MULTI CULTURALISM IN BUSINESSES

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

MUSADIQUE ALI

2014

Table of ContentsIntroduction:...............................................................................................................................................2

Intercultural Competence:...........................................................................................................................4

Service Coverage.........................................................................................................................................5

Employee Relations.....................................................................................................................................5

Generation of Ideas.....................................................................................................................................6

Customer Service........................................................................................................................................7

Market Expansion........................................................................................................................................8

Company Image:.........................................................................................................................................9

Disadvantages of Multicultural Settings:...................................................................................................10

Factionalism..............................................................................................................................................11

Infighting...................................................................................................................................................11

Enhanced Risk of Discrimination And Miscommunication:......................................................................12

Effects of Multiculturalism on the Workplace...........................................................................................13

Policies and Procedures:........................................................................................................................13

Training.................................................................................................................................................14

Ethnocentrism........................................................................................................................................14

Introduction:

In a business environment and multicultural business setting, interactions and corporation stands

as a separate legal entity that will be incorporated by a legislative or intimation process

established through cultural affiliations within the business organization and corporate

environments. A multicultural business environment serves as the locomotive to increase

productivity and profitability assurance that is caused by increasing motivations of the workforce

when their cultural differences are respected and utilized in the best possible way.

In an array of corporal relativities multicultural work force is composed of men and women

relating to a wide variety of diversified cultural, ethnic and racially stratified backgrounds. The

labor force more ethically pronounced as the Human Resource Capital (HRC) of any business

entity is a reflection of the population from which it is extracted, despite some disruptive

distortions and discriminations that may be caused by cultural bias in hiring. In the United States,

the demographic structures have continued to grow manifold more racially and ethnically

representing a wide diversity in casts, mixed cultural interactions, and languages over the last

decades and this diversity is now reflected in the work place. Managing this integration in such a

way that the benefits and utilities are maximized and the challenges and negatives minimized is

an eminent, important and as well delicate aspect of managing all forms of business today.

Developing the integrals of debate in relation to multiculturalism in business environments,

multiculturalism is also continually stirring in the daily interactive bases we hold within

ourselves. Depending on a wide variety of settings multicultural diversity and foreign

externalities prove to be of immense benefit and usefulness for individualistic roles in societal

interactions because it allows people to get an insight at cultures alien than their own. However

despite the positivity, in some instances multicultural diversity may also lead to aesthetic

tensions and ultimately interpersonal grievances.

Also, within a destined environment, multiculturalism may tend to pose unique and solitary

advantages and disadvantages of multicultural interaction. An inclusive way to figure out

whether a situation or an instance is advantageous (meriting) or disadvantageous (de meriting) is

to generate a list of pros versus cons. The expression "two heads are better than one" has a

ultimately deeper meaning than the literal affiliations and therefore, in order to come up with an

effective and useful list, it may prove to be more effective if several people with different

prospective and motives come together to achieve a common objective. This in turn will lead to a

better rounded outcome. Also, allowing people with varying opinions to come together works

well in a wide range of settings, which includes work environments, education settings, social

situations, entertainment, sports, and so forth. On the flip side, a few conceivable negativities of

multicultural situations arise which may lead to racial and cultural tensions being exchanged

within different ethnicities stringent casts and creeds or other strained relations amongst different

cultural groups. These negative outcomes specifically are the result of people who are

uninformed and allow them to maintain a stance that develops across a series of ignorance, bias,

and "other-ism" from one or more than one involving parties, rather from than the actual mixing

of cultures.

Some may argue against globalism produced by increasing globalization and multicultural

diversity with multiculturalism because they believe it results in blending and thus the loss of

distinct and unique cultures because the thought is that once people begin blending and mixing

socially, then the original cultures get lost in the shuffle and interactive process due to fractional

boundaries. However, turning the masts of the composition multiculturalism poses a wide variety

of affects in business settings, positive and negative which are probable of evaluation.

As a matter of fact, with the globe increasingly turning into a global village in its outlook and as

the market competitiveness and nature becomes increasingly global in nature, multiculturalism in

most business settings will most likely nourish. Although despite, the transition to a multicultural

workplace can result in issues and implications that are related to acclimation for workers and

their employers, multiculturalism at work offers many advantageous perks that can help a

corporal entity prosper in the best qualitative means within a competitive circuit.

