Diversity And Leadership Commitment To Multi-Cultural Dynamics

No individual can arrive at the threshold of his potentialities without a culture in which he participates. Conversely, no civilization has in it any element that the last analysis is not the contribution of an individual. Where else could any trait come from except from the behaviour of a man or a woman or a child? (253)

This artifact was a written final exam analyzing issues relating to leadership and diversity in the course Leadership in Multicultural Organizations. This artifact demonstrates knowledge, comprehension, and analysis of the concepts and theories of leadership, issues of diversity in organizations, and strategies for managing differences among today’s multicultural workforce. I selected this artifact because it discusses and describes the link between leadership approaches and diversity and it compares and contrasts current leadership practices in the United States (US).

* Watch the video titled “Diversity’s real power” (2 min 6 s) from Management Tips with Todd Dewett, located at http://www.lynda.com/Business-Business-Skills-tutorials/Diversitys-real-power/126132/174433-4.html?org=strayer.edu. Investigate two to three (2-3) reasons why diversity is important to an organization’s

Lessing claims, “it is information that will set people free from blind loyalties, obedience to slogans, rhetoric, leaders, group emotions”(Lessing 25).With the knowledge we have about human behavior we still commonly fall under society's influence; I admit that humans behave this way. Now we need to apply our tough information about human behavior to upgrade our lives. Clyde Kluckhohn claims, “A good deal of human behavior can be understood, and indeed predicted, if we know a people’s design for living”(Kluckhohn 6). From what Kluckhohn stated, culture is an individual's overall way of living and the general heritage that is passed down from each group

Two of the biggest challenges facing my organization is communication barriers and diversity in leadership. Being able to effectively communicate with co-workers and members of the credit union is important. Often, we encounter situations where the member does not speak English and it difficult to assist them. Next, diversity in leadership roles shows visibility in the workplace. Organizations that do not support or nurture a diverse workplace might be able to recruit such talent; however, retaining such talent has proved to be a challenge for organizations (Martinelli, 2016).

Cultural clashes, like stereotyping, do not let the individual prove him or herself. The disharmony between two cultures, for any reason, prohibits the individuals from each culture to fully function in a culturally diverse work group. Consequently, if leaders ignore or mishandle diversity, it may detract from performance. Another possible disadvantage of culturally diverse work groups is intergroup conflict. Intergroup conflict can be controlled when managers reconcile competing goals, distribute power in a representative manner, affirm the identity of minority group members, and act when resources are plentiful and cultural differences are lower or well understood (White, 1999).The biggest obstacle with cultural diversity in the work groups is the managers' lack of knowledge of how to lead a culturally diverse work group or team.

Successful management of a diverse workforce poses many challenges in the confusing aspects of diversity that exist in today’s workplace. Equal employment opportunity is an attempt to pay retribution for past errors and many say it was a good beginning but more is needed. We commonly read and hear the increasingly popular term diversity training. The new catchphrase to be found gaining popularity in the workforce is inclusion. With all these confusing concepts, just how can management develop a successful strategy to manage a diverse workforce?

"Managing diversity is managing human resource needs," says Ben Harrison. (Jenner, 1994). Human resource personnel alone can 't do the work of managing diversity. All levels of managers should implement programs designed to heighten awareness of cultural differences, foster appreciation for these differences, and identify the commonalties among the various ethnic groups. Managing diversity is an effort that will involve all members of the company In order to reap the fruits of diversity. The process should start by including managing diversity into the overall strategy, this will promote cultural synergy and effectively integrating the better elements associated with multiple cultures. This tactic will help in aiding of identifying and implementing of new practices in companies with diverse units. -

An organization’s success and competitiveness depends upon its ability to embrace diversity within the workplace. The world 's expanding globalization requires more cooperation among individuals from differing societies, convictions, and foundations than any time in recent memory. Individuals do not live and work in an isolated place. They are currently a portion of an overall economy with rivalry originating from about each landmass. Consequently, benefit and non-benefit associations need diversified qualities to end up more imaginative and open to change. Managements are focused on gathering of people on the grounds that they have to perceive the routes in which the working environment is evolving, developing, and broadening. Since overseeing different qualities remains a noteworthy hierarchical test, managements must take in the administrative abilities required in a multicultural workplace.

Addressing diversity and inclusion cannot be an action that depends on an entirely recover economy, or until any other aspect that is usually prioritized above an organization developing a more diverse and inclusive staff. Frankly waiting for circumstance to be ideal will only prolong this process and continuation of a lack of diversity and a contradiction to the mission of the organization. Producing a diverse and inclusive environment cannot be a sole function of the human resource department. Personal commitment by the executive board followed by action—particularly from the highest leadership level and down — this process will give jobs to black people in all different levels of the organizations. We cannot afford dealing with the diversity objective as an idea that will happen in time or gradually. Besides, time is running

The development and implementation of a cohesive cultural mindset can pose a challenge for a leader of a diverse population of employees. The factors that can pose the biggest challenge is the growing global marketplace and the competitiveness of the competition. This is due to organizations worldwide transitioning to become globalized. According to Prewitt, Weil and McClure (2011), globalizing an organization has ostensibly astounded many corporations and their leaders. Due to quick strides and deficiency of preparation many leaders have with overseeing and supporting numerous groups throughout the world. The corporate mindset determines to what extent management encourages and values cultural diversity, while simultaneously maintaining a certain degree of strategic cohesion.  The purpose of cultural diversity in an organization is formulating factors of things they cannot alter by utilizing sensitive influences surrounding your existing culture inversely (Katzenbach, Oelschlegel and Thomas, 2016). The inclusive leader’s role is to understand each individual’s cultural difference and use that to integrate new cultural meaning into the organization. To advance in a cultural mindset, inclusion leaders must understand how to integrate a culturally diverse perspective, develop strategies to create a common cultural mindset and cultivate appropriate communication methods amongst a diverse global population of employees.

Additionally, with an increase in today’s globalization and overall community diversity, this leadership component accommodates for this change in its internal structures. It is vital that leaders create a space for all people to occupy regardless of their social status, culture, or the views and beliefs in which they situate themselves (Yosso, 2005). With groups of people, whether it be work groups or sport groups, comes a setting for relating and making meaning of information. It is important that the leader hear the voices behind the information being shared so that the

Globalization has blurred the boundaries between countries which forces the companies to compete internationally. In order to cope with the global market, international companies now require leaders who can work effectively across organizational, functional and cross cultural boundaries (Evans, Pucik & Barsoux, 2011). The need of those global leaders indicates the urgency of understanding cross cultural diversity.

the skill sets and aptitudes to manage in global organizations. These skills include the culture, the

Many opportunities are associated with a culturally diverse workplace and global expansion may have potential to provide just such a diverse work group. Cross-culturalism in business can provide leaders and employees with a wonderful opportunity to work with people from different backgrounds and cultures. In addition, “the more opportunities for business leaders to interact with people from different cultures, the more likely they will be to have positive attitudes from different cultures and identify, learn and apply diverse culturally-appropriate business behaviors” (Caligiuri & Tarique, 2012, p. 614). Culturally diverse environments offer a multitude of benefits including “the variety of perspectives, skills and personal attributes” (Matveeve & Nelson, 2004, p. 254). Moreover, multicultural teams have potential to “generate more ideas of higher quality in brainstorming tasks” (Matveeve &