Question:
Your business has just expanded its operation to Japan and is a country than none of your business executives have ever visited. Your HR manager suggests you and colleagues should embark upon some leadership and management development training to improve your cultural awareness before you leave for Tokyo. You seem sceptical, but have been asked what benefits this activity could bring to the team and the ethical dimensions that can be considered.
The word limit is 1500 words and the style required is business report.
All submissions should be in the region of 1,000 – 1,500 words and references should be added in the Harvard Referencing Format. There is a Harvard Referencing tutorial in the Resources Area which outlines the formatting required.
Solution:
With the flow of globalization and its effects on all kinds of industries, which presents a unique opportunity to reflect the development of the trend. The industry is changing in labour workforce; from accommodating homogenous culture to forming diverse cultures in an organization (Merchant 2011). This phenomenon leads top managers to seek suitable approaches for effectively managing culturally diverse personnel and workplace, so then Human Resource department takes responsibility for blending chosen approaches and strategies into their functional practices.
This report will first give the definitions of diversity and cultural diversity as well as understanding culture as three different levels in depth.
There are many attempts at setting the definition of diversity and/or managing diversity. Several studies have confirmed that diversity is a complex and multidimensional concept of which we need deeper analysis; however, diversity so far simply refers to human characteristics that make one people different from one another (Gómez – Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy 2001, p. 124). The employees‟ values, opportunities, and perceptions of themselves and others at work are influenced by the primary dimension of such selected human 7 characteristics as age, gender, mental/physical abilities, sexual orientation, race and ethnic heritage (Hayes & Niemeier 2009, p. 14). On the other hand, one’s values, experience and expectations are also shaped by numerous secondary dimensions like education, family status, organizational role and level, religion, first language, income, geographic location and others (Hayes & Niemeier 2009, p. 15).
In my opinion, it would be easier to understand the term “Cultural diversity” through a relevant concept, Workforce Diversity, because workforce diversity is one of the two basic dimensions of cultural diversity. Workforce diversity comprises organizational systems and activities only. Workforce diversity is among the many environmental trends affecting organizations in the recent years, and it can be defined as an organization composed of the mixture of workers with different group identities, who show differences depending on demographic or other characteristics. The criteria discriminating these groups include race, geographic origin, ethnicity, gender, age, functional or educational background, physical and cognitive capability, language, lifestyles, beliefs, cultural background, economic category, tenure with organization and sexual preference (Bhadury, Mighty, & Damar 2000, p. 143; Seymen 2006, p. 298). Based on this, the workforce composition which is formed by workers of various cultural groups in scope of workforce diversity in organizations indicates cultural diversity (Seymen 2006, p. 298). Cultural diversity in organizations goes into the inclusion of the secondary dimension of diversity described earlier and has equally significant impacts on attitudes, manners and perceptions of the individuals (Seymen 2006, p. 298). As distinctive qualities of groups and individuals resulting from cultural diversity in organizations ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Please contact our team to receive guidance and support on this assessment in its entirety based on your organisation of work, experience and level of expectations