Intercultural Competence:

In a socially extravagant business setting where cultural avenues are composed of norms, values,

beliefs, status, unconditional respect and pursuit for excellence with unquestionable ethics;

cultural interdependence can affect in increasingly rewarding ways. Multiculturalism in business

settings can stir a sense of cultural awareness and communal respect among workers, which

increases social cohesion therefore increasing productivity. Employees who are exposed to

others ideas and points of view will learn to think outside the box when faced with a problem or

conflicting moods and ideologies. Once a worker who has been exposed to the ideas of an

individual whose ideas seem foreign to him, he can begin to reflect and develop on the

narrowness of his streamlines world view and how it adversely affects his ability to excavate and

think and solve problems. In a research composition posted in a research journal on The

Multicultural Advantage website, Josh Greenberg, president of Alpha Measure Inc. in Boulder,

Colorado, projects that multiculturalism allows all workforces to contribute based on their own

cultural background, religion, cultural experiences and other qualifications. When a variety of

viewpoints are thrown into the problem-solving mix reflecting an elastic range of philosophies,

productive and innovative solutions can be extracted.

Service Coverage

Not only this, companies that have a culturally diverse mix of workforce may benefit from

coverage diversity because they are composed of a workforce segment with a larger social

networking than just one ethnic group or cultural segment. This can aid in the product

development process of multinational corporations generating an interest for products and

services in many ethnic communities within a global outreach. Businesses that offer goods and

services that appeal to several ethnic groups or continental markets are more likely to benefit

from a multicultural workforce whose members can communicate and inquire regarding the

feedback and add-ons with people in those ethnic groups regarding their products. Also when

business corporations tend to acquire market intelligence as part of the quest for authentic market

research, multicultural workers can put in experiences from their cultural resources in the

development of a product or a service. Thus for instance, the McDonalds beef burger failed in

Indian markets instantaneously after hours of public offering because of incomplete market

research relating to religious factors that injected outrage among the targeted marketed segments,

which was later replaced by a much cheaper vegetable burger.

Employee Relations

Also, with rising trends in multicultural business settings mixed habitats composed of fractional

cultures have proved out to be a catalyst assisting in the development of employee relations and

improved customer service. Employees with metalinguistic abilities can improve selling and

conversation skills fortified by effective communication to increase sales and eventually

profitability, the ultimate goal of any business operations. Also, multicultural business

environments and mixed civilizations nurture the socialization process of employees who are

exposed to different viewpoints, ideologies and strategies of work within the official circuitry or

workplace to practice toleration and diplomacy in conflict. Employees who are tolerant and

submissive to constructively targeted criticism sourced from different views are more likely to

cooperate on perpetual and information factors with one-another or reach a compromised

collaboration when ideological differences exist. This can have a subtle and profound effect on

employee relations, making it possible for employees of different cultures to not only coexist, but

also thrive in all arenas of collectively associated transmissions.

Not only this, conflict arising from multicultural sources can potentially help a business entity to

improve employee relations. When the workforce feels comfortable enough to disagree with

someone, it can strengthen your relationship over the long term as the workforce can present

ideas openly and can influence strategies that would ultimately determine the future of the

business. After engaging in professional conflict, one can step ahead and continue working

together in the future. Corporations with multicultural business environments that allow the

exchange of conflict tend to develop concrete relationships between their employees, based on

mutual respect and acceptance of philosophical differences and ideologies.

Generation of Ideas

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Similarly, in a multicultural avenue the workforce acts as an undrawn shelf representing ideas

that can inject productivity tapping increased efficiency in all forms of business processes with

the generation of global ideas. Employees belonging to different corners of the globe advantage

by enhancing creativity bringing in a wider range of ideas, information and shared experiences

than workers would have done in a more homogeneous and identical labor force that they can

strive to expect. The Australian Public Service Commission maintains that workers from

different geographical and cultural backgrounds with different perspectives can give businesses a

leg up in departmentalization of innovation and creativity. Innovation is what distinguishes

between a trend setter and a trend adopter, and a leader and a follower. Essentially to keep

businesses relevant in fields of optimization for the generation of new ideas, multicultural

business settings have proved to anchor creativity, inventiveness and resourcefulness to

capitalize on revenues for generation of substantial profits. In convergence a business’s aim once

stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.

