Cultural Diversity in an Organisation

Question: This assessment task requires that you synthesise your understanding of organisational culture and leadership with your theoretical and practical knowledge of OB in Australian organisations. The focus of this activity is to determine how the practice of OB must be redesigned and realigned in multiethnic/multicultural contexts to ensure cultural appropriateness and to achieve organisational effectiveness. Answer: Introduction Australia has the population of about twenty-three million. It is known for its one of most linguistically and culturally diversified workforce. Although, the maximum Australian population is its native since birth, according to census 2011, seventy-five percent of Australians were found with an ancestry other than Australian (Allen-Meares, 2007). When there is a difference of race, language, ethnicity, religion, sexual, orientation, and nationality within a community, it is said to be cultural diversity. When people from different culture join an organisation, along with their talent and skills they also bring their values, and beliefs with them. With such a diverse cultural population the organisational cultural diversity is also very high in Australia. It is the duty of the leader to manage the diversity of cultures and beliefs in an organisation. Cultural diversity has multiple dimensions which play more or less important role in different operations and relationship of a business. These multiple dimensions are gender, culture, sexual orientation, language, family status, geographic location, communication style, ethics, and physical and mental abilities. In this essay, the identification and critical evaluation of a leaders role will be done in the case of challenges of communication, ethical issues, and the leadership style which will be required to handle the cultural diversity in an organisation (Argyropoulos, Polikreti, Simon, Charalambous, 2011). How leader handles the cultural diversity in an organisation? Communication Barriers The mindset of culturally different people are different even their language, symbols, and signs are also different which makes communication difficult. Every culture has different meaning for behaviour, gestures, and words, and it also gives rise to ethnocentrism, prejudices, opinions, and manners. In an organisation people of the different culture has to work together. As Australia has such a diversified culture the organisational leaders face a lot of issues in communication with the employees and also with the people they work outside the organisation (Ayoko Hrtel, 2006). The factors that can act as barriers to communication are:- Language Barrier- people who speak the same language, it is so common to have a misunderstanding in between them, so people from different cultures and linguistic backgrounds facing communication issues doesnt come as a surprise. Mispronunciation, or same word but different meaning in two different languages, lack of specificity can create misunderstanding between two people. In an organisation it is very necessary for the employee to clearly understand the instructions given to them or they will not be fulfilling their work as per the requirements (Boulden, 2006). Behaviour- the use of body language and other behavioural gestures can also cause miscommunication. For example in some cultures making an eye contact is taken as disrespect, whereas in some cultures if an eye contact is not made than the person speaking will take the listener uninterested or distracted. Like a given example there are many gestures and behavioural signs that can create a hindrance for an effective communication. These includes the use of nod of the head for indicating agreement or understanding, facial expressions, and the space given to an individual while having a conversation (Bowden Doughney, 2009). Stereotypes- there are people who prefer to have prior assumptions about the characteristics of people belonging to a particular community or culture. There negative and hostile thinking act as a barrier for effective communication in a workplace. There are cultures that share some common set of characteristics, but that cannot be assumed to be the case in every culture. Stereotyping can take place due to many things like race, religion, nationality, gender, age, ethnicity, etc. Ethnocentrism- the tendency to judge people according to values and standards set by ones own group is known as Ethnocentrism. These views can act as a communication barrier and also affect an employees morale and productivity. For example, in some culture coming directly to the point of work is acceptable and taken as efficiency, whereas in some culture it may be taken as a rude behaviour. Ethnocentrism encourages hostility and affects the understanding of message (Coleman, 2012). Cultural Barriers- different cultures have diversified set of values, behaviour, decorum, facial expression, business ethics, and gesture. If these various difference are not taken into consideration than it may act as a communication barrier. It is necessary for the leaders to pay genuine respect to others cultures and beliefs while communicating. Presentation Style- every culture prefers to receive information as according to their cultures and beliefs. A leader should take note of this and deal with his employees accordingly. Employees will be more productive and morally boost up if instructed in their own