Diversity and Cross Cultural Issues

Diversity is whereby all employees are treated equally at the workplace no matter their differences in culture, tribe or religion while culture is a collective behavior by a particular group of people at the workplace. Diversity is valued by creating a working environment that helps recognize the different abilities from each employee and allowing them to participate at work with equal measure. In a diverse cultural environment, individuals are inspired to be creative, therefore, coming up with innovations that might help boost the business. People who adopt diversity in the workplace have the advantage of being more productive and have better performance (Donaldson, 1996). Many companies that have adopted cultural diversity have enabled the voices of the minority to be heard therefore promoting togetherness. Some of the challenges encountered in most businesses that have adopted diversity are conflicting styles of work whereby two people have a different method of achieving their goals at work, but at the end, the results are similar (Johnson, Lenartowicz, & Apud, 2006). Due to the language barrier from different cultures worldwide, some information might be misinterpreted, and this could yield mistrust if the communication is not clear.
Colleagues from the minority cultures might not let their voice be heard, especially if they are new or hold a junior role at work. In a culturally diverse workplace, the employer creates a conducive environment for his employees whereby, they learn from their differences and come up with a solution that favors all (Patrick & Kumar, 2012).

For large companies that sell their products globally, they have a different organogram that enables them to have managers from all cultures and countries since they interact directly with the customers, therefore, it helps to increase the company’s sales. Cultural diversity at the workplace has helped most organizations identify and retain the beat talented employees, and the employer can reward them accordingly (Thomas & Ely, 1996). It is important to note that a diverse culture attracts unity and understanding at the workplace, and this helps to improve the company’s ratings globally, and also enables the company’s products to be accepted worldwide.
References
Donaldson, T. (1996). When is different just different, and when is different wrong. Harvard Business Review, 4862.
Johnson, J. P., Lenartowicz, T., & Apud, S. (2006). Cross-cultural competence in international business: Toward a definition and a model. Journal of international business studies, 37(4), 525-543.
Patrick, H. A., & Kumar, V. R. (2012). Managing workplace diversity: Issues and challenges. Sage Open, 2(2), 2158244012444615.
Thomas, D. A., & Ely, R. J. (1996). Making differences matter. Harvard business review, 74(5), 79-90.