2. TABLE OF CONTENT
1. CULTURE
1.1 FEATURES OF CULTURE
1.2 ORIGIN OF A MULTICULTURAL WORPLACE
1.3 CULTURAL DIVERSITY AT WORK
2. COMMUNICATION
2.1 COMMUNICATION MODES
2.2 COMMUNICATION AND A MULTICULTURAL WORKPLACE
3. CHALLENGES TO A SUCCESSFUL MULTICULTURAL WORKPLACE
3.1.1 UNIVERSAL CHALLENGES
3.1.2 COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES
3.1.3 BEHAVIOURAL CHALLENGES
3.2 SUCCESSFUL DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
3.2.1 GOVERNMENT AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
3.2.2 ORGANIZATIONS AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
4. CONCLUSION
3. INTRODUCTION
a daily basis, culture influences who we are as individuals, families, communities, professions,
industries, organizations, nations and how we interact within and across regional/national
borders. Defined as a set of values and beliefs with learned behaviours shared within a
particular society, culture provides a sense of identity and belonging. From language,
communication styles, history and religion to norms, values, symbolism and ways of being,
"culture" is everywhere.
The shift from a mono cultural to a multicultural workplace has been due to various factors
over the last two to three decades. Contributors have been colonialism e.g. United Kingdom and
France, military intervention e.g. Afghanistan in the 1970s, civil war e.g. former Yugoslavia
(Tayeb, 1996 pp. 176-177).
A multicultural workplace is the diversity among employees, relating to colour, education, race
and country of origin, beliefs, values, stereotypes, prejudices, age and sexuality (Tayeb, 1996 p.
174, Guirdham, 2005 pp. 196-202, Mamman, 1996 pp. 3, 5, 9).
Culture on it own is one of the most indefinable perceptions in management which makes a
multicultural workplace difficult to manage yet it is crucial, as this can verify how vertical and
horizontal relationship between management and employees holds together. The emergence of
the multicultural workplace has brought about universal, communication and behavioural
challenges. These challenges make effective communication difficult to achieve in a
multicultural workplace
Ensuring success amidst the challenges in a multicultural workplace would be the focus of this
essay with a look at the cultural diversity and its effects at work, coupled with the different
communication modes available and necessary in a multicultural workplace.
Recommendations on effective management with focus on the role of governments and
organisations in ensuring a successful multicultural workplace will be the climax of this essay.
4. 1. CULTURE
The concept culture is part of every human existence. Culture is never inherent; it has to
be learnt and passed down to individuals of a society (Tayeb, 1996 p.38). Culture is the
bedrock of every society. It distinguishes societies.
To understand the concept of a multicultural workplace as it relates to its diversities, it is
important to state here the basic features of culture.
1.1 FEATURES OF CULTURE
(a) Culture is learned
Culture is never inborn, it has to be learnt. The first contact an individual has with
culture is the family. The leaning starts from here and continues through life. We all
have to be thought what culture is and because it is learned then we are capable of
learning other cultures all through life. This is not only possible, but rewarding as
will be revealed (Tayeb, 1996 p.38 Beamer and Varner, 2001 p.5).
(b) Culture Furnishes Attitudes
Attitudes are feelings based on what society has passed down to an individual. They
are expressions based on beliefs and values. They include emotions, self-confidence,
motivation, flexibility and assumptions of an individual based on the values a
society. Attitudes are learned, so subject to change. The acceptance of the previous
statement could mean the difference between success and failure in a multicultural
workplace. The significance placed on something by a society determines the attitude
of an individual (ibid. P.7 and Mamman, 1996 p.8).
(c) Culture Determines behaviour
5. The behaviour of an individual to an issue or something reveals the importance
attached to such by a society. Behaviour like attitude reveals value, which is the
driving force for actions and inactions. What is considered appropriate behaviour in
a multicultural workforce varies with the cultural background of a workplace. New
behavioural patterns necessary for a diverse workplace may have to be imbibed
(ibid. P.6-8, Beamer and Varner, 2001 p.8).
(d) Culture varies
Irrespective of cultural similarities the diversities are considerable. How easy
employees adapt and interact effectively is determined largely by the level of
difference and diversity. Variety in cultures could determine level of confidence
displayed, uncertainty, disposition and anxiety shown and experienced at work (ibid.
P.10-14 and Guirdham, 2005 p.180).
1.2 ORIGIN OF A MULTICULTURAL WORKPLACE
The cultural diversity of a workplace mirrors the cultural diversity of the country as a
whole (Tayeb, 1996 p.176). Multinational companies have contributed to a
multicultural workplace, but other factors have had their share of contribution. Some
of the contributing factors have been,
(a) Colonialism, where people from colonies in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries have migrated either willingly or forcefully to so called mother
countries for work and livelihood. This trend continued long after the colonies
gained independence e.g. United Kingdom and France (ibid. P.176).
