The Two Sides of Diversity Management
at The Workplace

Does your workplace look like a holiday fair, with people from different backgrounds, religions, skin color and even different languages and or dialects are spoken? Then you certainly work in a place where cultural diversity is a way off being.

Diversity in the workplace has never been such a hot issue as in the last decennia. People are not only bringing their talents and skills to work but also their lifestyle, religion, norms and values, gender, cultural background, race and ethnicity.

Managing diversity is a challenge managers and employees are constantly faced with. People are not the same. Even though they want to be treated equally, it  does not mean they want to be treated the same. This is not only within the company but also includes customers, providers and the general public.

Nowadays the current business environment is one of change in demographics, increase in globalisation of businesses and a radical change in production, work, organisation and competition. If enterprises wish to thrive in this global economy they need to better understand cultural diversity and how to manage it effectively.

Multi-cultural organisations that leverage on its diversity have a cost effective competitive edge: there is an increase in creativity, helps the organisation to be more flexible to changes and it attracts a diversity of new customers.  The one who understands the global market is the winner!

Why is it so important to be aware of cultural differences?

• Culture is more often a source of conflict than of harmony
• Cultural differences can be a nuisance
• Since communication differs among cultures it often becomes an issue among people
• When managed positively cultural differences bring innovation and creativity
• Lack of understanding of other cultures can be source of  intolerance and misunderstanding
• Diversity brings flexibility, ideas and different ways of doing things

Culture: elements to take into consideration

Most probably cultural differences play a role in the relationships and communication. Things often go ok, but for all kind of reasons that escape our understanding, things can also go wrong. Dutch professor Geert Hofstede spent many years researching the effect of culture in organisations. His study was based on the comparison of national and organisational culture.  Hofstede’s research has shown that cultural differences between nations are especially found on the deepest level; i.e. on the level of values. In comparison, cultural differences among organisations are especially identified on the level of practices. Practices are more tangible than values. To learn more enjoy an interview with Geert Hofstede.  Hofstede defines Organisational Culture as "the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one organisation from others."

Hofstede developed a cool tool for us to look at different cultural elements of countries and you can compare different countries too - National Culture, Countries. This tool might support you in the understanding of cultural differences, organisational values and what are the elements you need to take into consideration when dealing with cultural difference both at work and in your social life. The interesting infographics below show comparisons among 6 countries.

You can click on the images for further explanations and details

The outcome of his research and many others (Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner in their  book called “Riding the Wave of Culture”) is that each culture is a combination of values, norms, customs, believes and preferences. For example, Latinos are passionate and like sharing their emotions in the open while Germans are very reserved.  In some societies you are who you are because of your achievements (study, work) while in others is about your background and social status (England versus The Netherlands) or the focus on time: like the countries where life pace is slower (Latin America) or time having the meaning of now, important, not enough (USA).