preferential style (Comber, 2013). Religion- religious views of people influence their thinking about others. This creates the difference in opinion which acts as a communication barrier. Religion also disrupts communication as ethnocentrism and stereotyping, as it creates an image about people those who follow other religions. Encoding- Encoding means the production of the message need to deliver to a receiver. While creating the encoded message the sender need to understand the comprehensibility of the receiver. The encoded message uses verbal and non-verbal symbols which have to be according to the understanding of the receiver. If not encoded properly then the purpose of the message may get distorted, and the receiver may take the meaning of it otherwise and the whole communication process may fail (Davies, 2005). Decoding- the interpretation and understanding of the message received by the receiver are known as decoding. The communication process is only successful if the message received is decoded and interpreted in the intended way. But, there is always a possibility that the message get decoded in a completely different way as the receiver are generally influenced by their cultures and beliefs and their interpretation of the verbal, and no-verbal codes may be different from what the sender want to send. It acts as a communication barrier as the process of the communication fails when the message doesnt get decoded as intended (Edwards, Othman, Burn, 2015). In Australia, there are a number of cultures living and working together in the present times, but this was not the scenario before. People in Australia are very particular about following their own cultures and beliefs which make it difficult for a manager to take in consideration cultures and beliefs of every employee and then work out his instructions. A leader faces many challenges while communicating with his employees. An effective leader has the quality to approach each of his employees in a way that the message transferred to the employee, is received by him in the same way as intended by the leader. This will result in higher productivity and the moral boost of the employee. To make an effective communication it is necessary for the leader of an organisation to eliminate the causes of cultural communication barriers as much as possible. The understanding of cross culture must be increased as it helps in decreasing the communication barriers which may be caused by cultural di fferences in an organisation (Engstrm Stehn, 2016). Ethical Issues Now-a-days almost all the organisations in Australia are embracing cultural diversity initiatives with an aim creating a broad workplace environment. Most surveyors and analysts agree on the aspiration worthiness of the diversified workforce in an organisation. However, the workforce cultural diversity can lead to ethical issues which can prove to be a challenging issue for managers and employees to handle. Few ethical issues faced by the leaders of an organisation due to culturally diversified workforce are as follows:- Religious Difference- culturally diversified individuals working in an organisation along with their talent and skills bring their religious beliefs also. At times, the religious beliefs of an employee may clash with the diversity policies of an organisation. For example, an organisation with diversified policies welcomes employees, customers, and vendors of different sexual orientation. However, this diversified policy may pose an ethical dilemma for an employee whose religious beliefs only accept heterosexuality as sexual orientation. An efficient leader is always prepared for these kinds of issues, and he should act on it and clarify that, different people have different personal beliefs, but when it comes to a workplace, they should learn to respect others beliefs also (Forrest Dunn, 2013). Gender Issues- Australian government is working hard to reduce gender issues that are in the cultural beliefs of many communities, residing in Australia. Due to the cultural belief of people that women are subordinate to men, giving same opportunities of promotion to women can turn into an ethical issue in an organisation. Male and female belonging to such community may find it difficult to work in an environment where women handle a top executive position and men has to report to a woman regarding their job. In some communities social interaction between men and women is also taken as the offense and not accepted according to their cultural beliefs. It is really difficult for a management to handle these cultural sensitivities as it may hurt peoples personal beliefs. It is necessary to handle these cultural sensitivities by the management without mishandling any anti-discrimination laws, or it may affect the effectiveness of diversity initiative of an organisation (Grobler, 2006). Hiring decisions- to fulfil the diversity initiative it is important for the organisation to hire a culturally diversified pool of workforce. For this mangers need to generate an interest amongst the diverse groups by posting advertisements of open positions with the network of employee diversity or in a non-traditional publication. While hiring management must make sure that hiring is done by persons qualifications, experiences, capabilities, and skills, regardless of his or her gender, race, national origin, or age. Following diversity values while making hiring decisions can create tension