Understanding and Working with Diverse Others Chapter 5 Understanding and Working with Diverse Others “To know one’s self is wisdom, but to know one’s neighbor is genius.” ~ Minna Antrim (Author)

Chapter Objectives Understand the biases you may have toward others who are different from you. Confront those biases by challenging stereotypes perpetuated by society and the media. Understand and accept others’ biased perceptions toward you. Accept others’ approaches and perspectives when they are completely different from your own. Learn to work effectively with others of different races, genders, and ages. Seek out opportunities to increase the diversity and the benefits it brings to you personally and as a member of an organization. Help others do the same.

What is Diversity? Diversity extends to: Diversity includes: Age Personal and corporate background Education Function Personality Diversity includes: Lifestyle Sexual orientation Geographic origin Physical and mental disability Exempt or nonexempt status Diversity can be defined as any attribute relevant to an individual that creates or reinforces a perception that he/she is different from another individual.

Primary and Secondary Dimensions of Diversity

Valuing diversity Valuing diversity and managing diversity are distinctly different phenomena. Valuing diversity is passive. The importance or significance of someone’s difference does not automatically lead to actions or reactions on the part of the individual valuing the diversity or difference.

Managing Diversity Managing diversity is active. Strategies to promote diversity: Improving corporate culture by unleashing creativity and performance. Facilitating recruitment of new employees, who prefer to work where they can expect to advance. Improving relationships with clients. Increasing employee morale, productivity, and retention. Decreasing employee complaints and litigation. Managing diversity is active and involves supervising, coordinating, and directing the diversity individuals bring to the organization to create an environment that will allow employees to achieve their full potential while ensuring that strategic organizational goals are being effectively met.

Managing Diversity (continued) Allows businesses to achieve a number of goals: Broadening access to the changing marketplace Implementing large-scale business transformation Establishing superior customer service Empowering workforce empowerment Pursuing total quality Building alliances with suppliers and customers Creating outsourcing partnerships Motivating continuous learning

Managing Diversity (continued) Financial benefits can accrue in companies that embrace diversity. Compelling statistics illustrate the importance of managing diversity. Companies that embrace and adapt to changes in the workforce will be in a better position to compete in the future.

Barriers to Accepting Diversity Prejudice Ethnocentrism Stereotypes Blaming the victim Discrimination Harassment Backlash

How to Gain Awareness Reduce your prejudices and use of stereotypes. Minimize miscommunication with diverse others. Build relationships with diverse others.

Reducing Your Prejudices Recognize that diversity exists and learn to value and respect fundamental differences. Admit to your own biases and prejudices and commit yourself to reducing them. Examine the stereotypes and actions that reflect your views of others. Dispel myths about diverse others when you are in a group of friends or associates.

Minimizing Miscommunication Educate yourself about differences. Practice effective communication skills. Use words that are inclusive rather than exclusive. Avoid adjectives that spotlight certain groups. Be aware of the connotation of words. Avoid forming an opinion as to the value of another’s communication based on dress, mannerisms, accent, or eye contact.

Building Relationships Seek opportunities to interact with a wide variety of peers and associates. Form positive relationships. Seek feedback from diverse others. Treat diverse others as invited guests by showing interest in them. Encourage your peers to be candid with their personal opinions, feelings, and reactions. Build trust by being open and trustworthy. Work with diverse others to achieve mutual goals.

Gender Differences It is important to understand gender-based differences to achieve individual and organizational effectiveness. Men and women communicate differently: Women tend to use communication to connect with others. Men tend to use communication to assert their status and request action. Differences in communication purpose and style can lead to stereotypical beliefs. It is important to recognize that there are strengths in both “female” and “male” styles.

Male/Female Communication Differences

Cross-cultural Diversity It can be difficult to perfectly translate meaning from one language to another. Each culture has acceptable social conventions and norms that affect the communication process. Nonverbal signals and gestures can be a source of embarrassment to an uninformed stranger.

Dimensions of Cross-cultural Differences Power distance Individualism versus collectivism Uncertainty avoidance Masculinity versus femininity Long-term versus short-term orientation

Strategies for Addressing Cross-cultural Issues For individuals: Live and work outside of your home country. Travel extensively outside of your home country. Adapt to the customs of the new country. Develop friendships with people of different nationalities. Learn another language. Develop a non-home-country perspective on world events. Before traveling, learn about cultural differences and customs.

Strategies for Addressing Cross-cultural Issues (continued) For companies and organizations: Offer language training to your employees. Encourage your employees to accept non-home-country work assignments. Provide before and after transition counseling to employees and their families with non-home-country work assignments. Provide sensitivity training to help employees learn about cross-cultural differences. Examine your employment practices to ensure that your company is not discriminating against anyone.

Successful Strategies for Managing Organizational Diversity Effectively Aggressive hiring programs Early identification programs in the schools Partnerships with other businesses and community organizations Alliances with national advocate organizations Mentoring programs Minority employee networks Ongoing employee surveys “No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Successful Strategies for Managing Organizational Diversity Effectively (Continued) Strict policies for dealing quickly and fairly with cases of prejudice, discrimination, and harassment Enhanced succession and promotion planning processes Tying manager pay increases to success in promoting diversity Accountability and reward programs Development of success measures Diversity awareness training programs Developing a comprehensive retention strategy

Summary We live and work in a diverse world Diversity is inevitable How we interact with people who differ from us plays a critical role in our ability to manage ourselves and help others achieve their goals We need to understand and appreciate our own uniqueness to use as a starting point for building relationships Seek opportunities to interact with diverse others, and share your insights, feelings, and values with them so you can better accept and embrace diversity