Outline
This paper outlines how a manager or a leader can eliminate cultural and ethnic biasness in his workplace.
Introduction
Managers and leaders should recognize not only the individual diversity but also cultural diversity in the work place. In an organization different sections and groups may have different cultures with different values and priorities. Today, the societies we live in have become multicultural due to the increasing cross- boarder trading.
This has forced managers and leaders to move from their original working place to other places where people have different cultures and ethnic background, also workers have moved from their cultures to other cultures to look for work. This may bring biasness, stereotyping and prejudice on the side of the manager or the leader. For instances, the manager or the leader may promote people from their culture and leave those from different culture (Brain et al, 2003. pg 567). Thus there is a need to eliminate cultural and ethnic biasness in the work place.
Eliminating Bias
The world we are living in is becoming interconnected day in day out and thus each and every leader or manager should gain knowledge on how to lead at a global scale where there are different cultures, race and ethnicity. The managers and leaders should ensure that they understand and know varios cultures as the people they lead come from different cultural background and will have different skills that they will put in the organization.
The leader or the manager should also know that people from different cultures will behave differently according to race, religion and national legacy (James et al, 2005. pg 5-6). This eliminates bias on cultures and ethnic background as the manager or the leader understand the workers behavior well and can even anticipate his or her behave as time goes. This enables him to lead more efficiently and effectively.
A leader or a manager should also ensure that he or she understand the customs and traditions of the people he lead. By so doing, he or she will be able to understand the various rituals and events that are associated with the culture. Due to customs and tradition, people from a certain culture will have specific values that they consider very important to them and they will behave according to what they think s right or wrong. Thus for a leader to be able to lead in an organization with people with different cultures and ethnic background he should ensure that he r she understand the various customs associated with different cultures ( Brain et al, 2003. pg 578).
For a manager to eliminate bias in an environment that has different cultures and ethnic background, he or she should depict unconditional positive support towards all his employees. This means that he should have a positive relationship with his or her employees and show confidence in the abilities of the other workers from different cultures and ethnic background. This he or she can show by showing a true and open picture of him or herself, accepting and valuing his or her workers as human being and showing an empathetic understanding of the employees’ issues. The manager should also allow his or her employee to air their views and opinion on certain issues that affect them.
This is because different cultures have different views concerning certain issues that may be affecting them. The manager should also encourage team building activities that bring together different cultures. If all the employees are engaged in an activity that bring them together, any biasness on the bases of culture, ethnic background and race will be eliminated (James et al, 2005. pg 30).
Conclusion
However, understanding others cultures and costume does not mean that the manager and the leader should know every detail of the other cultures but be sensitive to them. When a manager or a leader becomes sensitive to other peoples’ cultures, traditions and customs, he or she will be able to understand their behaviors and their decision in regard to certain issues. This is because people from different cultures have different perspective of issue (Brain et al, 2003. pg 600).
References
Brain, D. S., Adrienne, Y. P. and Alan, R. N (2003). Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. National Academies Press. pg 528-623.
James, C., Julian, P. and Ivor, G. (2005). Culture wars: The Media and the British Left. Edinburgh University Press. pg 3-56.