees are not willing to share their valuable resources. This creates a challenge for management to effectively handle the knowledge of employees due to the following two reasons:
a) Language barriers between employees of different cultures.
b) The direction of knowledge flow, which may be either strongly from top to bottom or both top-down & bottom-up flow.
