Managing cultural diversity and how to manage it within an organisation

Contents

1.  Introduction  3

2.  Managing Diversity vs. Equal Opportunities  4

2.1  Differences  4

3.  Diversity Advantage  5

3.1  Benefits  5

3.2  Types of diversity  6

3.3  Problems  7

4.  Workforce  8

4.1  Training  8

4.2  Labour Market  9

5.  Human Resource Management  10

5.1  Misunderstanding Disagreement  10

5.2  Communication  10

5.3  Diversity Policy  11

5.4  Stereotyping  11

6.  What can we do?  12

7.  Conclusion and Recommendations  13

  References  15

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Managing cultural diversity and how to manage it

within an organisation

1. Introduction

The topic of diversity has raised significant attention over the past decade (Marx 1999; Kandola et al. 1998; Connerley 2005). Changes in the demographic composition of the workforce in the direction of increasing representation of minority groups - mirrored by changes in other parts of the world - have created the need to understand how ethnically and culturally diverse individuals respond to managerial practices (Warner et al. 2002).

Human beings come in all shapes and sizes, colours and forms, but we do not seek to be different, rather we seek to be with our own kind. We are a visually oriented species so perhaps it is somewhat natural that we tend to notice differences. We describe ourselves as Christian, Jew, Democratic, or even as a Manchester football fan. These categories do not refer to natural biological attributes or necessarily to a particular geographical region, but they have an enormous impact on our behaviour. (Denton 1997)

This report highlights the benefits and problems referring to diversity management and investigates strategies to gain competitive advantage.

The hospitality industry is an international and global industry, many companies and organisations are working international and their employees are from many different countries. The hospitality industry is becoming increasingly ‘internationalized’. Indeed, we can say it is ‘globalised’, where a common global experience is taking place.

Waters (1995, cited in Francesco and Gold, 2005, p.2) defines globalisation as ‘a social process in which the constraints of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding.

Guttal (2007) goes further and stated: ‘The term ‘globalisation’ is widely used to describe a variety of economic, cultural, social, and political changes that have shaped the world over the past 50-odd years, from the much celebrated revolution in

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information technology to the diminishing of national and geo-political boundaries in an ever-expanding, transnational movement of goods, services, and capital.’

Due to this globalisation we are faced with a diversity of our workforce. But is it a problem to work with people from other countries and other cultures. Do we have to worry about the diversity in a company?

2. Managing Diversity vs. Equal Opportunities

In its traditional form, equal opportunities has been described as rights based, liberal , rooted in legal compliance, based upon equality through ‘sameness’ and merit with a focus on non discrimination, and geared towards increasing the proportion of women and other under represented groups in senior roles in organisations (Kirton and Green, 2000)

Diversity should be seen as merely a replacement for the old equal opportunities policy: it must be a corporate value, an integral part of the business strategy, a formal business objective (Harisis and Kleiner 1993 quoted in Fisher 2001) Arguably the most fundamental development in approaches to workplace equality in the past 20 years has been the introduction of ‘diversity management’ as second major approach in addition to ‘equal opportunities’. (Cornelius 2002)

2.1 Differences

The literature describes a few differences between ‘Equal Opportunity’ and ‘Diversity Management’. The key differences that people see between the approaches are that:

Diversity is broader in scope than equal opportunities Diversity is about individuals, whereas equal opportunities is about groups

Equal opportunities is about meeting legal requirements whereas diversity is business-driven

Equal opportunities is reactive, whereas diversity is proactive

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3. Diversity Advantage

Mead (1994, quoted in Fischer 2001) claims that culturally mixed groups can perform better providing certain criteria are met. To achieve cultural synergy, groups must not only respect and value each other’s point of view but also be willing to share their own experiences and in turn listen to each other’s experiences. Denton (1997) on the other hand argues that diversity may promote innovation and fresh viewpoints but will ultimately destroy cultural identity. Our cultural identity is very important, because it tells us ‘who we are’.

Many successful organisations are seeking to secure this diversity advantage by creating an organisational environment which is attractive to diverse labour markets and which is able to respond to changing social and demographic patterns. This can be achieved through effective strategies for managing people that enable organisations to attract, retain and develop a diverse workforce. (Cornelius 2002)

3.1 Benefits

The perceived benefits of managing diversity effectively are often quoted in the diversity literature:

Low labour costs, recruitment, turnover and training

Attracting and retaining employees Improved understanding of customer needs Improved employee relations Improved customer service Enhanced public image Increased productivity Greater creativity (Kandola et al. 1998)

Being multiculturally competent can help every employee to get more out of every relationship in the workplace. Most of these benefits could be applied to the Hospitality Industry. To reduce costs is in every organisation or company very important. The Hospitality Industry is special, because it is all about the people. The

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