Cultural Diversity Conflicts and Challenges

Question: Discuss about the Cultural Diversity for Conflicts and Challenges? Answer: Introduction: The Various beliefs, behaviors and traditions that are practiced by certain communities and are passed from generation to generation are referred to as cultural. The changes taking place in the culture since the ancient times to the present times are known as cultural diversity. Since the decades, there has been some of changes in the culture in various fields be it be education, health, personal relations or work. (Singh, 2015)As our world is very large so is it diverse if the world has been as small as a village then we would have known how diverse our co-workers, neighbors, and friends are. As the time is changing with the invention of new technologies the whole world is brought to our desktop, different countries are importing and exporting, and staff is hired from all over the world so that the diversity can be better served. It is due to the globalization that different countries are carrying on their operations at international levels. (Keith Newstrom, 2010) Though operating a business in the different countries is very attractive and profitable since it is a very tough job to operate a business in different country because of various cultural differences, present in those countries. The cultural differences can interfere with the successful completion of the goals of the organization. When there is a difference in race, religion, caste, language and sexual orientation in the community it is termed as Cultural diversity. If in a community, there are members from the different groups it is termed as Cultural diversity. Challenges involved in Cultural Diversity: There are various challenges involved in the culturally diverse economy. Some of the challenges of cultural diversity are as follows: Communication Barriers: There are communication barriers in a culturally diverse economy which create the issues like confusion, low morale and lack of team work. When there is the difference in the age and gender, it influences the messages which are sent and received.(Kerwin, 2010) Successful communication is hampered due to the presence of these communication barriers. Some of the common communication barriers are: Virtual work: There is a lack of clarity in case of virtual work because the people are unable to have a face to face interaction and isolates the members. Gender: Men and women use different styles of explaining things to each other. Emotions: Due to emotions some people are unable to express themselves clearly. Resistance to change: One of the most important and well known challenges of the cultural diversity is the resistance to change. (Migiro, 2010)The challenge of resistance to change occurs when: The people are not ready to accept new rules and policies They are unwilling to spend their efforts and time on the change They have the attitude that they have always been doing the things in the same way. People are scared of failure, and they are not ready to adapt new things They are unable to understand what exactly is expected from them. Socio-cultural factors: There are various Socio-cultural factors which often act as a challenge. Some of the socio-cultural factors are: The way one is raised from the birth often gives them certain beliefs and those beliefs might be different from the beliefs of the other. The behavior one develops from the birth is not easy to change as one is not familiar with the background of the other. Education, age and Gender: The level of challenge is also of the challenge faced in todays diverse world. The effective communication is often impacted by the different levels of education. People may find it difficult to communicate with different Age groups people as the words used by the older people may be different from the words or phrase of younger people.(Gay, 2003) As men and women often think differently so the thinking of different gender is also a challenge. Overcoming the Barriers to Cultural Diversity: The challenges that are faced in the culturally diverse economy can be overcome by following ways: Careful selection: The selection of the employees shall be based on few characteristics. Pre- departure training: Whenever any person is sent to a different country he shall be well trained before being departed about the language, culture of the particular country. Orientation and support in the new country: The employee and his family shall be helped by the organization after their arrivals like transportation and housing(Newstrom., 1977) Incentives and guarantees: various incentives and Guarantees shall be offered to the people so that they are not reluctant to change and accept the change easily. Conclusion: There is a lot of importance of cultural diversity these days. The cultural diversity shall be understood at every phase and diversity shall be monitored and controlled as there are equal rights of all the people. References Gay, K. (2003). Cultural Diversity: Conflicts and Challenges. Scarecrow Press, 2003. Keith, D., Newstrom, J. W. (2010). Human Behavior at work. McGraw Hill. Kerwin, B. (2010). Cultural Diversity: Issues, Challenges, and Perspectives. Nova Science Publishers, 2010. Migiro, S. (2010, July 29). Leader. Retrieved March 15, (2016), from Leader,co.Za.: https://www.leader.co.za/infocentrearticle.aspx?s=5c=15a=2143p=2 Newstrom. (1977). Organizational Behavior - Page 518. McGraw Hill. Singh, D. (2015). Managing Cross -cultural Diversity: Issues and Challenges in Global Organizations. IOSR Journal Of Mechanical and Civil Engineering. , 43-50.