(b) Civil war in former Yugoslavia resulted in huge migration of their citizens into
mainly western European countries and the United States of America (ibid.
p.177).
(c) Military intervention in Afghanistan in the 1970s and the civil war in the 1980s
led to huge migration to neighbouring countries like, Pakistan and Iran (ibid.
p.177).
1.3 CULTURAL DIVERSITY AT WORK
6. A multicultural workplace refers to the diversity in culture of employees in a
particular employ. This includes diversity of values, beliefs, age and country of
origin, stereotypes, prejudices, religion, emotions and assumptions. These diversities
could determine confidence, dominance, mindsets, disposition and perceptions.
(ibid. p.174)
When members of diverse cultures are involved in a workplace, responses or
reactions are experienced. These are usually clashes and struggle for dominance.
This was experienced in the early history of the United States of America (Beamer
and Varner, 2001 p.9).
These reactions should be expected and not referred to as negative. Diversity in
cultures is a concept that has come to stay. It has become a part of the workplace
particularly in the present world of globalisation (Tayeb, 1996 pp. 179-180, Beamer
and Varner, 2001 p.10).
Having established the concept of culture and what a multicultural workplace is
made up of, it is of importance to take a look at communication and the different
modes of communication necessary for a successful multicultural workplace.
2. COMMUNICATION
Communication is any behaviour that is received by another (Dwyer, 2001 p.3).
Communication is a skill that requires learning, relearning and unlearning. This fact is
especially true of a multicultural workplace, where loads of messages have to be passed
across both horizontally and vertically in the organisational framework and through
different communication channels.
2.1 COMMUNICATION MODES
(a) Verbal e.g. speaking or writing.
(b) Non-verbal e.g. facial expressions, sign languages, body movements.
(c) Graphic e.g. ideas, visual connection with shapes, diagrams. (ibid. p.4)
At the centre of communication are messages. Messages are ideas or feeling transmitted
by the sender(s) to the receiver(s), with the purpose of fostering understanding (ibid.
p.5). The achievement of this purpose determines on the long run the success of a
multicultural workplace. Communication is a process that should not be controlled by
the communicators, as people’s perception views and ideas cannot be suppressed
successfully for long (ibid. p.4)
2.2 COMMUNICATION AND THE MULTICULTURAL WORKPLACE
The communication process in a multicultural workplace involves the following,
7. (a) Sender
(b) Receiver
(c) Message
(d) Feedback
(e) Communication channels
(f) Context
(g) Interference (ibid. p.5)
The communication process starts from the sender, who is culturally laden with feelings,
emotions, family, attitudes and values as a background, with the receiver having a
different background of feelings, emotions, values, beliefs, attitudes, religion and
culture. The chart below shows four of the element of the process.
MESSAGE
FEEDBACK
(Dwyer, 2001 p.5)
The sender encodes the message and communicates this to the receiver, who decodes the
message. The receiver is encouraged to give a feedback to establish understanding of the
message sent (Dwyer, 2001 p.5, Guirdham, 2005 p.190). The message is received based on the
receivers perception, which has been and is been shaped by his feelings, values, beliefs
background, country of origin, past experiences.
Perception can be likened to a sunglass which has the potential of blurring every message sent
across. Irrespective of the message passed across, perception will always play its role.
Perception includes assumptions and expectations (Guirdham, 2005 p.201 and Dwyer, 2001
p.6). The chart below further explains the concept of perception in communication.
SENDER
Feelings
Values
Background
Beliefs
Assumptions
Communication skills
RECEIVER
Feelings
Values
Background
Beliefs
Assumptions
Communication skills
EXPECTATIONS SELF CONCEPT EXPERIENCE
8. (Dwyer, 2001 p.6)
Both the sender and receiver need feedbacks and this should always be encouraged, especially
in a workplace of diverse culture. Feedback encourages
(a) Communication continuity
(b) Encourages understanding or otherwise of the message
(c) Encourages further communication (ibid. pp.6-7)
In the workplace, people engage mostly in face to face communication with colleagues,
supervisors and their bosses, so an appropriate feedback can help develop a good working
relationship that helps the productivity of the organisation as well as the achievement of overall
goals and objectives.
The communication channel employed for transmitting the message is of utmost
importance. This is the vehicle for the message (ibid. p.7). A multicultural workplace should
have flexible internal channels of communication, which is sensitive to the diversity of the
workplace as this would ensure the achievement of the purpose of communication.
