Understanding Cultural, Ethnic And Gender Differences By Managers

For businesses to be effective it is imperative for managers and professionals to value, respect, recognize and capitalize on the differences of the individual coworkers and employees in the business environment. Most time we observe stress in the work place constituted by the differences among the employees (Sackman, 1997).  Valuing and showing respect to these cultural, ethnic and gender differences in a business organization play an important role in reducing such stress. Managers need to be sensitive to the employees’ differences and still afford to be fair without any element of favoritism.

Many business organizations are in constant struggle in attaining cultural competence, which is the ability to effectively provide services cross-culturally.  This can only be a success if the business organizations put up intervening strategies that promote learning and accepting the cultural differences that exist among people within the business environment (Margaret , 1994). Managers need to acknowledge the culture and the same time learn to grow prior to expecting someone else to acknowledge it (Haar et al., 2005). It is indeed very difficult to live in someone’s   world as demonstrated in the ball and sock experiment, being a lefty, I experience inconveniences in the attempts to continue with my daily activities with the ball tied in place with a sock in my right hand. In the same way, when managers fail to understand the cultural, ethnic and gender difference among the employees, they will be subjecting the employees to systems that will inconvenience them. Inconveniences slow down the business activities and make the work place boring leading to a significant negative influence to the employees or staff morale.

Cultural and ethnic diversities not only enrich the workplace community but also promote the quality of life for the diverse employees and managers in a business setting, if the managers learn how best to accept them. There are many advantages that will accrue to a business with a manager that understands the cultural, ethnic and gender differences.

The differences constitute heterogeneity. Heterogeneity in business settings enhances and promotes creativity which is most critical in the operation of any business. Understanding the differences is therefore associated with higher level of critical analysis. Critical analysis on the other hand provides valued and appropriate solutions to the business problems. Understanding these differences also has greater contributions to the business reputation. It makes a business a quality institution that has a place for each and every applicant regardless of the cultural and ethnic differences. The business will thus attract best talented employees thereby saving on money and time that accrue significantly to recruitment and business turn over.

When the managers recognize the gender differences, it will lead to creation of a welcoming working environment for both male and female employees without the unnecessary gender discrimination (Soto-Fulp, 1996). Understanding cultural, ethnic and gender differences by a manager will ensure that the business, in its operations, will reflect the demographic outlook of the state.  The business will be in a good position to satisfy the increasing need to supply quality services to a customer base that is evidently becoming more diverse.

Managing the diverse differences among the workers in a business environment will lead to a significant increase in the productivity since there will be less or no conflicts, complaints and legal actions at all in the business environment.  There will be no losses in the investments due to employee selection and job training.

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