Cultural Studies & Diversity Reports Examples

Hispanic, African, and Asian America demographics in the United States labor force.

a. The current United States labor force is turning to a more racially and ethnically diverse organization. The growth of ethnic minorities has been something to note. The about 16 percent of Hispanic American, 12 percent of African American, and 5 percent of Asian American are in the labor force. This trend according to the U.S. Census Bureau is expected to continue.
b)
Diversity leads to increased adaptability as diverse backgrounds of people bring personal talents and experiences in offering flexible ideas in adapting to challenges. Diverse combination of skill and experiences enables an organization to offer services globally to various cultural groups (Connerley & Pedersen, 2005). A diverse labor force offers a wider collection of ideas and experiences that enables an organization meets its strategy.

B. Cultural based communication practices

Context: high context cultures depend less on spoken communication and more on nonverbal communication and actions to find meaning, for instance most of the Asian Americans are a high context culture (Connerley & Pedersen, 2005).
Eye contact: different cultures have distinct meanings about eye contact. For instance, in Africa, Hispanic and Asian cultures, eye contact is considered disrespectful while in the American culture eye contact is a measure of attention (Tashakova, 2011).

Stereotypes

Asking a minority ethnic member where he/she is from may imply that he or she is an outsider. For instance, greeting an Asian American and asking him/her where he/she comes from, although it might be polite but to the other person it implies he/she is an outsider.
Moreover, holding a general view about a certain cultural group by assuming that just because they come from the same place, that their behavior would be the same, for instance, assuming that all Hispanics are best soccer players is stereotyping them because not all of them like soccer (Connerley & Pedersen, 2005).

Barriers

Language barrier: this is a significant area to address because it is easy to misinterpret messages. An employee may pretend to understand a directive when he/she really does not know if he/she is embarrassed or frustrated with the language issue (Tashakova, 2011).
Roles and status: roles of men and women can influence how a male worker relates to a female supervisor or how well a female employee feels when addressed by a male manager
ways to address diversity
It is important for organizations to adapt their management based on cultural differences by ensuring that there is a clear reception and understanding of communication (Connerley & Pedersen, 2005).
Organizations should prepare all their workers with cultural awareness and diversity plans. shared respect and empathy should be taught. Acculturation training should be a continuous processes to new employees to enable them understand overall culture in the organization (Tashakova, 2011).

Resources

Use of photographs to teach about cultural themes
Use of graphics in explaining an organization’s goals and processes to workers from different cultures
Photographs help people compare and contrast different photographs representing different cultural groups. By doing so, they are encouraged or challenged about their stereotypes.

Graphics are applicable nearly to everyone and they are easy to understand without any communication barrier.

b) Benefits
a) Photographs give people an opportunity to challenge their stereotypes.
b) Graphics brings out meanings to any culture and enhance unity.

References

Burns, C., & Kerby, S. (2012, July 12). The State of Diversity in Today’s Workforce. Retrieved March 11, 2015, from Center for Anerican Progress: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/report/2012/07/12/11938/the-state-of- diversity-in-todays-workforce/
Connerley, M. L., & Pedersen, P. (2005). Leadership in a diverse and multicultural environment: Developing awareness, knowledge, and skills. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.
Tashakova, O. (2011, December 1). Workplace communication and cultural diversity. Retrieved March 11, 2015, from Diversity in the workplace: http://diversityintheworkplace.ca/wordpress/2011/12/01/workplace-communication-and-` cultural-diversity/