WorkPlace Cultural Diversity

By Rom Antony Day

Monday, July 07, 2008

This is a seminar I designed and co-presented on several occasions almost a decade ago. You might find it of interest since this object of diversity is often misconstrued as respect or disrespect according to a person's world concept and all too often and unfortunately at the cost and disregard of another's concept of the world. For instance, some of us are direct and others are indirect. Some may be formal while others informal or might be both depending on the situation at hand. Yet both styles are valid, and just because you are indirect, it does not make it bad for any body else to be direct when communicating with me. And just like some have to have people use a title and last name to be spoken to, otherwise they may feel disrespected, others prefer to go on a first name basis. So who is to say if calling Mr. Joe Smith by the first name Joe instead of Mr. Smith is disrespectful or unprofessional but himself. He would be the better judge of it not a third party evaluator who knows not his preference.

Well, I hope you find it helpful if you do any seminar at your job.

Best Regards,

Rom Antony Day

Work Place Dynamics Training Series

Topic: Cultural Diversity in the Work Place

Date conducted: 8/17/00.

Training Leader: Rom Antony Day, Job Developer, The Lions Center for the Blind, Oakland.

Presenters: Burt Boyer, Executive Director, The Lions Center for the Blind, Oakland..

Lauri Shay, Rehabilitation Program Manager, The Lions Center for the Blind, Oakland.

file type: hand out.

Credits: Audio-Video “How to Deal with Cultural Diversity in the Work Place” by J W A.

Opportunities and Benefits of Cultural Diversity

- More creative.

- Open to change.

- Opportunity to grow both personally and professionally.

Communication Tips

- Commitment to communication is key.

- Doing differently does not mean wrong.

- People from other cultures might not even tell you if they do not understand.

- Be aware of the “automatic yes” to almost every thing due to:

- Fear of authority.

- Don’t want to look unintelligent.

- Use open ended questions (who, what, when, how, why).

- Speak clearly.

- Focus on one point at a time.

- Speak simply but with correct grammar.

- Try to communicate effectively and meaningfully.

- Be careful about making negative judgements based on your own values.

- e.g. eye- contact, modesty, team effort emphasis.

- Develop rapport with the person.

Mentoring:

- In many cultures age and authority are aligned. Always give the employee respect no matter what the age.

- Don’t just challenge the person’s claim, but if you have to, deal in a reasoned and respectful way, or you might loose face and give rise to employee morale issues.

- Preserve respect and dignity of the employee.

- In some cultures relationship is emphasized.

- In others, they want trust and formality. Don’t get too personal as it could make them uncomfortable.

- Be aware of other’s values and operating styles. Get to know them.

- Find ways to collaborate.

- Listen and respect others points of view.

- Be intellectually curious.

- Willing to take risk.

- Have a sense of humor.

- Operate at a high energy level.

A by- product of using some of the above pointers is a better feeling about the work environment and thus better teamwork. According to the presenter in the video, all these will bring you closer to people and make them more willing to participate and collaborate.

To work effectively in a culturally diverse work force:

- Change our thinking. We can not assume that all cultures have the same viewpoint as ours.