Running head: CROSS-CULTURAL BIAS IN EMPLOYEE PROMOTION 1 CROSS-CULTURAL BIAS IN EMPLOYEE PROMOTION 2 Cross-cultural Bias in Employee Promotion Name Institution Cross-cultural Bias in Employee Evaluation and Promotion Evaluation and promotion occupy a critical position in the management of employee affairs. These are the only tools that enable the employer and the employee to improve the productivity in an organization. An effective promotional policy should mainly take into account the performance of the workers and the level of commitment towards organizational goals and objectives (Lee & Csuti, 2009). Additionally, it should accommodate the nature of the workforce by reflecting the demographic components of the workers. In other cases, a company may be guided by affirmative action to ensure equality and representation of all workers at various levels of the business functions. Such an initiative should be done in accordance to the laws on equal employment and professional ethics (Brooks & Dunn, 2011). Maria’s Case Notwithstanding the presence of these guidelines evaluation and promotion of employees from a diversified culture remains a contentious issue in most organizations. The element of cross-cultural bias may sometimes misguide job evaluators and human resource managers during a promotion exercise. The individuals performing the task may consider factors that are irrelevant to employee performance. In this respect, DeVoe and Iyengar (2004) posit that organizational managers will take account into factors that conform to the popular culture or their own culture in the workplace. The element of ethnocentrism tends to rule during cross-cultural bias. A high performing employee not be promoted because of the eminent inferior views against the worker’s culture (Kurt, & Ford, 1985). Factors such as the working culture of worker, language skills, communication styles, interpersonal interaction, accent, dressing style may sometimes be overemphasized because of the cultural differences between the employees (DeVoe & Iyengar, 2004). In the case that involved Maria and her company the element of cross-cultural bias would take center stage when evaluating the actions taken by the managers of the organization. The party asserted that her managers denied her the opportunity because of her cultural background. Among factors that she cited were her accent and race. However, according to the managers the employee was not promoted because of poor performance, tardiness, frequent absenteeism, and her accent. In the light of the factors presented by the company against Maria, it is evident that there was no case of either structural or individual discrimination practices in the firm. Maria was not promoted on the basis of performance which must take into account the evaluation scores of the employees, capabilities, and skills. The firm is also right to promote ...