Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
In most discussions of cultural diversity, attention has focused on visible, explicit aspects of culture, such as language, dress, food, religion, music, and social rituals. Although they are important, these visible expressions of culture, which are taught deliberately và learned consciously, are only the tip of the iceberg of culture. Much of culture is taught và learned implicitly, or outside awareness. Thus, neither cultural insiders nor cultural outsiders are aware that certain "invisible" aspects of their culture exist.
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Invisible elements of culture are important to us. For example, how long we can be late before being impolite, what topics we should avoid in a conversation, how we show interest or attention through listening behavior, what we consider beautiful or ugly- these are all aspects of culture that we learn và use without being aware of it. When we meet other people whose invisible cultural assumptions differ from those we have learned implicitly, we usually vày not recognize their behavior as cultural in origin.
Differences in invisible culture can cause problems in cross-cultural relations. Conflicts may arise when we are unable lớn recognize others" behavioral differences as cultural rather than personal. We tend khổng lồ misinterpret other people"s behavior, blame them, or judge their intentions or competence without realizing that we are experiencing cultural rather than individual differences.
Formal organizations & institutions, such as schools, hospitals, workplaces, governments, and the legal system are collection sites for invisible cultural differences. If the differences were more visible, we might have less misunderstanding. For example, if we met a man in a courthouse who was wearing exotic clothes, speaking a language other than ours, và carrying food that looked strange, we would not assume that we understood his thoughts và feelings or that he understood ours. Yet when such a man is dressed similarly to lớn us, speaks our language, & does not differ from us in other obvious ways, we may fail khổng lồ recognize the invisible cultural differences between us. As a result, mutual misunderstanding may arise.
As national politics and discourse seem to lớn grow more inward-looking và divisive across America & Europe, successful businesses must continue khổng lồ think inclusively và globally. Embracing cultural diversity in the workplace is an important first step for businesses that want to lớn be competitive on an international scale.
From the Virgin Group to lớn Disney và Pricewaterhouse
Coopers, organizations across industries are embracing the benefits of a diverse workforce. But with benefits necessarily come challenges of working across borders, cultures, and languages.
At tissustartares.com, diversity and global mindedness are integral to our DNA. Our mission is khổng lồ prepare our students lớn thrive in a fast-paced, unpredictable, and fundamentally international business environment. As our students develop into the global business leaders of tomorrow, they can certainly expect to encounter these 13 key benefits và challenges of cultural diversity in the workplace.
Benefits:
Challenges:
1. Benefit: Diverse cultural perspectives can inspire creativity & drive innovation
Our culture influences the way in which we see the world. A variety of viewpoints along with the wide-ranging personal and professional experience of an international team can offer new perspectives that inspire colleagues to lớn see the workplace—and the world—differently.
Diversity of thought has been shown khổng lồ breed creativity và drive innovation, helping to solve problems and meet customer needs in new and exciting ways. For example, cosmetic giant L’Oréal attributes much if its impressive success in emerging markets lớn its multicultural sản phẩm development teams.
Multiple voices, perspectives, and personalities bouncing off one another can give rise to lớn out-of-the-box thinking. By offering a platform for the xuất hiện exchange of ideas, businesses can reap the biggest benefits of diversity in the workplace. A recent study from Forbes echoed this notion, concluding that “the best way khổng lồ ensure the development of new ideas is through a diverse và inclusive workforce.”
2. Benefit: Local market knowledge và insight makes a business more competitive và profitable
A multicultural workforce can give an organization an important edge when expanding into new markets. Often, a sản phẩm or service needs khổng lồ be adapted khổng lồ succeed overseas. Understanding local laws, regulations, and customs, as well as the competitive landscape, can help a business lớn thrive. Moreover, local connections, native language skills, và cultural understanding can boost international business development exponentially.
And being more competitive ultimately means being more profitable. Diversity inch annually recognizes the đứng đầu 50 most diverse companies and measures their success against the broader market. Recent research from Mc
Kinsey also underscores the fact that diversity is good for a business’s bottom line. In fact, ethnically diverse companies were shown to lớn be 35% more likely to have financial returns above the national industry median.
3. Benefit: Cultural sensitivity, insight, & local knowledge means higher quality, targeted marketing
Cross-cultural understanding, along with local market knowledge, lends itself the production of more effective sale strategy and materials. For example, high quality and culturally sensitive translations of websites, brochures, và other assets are essential. But these can be overlooked without the input đầu vào of a native speaker.
Even brand taglines can get badly lost in translation. A frequently cited example is from KFC in China, whose chicken was marketed as so tasty, you’ll “eat your fingers off!” (A poor translation of their brand tagline, “Finger lickin’ good.”)
Market-specific knowledge and insight is invaluable when it comes lớn for imagery & design, too. What might work well on a billboard for a British company could fail or offend elsewhere. A memorable Mc
Donalds print ad in Finland may have been considered clever locally, but it was seen as confusing & even grotesque by foreign audiences.
The danger of making a serious marketing blunder, which can cause irreparable damage to lớn a brand or business abroad, can be mitigated by employing a diverse workforce with local kinh doanh savvy.
4. Benefit: Drawing from a culturally diverse talent pool allows an organization to attract and retain the best talent
According lớn a Glassdoor survey, two thirds of job hunters indicated that diversity was important to lớn them when evaluating companies and job offers. In a competitive global job market, demonstrating that your business is invested in fostering a multicultural và inclusive environment can make you stand out to lớn the right candidates. Making diversity an important part of the recruiting process will broaden your talent pool of prospective employees.
Not only does hiring from a more diverse talent pool makes your business attractive to lớn ambitious, globally minded candidates, it also helps you to lớn keep them on board. Diversity, including diversity of gender, religion, và ethnicity, has been shown khổng lồ improve retention và reduce the costs associated with employee turnover.
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In a diverse workplace, employees are more likely remain loyal when they feel respected & valued for their chất lượng contribution. This, in turn, fosters mutual respect among colleagues who also value the diverse culture, perspectives, & experiences of their team members. An inclusive atmosphere of cross-cultural cooperation is an excellent way to bond colleagues và teams across the business.
“One of the main reasons I chose tissustartares.com was the incredible diversity of students và the international element we possess here. Studying và sharing a campus with students from different nationalities has been an awe-inspiring experience. Diversity và international exposure have always been important khổng lồ the decisions I have made in my career.”