Cultural Diversity For Interview And Analysis

Analysis of Diverse Cultures among Australian People

Discuss about the Cultural Diversity for Interview and Analysis.

The globalization of the businesses has made it easier for the people of diverse cultures to integrate at the workplaces (Singh, 2013). This calls for the managers and supervisors to be able to understand and accommodate diverse cultures exhibited by the employees. However, the studies indicate that the understanding of the culture diversity should not only be considered in the workplace but also during the interview (Cullen & Parboteeah, 2008). Therefore, this requires the interviewer to be equipped with the full knowledge of the culture and the behavior of the interviewee before starting any interview process. This helps the interviewer to be fully prepared in designing the interview questions as well as the conversation with the interviewee. According to Cavusgil, Gary, & John (2007), different employees portray different cultures and behaviors at different working environments. Additionally, apart from the culture exhibited in the working environments, there is that culture that is ingrained in different societies and thus becomes part of an individual. Therefore, the interviewer must put into consideration these two aspects. This paper aims to carry out research to determine the diverse cultures of the Australian people that an interviewer has to put into consideration when engaging interviewees from different cultures.    

The Australian people culture is largely rooted in the Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal (Hampton & Toombs, 2008). The indigenous culture of the Australian people is one of the oldest in the cultural history of the world. The maintenance of this culture has been achieved from the fact that it can adapt to the changes over time (Flood, 2006). Torres Strait Islanders and Aborigines identify themselves by their land location, language, and relationship. However, this culture has slowly got eliminated from time to time, and the majority of the Australian people have adapted to the western culture (Mellor, 2006). This has been as a result of mixing with the people from the different origins of the globe. The studies show that the western civilization contributed greatly to the western culture in Australia (Advameg Inc., 2012).  In return, Australia was transformed into English speaking country even though Indigenous Australian Languages and Australian Slangs are widely spoken throughout the continent (Pickering, 2007). 

Apart from the western culture and the indigenous Australian people culture the culture of the immigrants and hat of foreign workers, or investors are also rampant in Australia (Dunn, Kamp, Shaw, Forrest, & Paradies, 2012). To accommodate the diverse culture, a lot of policies has been established to enable and encourage multiculturalism. According to Onnudottir, Possamai, & Turner (2010), the migrant communities in Australia have influenced the adoption of different cultural practices, lifestyle, behavior and food that has got ingrained in the main Australian culture. Therefore, this paper argues that Australian is a continent comprising of diverse cultures. This has been achieved through tolerance and appreciation of different cultures among the Australian people. Similarly, the Australian culture has greatly influenced the peoples’ lifestyle. Some of the core values governing the people lifestyle include conservation of the environment. Secondly, a belief that the Australians are born naturally competitive people. Third, like going to the beach on the weekends. Fourth, the Australian people like shopping. Fifth, the Australian people, are very friendly.

Interviewee Descriptions

The analysis of the Australian portrays the true nature of the Australian people. The above-discussed issues are the consideration that an interviewer should put into consideration when designing the interview. The interviewer should bear in mind that Australia is multicultural continent and thus he or she should understand the dominant cultures in the country (Jordan, 2006). Alternatively, the interviewer should be able to understand the critical cultures among the different people of Australia. This paper now looks at critical cultural factors that the interviewer should consider in the interviewee in the interviewing process.  

The interviewing process is a difficult task not only for the employees but also for the employers. The employers want to obtain the best candidate and the same the employee is aggressive to get employed. This may be difficult to the employer if he or she does not understand the culture of the interviewee (Pnina Shachaf, 2008). Therefore, this requires the interviewers to have reliable and relevant descriptions pertaining the interviewee’s culture, religion, sexual orientation and language. This paper describes the interview base on the above aspects as follows. 

In one’s country culture, it is easier to establish the credibility of the interviewee. This is because the interviewer understands the various cultural diversities being practiced in the country. Likewise, an Australian interviewer will have little challenges when interviewing a fellow Australian. Based on the dominant culture among the Australian employees, this paper describes the culture of the employee as friendly to the environment; competitive in nature; friendly to other people and values the weekend days.  

Even though there are several languages in Australia not all are practiced in all the contexts (Saxton, 2004). Also, the findings indicate that there is no a common official language, the English language seems to be adopted as the business language. Since when the Australian continent was colonized by the British, the English language has gotten root in its citizens. Therefore, the paper describes the interviewer as someone who understands as can speak in the language of English.  

The Christianity is the major Australian religion (Schipp, 2016). However, Christianity is in fear of being outrun by the other religions. The interviewee is a Christian who is fearful of losing his or her spiritual faith to other religions such as Hindus, Jews, Muslim, and Buddhists. This help in understanding the interviewee and cores values that govern the Christianity religion.

The interviewee sexual orientation is romantic and attractive. This is because the interviewee likes to spend the weekend days on the beach.