Customer Service

After setting up a business the customer experiences are the next competitive battle ground,

where a courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement. In instances of

greater importance like these, a multicultural labor force can increase a business's ability to

effectively communicate and connectively link with customers from across the globe, in their

own cultural medium and ethics of selling making them feel personally owned. For example, a

business operating in a village suburb with a high proportion of French speakers will

increasingly benefit by hiring both native French speakers

to assist locally and native English speakers to assist

globally, equipping it to deal with customers who speak

either of the two languages with equal efficiency. A

diverse spectrum of labor force allows the workforce to

become more sensitive to other cultures in terms of their ethics and norms, which improves their

ability to work with customers from diversified cultures alien to them, increasing the profitability

by attracting international concerns to the product or service being offered. Thus multicultural

businesses can give customers more than what they expect to get because there is only one boss,

the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman or down, simply by

spending his money somewhere else. But with multicultural environments, the race for success

gets a tweak.

Market Expansion

In eras diving market trends and customer demand shifts, expanding economically to promote

expansion with subsequent increase in the degree of demand has now been a business objective.

In multicultural business settings market research from different countries of the world can be

extracted from the inflow of workforce experiences and ideas that are shared, aiding in the

critical product development stages of new services and products. With new products strong

routes to market and major commercial customers are caused due to increasing investment

levels, multicultural avenues inject increased potential expansion available to a business. Also,

another probable benefit of a culturally mixed labor force is that employees with ethnically

different and diversified national origins are able to help a business entity expand and branch out

into new markets tapping unexplored opportunities. Instantaneously, an employee from Germany

may be well aware of potential business markets and subsidiary partners to resource untapped

customer demands in Europe. According to the Government of New South Wales it is stated that

international expertise and ethnic knowledge improves workers identify successful export

opportunities, which is only possible with the provision of having a diversified human resource

capital ensured by a multicultural business setting.

Company Image:

It is generally believed that the customer’s perception is your reality. In a multicultural business

setting the workers are imageries of how well a business can operate, and how deeply is the

workforce being taken care. The way consumers view businesses can impact the company's

ability to generate profits, affecting its profitability. In the global market arena today with

increasing competitiveness, businesses known for discriminatory labor selection and treatment

practices may be viewed negatively by consumers in light of the corporate social responsibility,

while those that embrace the multitudes of a multicultural labor force may benefit from a more

positive and trusted image, because all lasting businesses are built on relationships. In an

instance, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida Extension

reported that increasing workplace diversity can reduce lawsuits, building strong worker

relationships and in turn strengthening competitor relationships, having a detrimental impact on a

corporation’s image. Thus, multicultural environment bring out the best in products and

eliminates the worst in competition changing the tactics of business operations forever.

Thus in a nutshell, with increasingly affirming advantages of multicultural business settings that

inject concrete customer service relations pivoting increased service coverage and generation of

ideas that catalyze growing satisfaction caused by unique customer service, despite it increases

profitability and opportunities for market expansion furnishing a company’s image,

multiculturalism can often at times cast a darker side on the cost of its meriting advantages

challenging the formations of things that matter to the game changing corporates the most.

Disadvantages of Multicultural Settings:

Flipping the coin, despite the emotional, psychological and sexual stereotyping of females begins

when the doctor says “It’s a girl”, it’s not the end. In times of fierce competitions not only in

generating the greatest profits but creating the most satisfied workforce, multiculturalism has

emerged a stumbling rock in sciences of business management planting concerns about a

business’s ability to outcast its performance and satisfy its workforce. In terms of business

operations and human resource interaction stereotyping in dimensions of ethnic, racial, color,

gender stereotypes can raise misunderstandings and fierce hostilities in a multicultural setting

germinating negativity. In a multicultural setting many normative and culturally associated

stereotypes are unconsciously held, meaning that even good intentions cannot overcome them

alone. The victims of an unconsciously held stereotype such as "mathematicians tend to have

poor social skills" may not be able to realize that the stereotype that is targeted is held

unconsciously, and can react with enmity and hostility with the presumption that the other person

is bigoted. Thus multiculturalism discharges the bravest thing to do in this increasingly modern

society of judgment, which is to be yourself within a business setting and produce the best of

ideas rather than accept being labeled for your born attributes of cast, color or creed. Be proud

of it, you were born this unique way.

Factionalism

In reservations of multiculturalism businesses compose team efforts in culturally mixed

compositions of teams that are directed towards achieving a common objective or a task,

however multiculturalism has been the greatest instrument of sophistry, faction and division of

workgroups wavering loyalty to the achievement of supreme goals. In a generalized conception,

the more largely composed a team is the more magnified the risk it accompanies that it will

break down into factions and groupings even if the team is heterogeneous in nature.

Multicultural teams can dissolute down into factions based on shared cultural values, languages,

cast and creed. Also, these factions can aggravate antagonism towards each other. Factionalism

caused due to differences in culture can be increasingly deceptive and difficult to spot. Thus

excavating the cores multicultural teams underlies the greatest threats of dissected groupings.

