Advantages Of Diversity In A MNC Organization And Managing Cultural Differences In The Workplace

Advantages of diversity in a MNC organization

Describe about advantages of diversity in a MNC organization and How the managers will manage the cultural differences at the workplace?

Different people have different values to follow and hence, it is the responsibility of the manager in the organization to address to the cultural differences. If the cultural differences are ignored then the productivity at the workplace will reduce and at the same time, the employees may fight with each other. There are various things that create an impact on the culture that one holds. Education, age, disability, ethnicity, gender, geographic background, race, political affiliation and others are few of the things that create a different impact on the culture that one holds. It is the responsibility of every manager to understand the different cultures that prevail in the workplace. It is very important to manage multi-cultures so that the productivity of the employees isn’t affected.

There are various advantages of diversity in a MNC organization and hence, organizations embrace diversity. Few of the reasons due to which employees with diverse culture is liked by the management are discussed below.

First and foremost, if an organization has diverse range of employees then they will come across diverse range of solutions. Organizations today are accepting to the fact that the culture and the background of an individual creates an impact on the decisions that they make and hence, it is always better to have people from diverse backgrounds so that diverse solutions can be accepted. It is highly recommended to have employees with different background as these employees will be able to give wide range of solutions and the management can choose something that they find to be the best.

If people from diverse culture are present in the organization then these people will be having diverse talent. The management can utilize the talent for the betterment of the organization. These employees may have the knowledge of diverse languages and hence, the organization can acquire clients from different locations. The communication between the client and the project team will be very easy. The fluctuating market needs and requirements of the customers can be well taken care by the people with diverse background and culture.

The organization will have multiple cultures present in it and hence, they can adapt to the changing environment easily. If the organization is planning to enter a new country then they will have the required resources with them. If the required resources aren’t present in the organization then they will have hire and train new resources which can be very expensive. It is the responsibility of the management to identify and retain the variant cultures that are present in the organization as this increases the adaptability of the organization.

The managers will have to manage the cultural difference tactfully so that the workplace can be better place to work. Few of the ways by which the cultural differences at the workplace can be managed are discussed below.

Communication is one of the key strategies that can be used by organizations to manage cultural differences. The employees should be frequently communicated about the equality possible that is maintained in the organization. This will allow the employees to respect the people from different cultures. Regular meetings can be conducted at the workplace and during the meetings, the manager can talk about the cultural differences at workplace and also the importance of respecting the cultural difference.

How the managers will manage the cultural differences at the workplace?

Team building activities should be conducted regularly at the workplace. This will help the employees to get to know each other and hence, the employees will interact with each other on personal level. The team building activities should be well planned rather than that of just making last minute preparations.

The employees can be motivated to take leaves on their cultural festivals rather than that of having a fixed set of holidays. This will allow the employees to form a personal bond and at the same time, the employees will get to know about the different cultures that prevail in the organization.

It is very important for the management to understand and implement the Hofstede’s 5 cultural dimensions. A brief on all the different cultural dimensions are discussed below.

Power distance reflects the degree to which power is accepted in the society. It is very important for any organization to understand the distance between the superiors and the subordinates in the organization. An employee who’s been in a culture where the managers are treated differently will find it difficult to work in an environment where in the superiors and the subordinates work together.

Taking up or avoiding uncertainty is also dependent on the culture to which an employee belongs. Certain societies may prefer to avoid taking risk rather than that of taking risks that can lead to increased profits. The management will have to choose employees accordingly. A risk taking employee shouldn’t be given the responsibility of taking up an opportunity wherein things are very smooth. The employee may get bored of the task that he is assigned.

Certain professions would require the employees to be masculine while few of the professions may require the employees to be feminine. Being feminine would mean that the employees will have to gentle and tender with the clients or fellow employees while being masculine would mean that lot of physical work. The management of any organization should decide and choose the employees accordingly.

Few of the societies would be concerned about the results that they can gain in the short term while few of the societies may be willing to take up pain in the short term so that they can gain benefits in the long run. Employees will short term orientation can be given small tasks to handle and at the same time, they should be appreciated for the regular tasks that they complete. While an employee will long term orientation will look for bigger results and hence, they can be given tasks that can yield results in the long run.

Few of the societies may be concerned about the betterment of the individual while few societies would be concerned about the betterment of the team. It is highly recommended for the management to hire employees who are concerned about the betterment of the organization rather than that of themselves only (Randall 2014).

Diversity will have to be implemented in the organization so that the employees can accept the change. If a management thinks that diversity will be automatically accepted by the employees in the organization then they are completely wrong. Few of the suggestions that would help the workplace to be better are as follows: –

1. All the employees in the organization should be included in the decision making rather than that of including selected employees only. Inclusion of certain employees only may make the employees from diverse culture feel separate and different than the other employees in the organization. This can be beneficial to the management as they will get better ideas and suggestions for sorting the problem.

2. The employees should be open enough in accepting the culture of the organization. The employees should feel that the management values their view points and hence, they should feel free in communicating about their ideas to the management.

3. The leaders in the organization should be from any particular community. If the leaders in the organization is from the other community only then the employees may feel that they are left out. Leaders from different community in the organization mean that diversity is accepted by the management and hence, employees from all communities will be equally motivated to work hard.

4. All the employees in the organization should be provided training on “how to work in a diverse work environment”. This will help the employees in the organization to interact with employees from diverse culture. If the employees aren’t trained appropriately then few employees may accept the employees from different background while others may not be willing accept (Singh 2010).

Conclusion

The employees should be frequently communicated about the equality possible that is maintained in the organization. This will allow the employees to respect the people from different cultures. The employees should be open enough in accepting the culture of the organization. This will help the employees in the organization to interact with employees from diverse culture.

References

Banerjee, L, 2012, Cultural Diversity and Cultural Competence, SRNA News Bulletin, Vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 24

Kohler, M, 2013, Cultural diversity and responsivity, Childhood Education, Vol. 89, no. 6, pp. 403

Cfarku, M, 2009, Exploring Cultural Diversity, Biology of Blood and Marrow transplantation, Vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 142

Randall, R, 2014, Cultural diversity: is it present in American Law Schools and the legal profession?, Journal of diversity management, Vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 75-82

Singh, A, 2010, McDonald’s Makes Diversity About the Bottom Line, Viewed on February 08, 2015, https://www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2010/09/08/mcdonalds-makes-diversity-about-the-bottom-line/