Communicators need to consider the context or situation and the possible potential
interferences as this could be distorting to the intended message. Even when distortion
occurs a message is still communicated, but different from the senders intended message. The
chart below shows the process of communication (Guirdham, 2005 pp. 191-192 and Dwyer,
2001 pp.7-8)
CHANNEL e.g. writing
MESSAGE
INTERFERENCE
FEELINGS
FAMILY
PERCEPTIONPERCEPTION
CULTURE
ATTITUDES
AND
VALUES
COMMUNICATION
SKILLS
SENDER
Family
Culture
Feelings
Skills
Attitudes
Values
RECEIVER
Family
Culture
Feelings
Skills
Attitudes
Values
9. FEEDBACK
CONTEXT e.g. environment, status. (Dwyer, 2001 p.7)
3. CHALLENGES TO A SUCCESSFUL MULTICULTURAL WORKPLACE
3.1.1 Universal Challenges – This refer to such challenges that apply to all or most
workplaces with a multicultural setting. This includes but not restricted to stereotyping
and prejudice.
Stereotyping has the negative potential of jeopardising the cordial working environment
necessary for effectively implementing the goals of a multicultural workplace.
Stereotyping can be used as a justification for subordinating and alienating other
colleagues at work (Abrams and Hogg, 1988). Stereotypes create expectations about
others that puts pressure on the individual others for conformity which could affect
performance.
Prejudice, can be a product of negative stereotypes which can be extremely difficult to
modify. Prejudice is a thoughtless, derogatory attitude towards others. Prejudice could
be religious, ethnic, racial, sex, gender or age (Guirdham, 2005 p.184-185 and Mamman,
1996 p. 10).
3.1.2 Communication Challenges – This includes encoding and decoding of messages,
inferences and interferences, elaborated codes and communication skills. Elaborated
codes instead of restricted codes could mean other cultures present are marked by
formality. This slows the pace at which working relationships develop (GUIRDHAM,
op.cit. P. 192).
3.1.3 Behavioural Challenges - refer to cultural differences in behaviour, which could be
values, emotions, beliefs, expectations, and assumptions. This could lead to non
acceptance of other values, negative violation and impeding communication resulting in
excommunication of members with other values and beliefs (ibid. pp. 196-199)
3.2 EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF A MULTICULTURAL WORKPLACE
The first step towards successfully managing a multicultural workplace is the creation of
diversity awareness. The essence of diversity is accommodation, the freedom to be
equally valued for the difference and the realisation of the strengths that lies in the
diversity (Beamer and Varner, 2001 p.10, Tayeb, 1996 p.180 and Vickers, 2008 pp185-
187). This boosts creativity, allowing for broader spectrum of experience (The work of
Taylor Cox (see Tayeb, 1996 p181). Once diversity is recognised the next step is effective
utilisation by government, organisations and employees alike.
3.2.1 GOVERNMENT AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT AT WORK.
10. The role of government and legislative bodies is mainly introduction and
implementation of regulations and policies which reduce and abolish discrimination on
cultural basis (Vickers, 2008 pp185-187 and Tayeb, 1996 p181) e.g. The Civil Rights Act,
1964, as amended in 1972, in the United States of America (Vickers, 2008 p.185). This
has also occurred in South Africa, though a directorate for affirmative action in the
labour ministry (Tayeb, 1996 p. 181). Another example is the local content policy
introduced in Nigeria, in the south-south region of the country.
3.2.2 ORGANISATIONS AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT AT WORK
The role of organisations is implementation and incorporation of government policies
and regulation into the corporate culture of the workplace. This includes trainings for
cultural awareness and having a culture sensitive corporate culture. (Tayeb, 1996 pp.
183-187). There should be continuing education for cultural awareness by the
organisations.
CONCLUSION
Successful organizations of the 21st century require employees who understand
culturally diverse work environments who can work effectively with different cultures
having varying work ethics and norms toward ensuring a successful multicultural
workplace. Gaining cross-cultural competence takes time, education, experience,
openness and sensitivity. When people lack intercultural skills, miscommunications can
occur, damaging business relationships, deadlines can be missed, projects may fail and
the successful multicultural workplace jeopardized.
With the increase in and growth of multicultural workplaces, there are bound to be a
surge of challenges ranging from lack of effective government policies and regulations,
to reluctance of organisations in making needed and necessary changes, not leaving out
employees been involved in continuing education participation.
The success of a multicultural workplace is a responsibility for governments,
organisations and employees alike. The diversities are obvious and always present but
this should be likened to harmony in music whose melody and beauty come together
only when different cords are played. The work of Hall (see Tayeb, 1996 p.180).
11. REFERENCES
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of a Multicultural Workplace. 3rd
edition. West Sussex: Wiley.
2. Dwyer J., (2001). The Business Communication Handbook (online). 6th
edition,
Chapter 1, p.4. Dwyer. Available at:
<www.pearson.com.au/mc linkedFiles/FREE/1741033926/Chapter 1, 2001.
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4. Beamer, L and Varner, I (2001). Intercultural Communication in the Global
Workplace. Chapter 1, Culture and Communication. 2nd
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McGraw Hill.
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