Interviewee’s Life Experience Exploration

Depending on how interviewees capture their life stories, the interviewer can conclude whether they had had positive or negative life experience. This can be achieved by the prior preparation and framing of the questions that will lead to the employee narrating his or her life experience. The exploration should be based either to influence the interview to tell more about the work-related experience of the family life experience.  If the interviewee bases his or her real life experience of work, the interviewer should ask questions that investigates whether the interviewee had the necessary skills and knowledge while undertaking that work. This will help in determining whether the employee has got required experience and the essential skills to executive the job at hand. Therefore, the questions being asked in this section should be focused on the education and the work experience of the interviewee. Some of the questions that might be asked include:

• The school the interviewee attended.
• How was the school experience?
• The number of the students in the classroom. (Helps to determine whether an interviewee can work in group or a team)
• The teachers whom the interviewee liked and disliked.
• What was the first job of the interviewee?
• What the first job paid job?
• Did the interviewee engage in the union matters while working for other companies? 

The understanding of the interviewee social needs is very crucial as his or her social needs are used as the basis of motivation once the employee is employed. The employee can be motivated through the employer satisfying the needs of the employer. Determination of the interviewee social needs is also crucial in ascertaining whether the company has the potential and capacity to help the interviewee meeting them once he or she is employed. Even though social needs such as companionship, sense of belonging, appreciation and acceptance from one person to another, findings indicate, the people whom all these needs have been met tend to be happier and product than those who their social needs are yet to be met fully. Therefore, the exploration of the interviewee’s social needs helps the interviewer in gauging the productivity and the performance of the interviewee once employed by the company. It is an important aspect which every organization should put into consideration when engaging an interviewee. 

As the employees are part of the company while at the workplace, they are also part of their families, friends, and other social welfare matters. Therefore, the employers should be aware that the employees have both the work life and the social life. Successful employees ensure the work-life balance. However, this cannot be achieved if the company has to provide necessary, structures, policies, and procedures to ensure the employees’ work-life is balanced. Some of the commonly provided support services include employment and training services, housing services, employees’ children services and healthcare and safety services. If these services are available, they should be availed to the interviewee during the interview process to prepare him or her psychologically. These support services will help the employees in meeting their social needs.

Interviewee’s Social Needs Exploration

Culture defines the behavior and the values that will guide the organization towards attaining its set goals. The companies set their culture aligned to the company objectives to ensure that all the employees integrate their efforts for the common course. This calls for the top management of the company to establish culture will require each employee to conform to while at the workplace. The workplace cultures need to be communicated to the interviewee during the interview process to determine whether the interviewee cultural traits can match those expected by the organization. However, the interviewee cannot be denied a chance to work for the organization because of his or her cultural diversity because he or she can be trained to adopt to the culture of the company. This ensures the employee will act in line with the company’s vision and mission. Some of the cultural aspects that are largely needed in the workplace as discussed below: 

Right and common language in the workplace ensures maintenance of the discipline among the employees. Additionally, it gets rid of the element of the suspicion among the employees who may feel that the other employees are taking evil of the behind their backs. This creates conflict and disunity in the workplace. To overcome this, a common language in the place of work should be established and maintained to ease the organization communication. Therefore, the paper holds that as an interviewee business language is English, the English language should be used in the workplace throughout.

Trust is a vital element in the workplace. Trusting in fellow collogues while at the workplace helps all the members to move in the same direction. Additionally, the trust of the company leadership gives an employee that the company is being steered towards the right direction. Awadh & Saad (2013) called for the employees to put their trust in the company management even their opinions and ideas are not included in the decision-making process. This is because the final decision arrived at is meant for all those are involved in the company activities.

Team entails pulling together the group efforts for the accomplishment of a common goal. It also an act of seeking from the workmates how are they are progressing with their work. This helps each in building the new ideas that can be very beneficial to the organization.

Being honest and a person of high integrity are fundamental traits at the workplace (Lunenburg, 2011). The value of integrity will help to ensure that each worker plays his or duty without overworking of the junior employees. Again, it plays a very critical role in ensuring that the company resources are properly allocated to the various company department and those who are in charge, manage them effectively.

Conclusion

Globalization has turned the world into global village. However, even with the developed technology the aspect of the cultural diversity is still a challenge for many businesses. As analyzed in the paper the scrutiny of the cultural differences begins at the interview stage. The interviewer has to understand some of the critical cultural values of the interview, and he or she may end offending him or her. Again, the identification and the analysis of the interviewee culture helps the interviewer ascertain whether it conforms to that of the organization. Culture diversity is a common attribute not only for the multinational corporations but also to the multiculturalism countries such as Australia. Therefore, employers should always put into consideration cultural diversity whether recruiting for the domestic companies to global businesses.

References

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Saxton. (2004). A. Whiteness and reconciliation: a discursive analysis?. Australian Psychologist, 39(1), 14-23.

Schipp, D. (2016, June 6). Faith in the spotlight as Australians tipped to lose their religion. Retrieved from https://www.news.com.au: https://www.news.com.au/national/faith-in-the-spotlight-as-australians-tipped-to-lose-their-religion/news-story/0b9626b05bf1ee796bf5700bc7d99193

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