Multiculturalism can dilute business performance and competitiveness into failures where

anything new has never been tried, and no opportunity to begin again is offered.

Infighting

In a business setting failures are not permanent because individuals sometimes believe in not

taking what is thrashed at them but fighting back, but in multicultural settings who wishes to

fight must first find the cost. Once the degrees of internalized cohesion in a multicultural group

begin to decline, offenses for failures or mismatches may be taken, conflicting tempers may flare

opposition and a tradition of retribution and counter retribution may ignite. This is increasingly

probable if the team groupings have already diluted down into factions and characterized

groupings that oppose each other. This can prove to be a turning point, as focus of the team

which was previously centered at solving the problem collectively shifts to a locked power

struggle that reinforces power relations and egos of its members, sometimes resulting in

complete disintegration. Also, in an attempt to control by the time this change takes hold, it may

prove out to be too late to term the disintegrated team as an effective problem solving unit.

Enhanced Risk of Discrimination And Miscommunication:

In multicultural businesses tact is the discrimination of differences, it consists in conscious

deviations. Also multicultural workforce gifts its executives the ability to divide and destroy with

enhanced racial discrimination violating public policy. A diversified workforce offers increased

chances of discrimination in a variety of arrays ranging from racial, religious and even

demographic and territorial discrimination in the process to accolade punishment and reward.

Thus it can be directed that if you put differentiated employees together with distinguish skin

color, cast, creed, religion, culture and even marriage status employees could use them against

each other. Also, in instances of absence for effective and concrete diversity management,

multicultural workgroups can project certain dysfunctional outcomes which can barrier effective

communication within a business setting such as miscommunications, Information and perpetual

factors, longer decision making times, downgraded member morale and disintegrating team

cohesiveness than culturally identical and homogeneous workgroups. Thus in generalization, the

de meriting consequences of a multicultural workforce can reduce innovation and creativity,

workgroup cohesiveness and problem solving. As a result, these negative consequences can

decrease the percentages of market share, ability to increase profitability, and sustain

achievement of departmentalized organizational goals. (Outtz, James L, 2004).

Effects of Multiculturalism on the Workplace

Policies and Procedures:

Sometimes a business has no conscience; it has a policy but nothing more. Multiculturalism

within business settings poses effects on policies and standard procedures of operations across

and within an organization. In eras of rising trends organizations tend to craft policies that

accommodate a diverse work force and that reflect the need to respect that diversity within

humanitarian circles. Policies need to be constructively positive and should be forthcoming in

addressing possible harassment due to difference in cultural ethics, which is always a concern

when attracting applicants from various differentiated cultures and backgrounds into a formerly

static work environment which is now dynamic. The Department of Commerce in relation to

Resolution of Humanitarian council recommends that corporations implement laws and policies

that foster inclusiveness, organizational effectiveness, increasing productivity, ethical customer

service and day to day efficiency. This includes the challenges of devising employee training

measures that reinforce and calibrate the importance of diversity such as the provision of multi-

language training, offering culturally acceptable food and respecting religious reservations

during policy making.

Training

As it is said that success in business requires training and hard work, because the opportunities

are as great today as they ever were. Multiculturalism also widens it’s affects in the department

of employee training. Training programs are a vital and compulsory source of employee

education which tends to focus on organizations mission statement, incorporates elements of

diversity management and inclusion, as well as the company’s stand on unethical instances such

as harassment and intolerance in all arrays of discrimination. Any business across history, that

has truly embraced a multicultural philosophy has implemented policies and training that have

built teamwork and included activities that have encouraged employees to work together for a

common cause and agenda in light of super ordinate goals; while also cultivating the importance

of individual team goals and independent successes in life.

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism which can be bluntly defined as judging of another culture solely by the values of

one’s own culture, held beliefs and norms. The enemy of a productive and thriving multicultural

workplace is "ethnocentrism" which involves the attitude that one's own culture is the correct,

sensible, with the alien cultures being inferior and wrong. According to conflict specialists of the

Aviary Group, if the decay of ethnocentrism is allowed to infiltrate a workplace, the

consequences can range from intragroup conflicts fueled by favoritism, exclusion and cliquish

behavior. When conflict is rampant, motivation, efficiency, performance and productivity in the

workplace suffer. To avoid ethnocentrism and the resultant force of conflicts in the workplace,

Aviary suggests that managerial layers and employees analyze their own culture objectively and

always strive to maintain open channels of communication.