Abstract
This essay provides an insight into the significance of appreciating cultural, ethnic, and gender dissimilarities in contemporary workplaces. Recruitment of employees has been a sensitive exercise since prospective candidates come from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. The constant movement of labour across continents has worsened the situation since diverse people immigrate to foreign countries to seek job opportunities. The essay also provides ways of averting cultural, ethnic, and gender differences in business situations.
Introduction
Today’s business environment has become increasingly complex due to the prevailing cultural, ethnic, and gender differences. Diversity in the workplace has become a crucial topic in contemporary business settings. This state of affairs has been a challenge for business managers and professionals. As a result, they must understand cultural, ethnic, and gender differences in their endeavours to enhance the self-esteem and contentment levels of their employees. This essay seeks to establish the significance of appreciating cultural, ethnic, and gender dissimilarities in contemporary workplaces.
Importance of Understanding Cultural, Ethnic, and Gender in a Business Setting
In the wake of the increasing labour mobility and diversity awareness, business managers and professionals ought to appreciate the availability of a diverse workforce (Hang-yue, Foley, & Loi, 2006). Cultural, gender, and ethnic variations are inevitable societal structures that are a reality of life. Typecasting has become a norm amongst the diverse groups within human society. However, business managers, professionals, and employees must learn how to benefit from their differences.
Appreciation of their varied identities and capitalisation on diversity is a virtuous way towards the creation of suitable workplace environments. In the context of gender, women are still regarded as inferior employees in the workplace (Wilson, 2014). This situation places them at a disadvantage since they are awarded unfavourable compensations. Consequently, there is a need for managers to resolve the issue of gender by the use of scrupulous means to ensure gender equality in the workplace.
Averting Cultural, Ethnic, and Gender Discrimination in the Workplace
To avert cultural, ethnic, and gender discrimination in the workplace, there is a need to ensure apt communication and collaboration amongst employers, employees, and even consumers (Wilson, 2014). All stakeholders of the workplace have to practice cultural competency. However, culturally knowledgeable work teams call for a high sense of self-discipline and a worthy attitude towards colleagues, managers, and consumers. There is a need to respect each other’s cultural and ethnic backgrounds to avoid preferential treatment. Therefore, managers and professionals have to offer constant enlightenment about impartiality in the workplace in an attempt to accustom their workforce to diversity. This state of affairs will reduce ethnic and cultural discrepancies in the workplace (Nadler & Stockdale, 2006).
The Ball and Sock Experiment
Implementation of the ball and sock experiment is rather a challenging task. The experiment taught me the challenges that are associated with being accustomed to new activities or work environments. The experiment made me feel out of place. However, I learned to appreciate how individuals struggle to survive in an alien work environment amidst typecasting and workplace discrimination. I compare the challenging ball and sock experiment with the difficulties that discriminated employees encounter in the workplace.
Conclusion
Diversity in the workplace is still a daunting phenomenon in many organisations worldwide. There is a need to appreciate the existence of diversity by acknowledging the contributions of each group of people without exercising any form of discrimination. Therefore, business managers and professionals have an impending responsibility to instil appropriate knowledge in employees to change the traditional mindsets of cultural stereotyping. To attain cultural, ethnic, and gender equality in the workplace, there is a need to appreciate the existence of a diverse workforce.
References
Hang-yue, N., Foley, S., & Loi, R. (2006). The effects of cultural types on perceptions of justice and gender inequity in the workplace. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 17(6), 983-98.
Nadler, J., & Stockdale, M. (2006). Workplace Gender Bias: Not Just Between Strangers. North American Journal of Psychology, 14(2), 281-91.
Wilson, E. (2014). Diversity, Culture, and the Glass Ceiling. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 21(3), 83-9.