between equal employment opportunity guidelines and an organisations goal of diversity (Ilkilic Paul, 2008). Business Practices- insisting employees in following the ethical business practices may create cultural conflicts in an organisation. To expedite approval of requests like variance and permit application, government agents of some cultures may expect organisations to provide an incentive payment. However, this payment can be viewed as bribes by the government officials, which are prohibited and restricted by federal anticorruption laws. Criminal culpability and civil fines can be triggered if these laws get violated. Anti-bribery training should be provided to the employees by the organisation to clarify the handling of such contribution requests so that all the employees of different cultures may understand which behaviour is acceptable and unacceptable under the law (Leveson, Joiner, Bakalis, 2009). An example showing the failure of ethical leadership is the 7-Eleven Australian franchised stores. They were found systematically rooting wages and exploiting their employees. An investigation was conducted, and it uncovered the facts that the staff at 7-eleven was forced to work long-hours and were underpaid. Employees who were maximum students were threatened by the management regarding breaking their visa rules and were stopped from complaining to Fair Work Australia. Evidence proves that this unethical practice was going on from about last six years. The lesson to be learned by all the leaders by this example is that such system operations are not ethical which cannot run profitably by following the laws. Whatever a management tries to hide its hideous work but they cannot hide it from their failure of ethics (Lim Zhong, 2006). Optimal mix of Leadership Styles Being a culturally diversified country the workforce of the organisations is also culturally diversified. Diversity is a double-edged sword for an organisation because it is certainly beneficial for an organisation if properly managed, whereas if not managed properly it may prove to be harmful for the organisation as it may cause employee dissatisfaction, increased turnovers, ethical issues, and communication barriers. Hence, it is important for management to follow a leadership style that will help in encouraging a culturally diversified team of employees. Leadership style can be individual oriented, autocratic, directive, top-down, democratic, or authoritarian. Keeping in mind the cultural diversification of Australian workforce the leadership style selected for the organisation should have an optimal mix of various important factors of leadership style that suit best to the organisations operations and should be flexible enough to able to handle the cultural diversity of the work force (Markus, 2014). The various types of leadership styles are as follows: - Transformational Theory A process of leadership where leaders and their employees help each other in raising each others level of morality and motivation is known as transformational leadership. A leader who is a model of integrity and fairness has a clear set of goals, expect high from his employees, encourages others, provides recognition and support, make people look beyond themselves, and make people reach for the improbable is known to be following transformational leadership style (McLean, 2011). For being a transformational leader has to follow few steps and they are as follows:- Create an inspiring vision- it is necessary for the leaders to have a clear vision of future as his team is going to follow his instructions and for communicating the instructions effectively, leaders should also be clear with their vision of goals and objectives. Motivate employees to buy into and deliver the vision a leader should be able to sell his vision to his employees so that they follow his lead effectively. This could be done by inspiring employees with their own values to deliver their best to achieve the organisations goal (McLean, 2011). Manage Delivery of the Vision- a vision is of no use if it does not turned into a reality. There are many leaders who have a vision but they fail to deliver it in reality. For delivering the vision, it is necessary for the leader to have an effective communication with its employees and make them understand their roles and responsibilities which they are supposed to fulfil to achieve the goals. The building of strong, trust-based relationship with employees- leadership a long-term process, it is necessary for the leaders to build trust and stronger relationship this will help the employees to understand their leaders better, and leaders can help their employees to grow as an individual. The leader has to work as a coach for his employees it will not only help in gaining the organisations goal but also gain the trust and self-confidence of employees (Morrison, 2007). The Path-Goal Theory of Leadership The theory of leadership developed to describe the leaders way to encourage and support their team with the aim of achieving goals set by the organisation by making the path clear and easy to achieve is known as path-goal theory of leadership. The works leaders do in the path-goal theory are as follows: - Making a clear path for subordinates to follow Help in removing roadblocks or hindrances form their way Giving rewards along the path Leaders approach can be limited or strong in this theory. While clarifying the path, a leader can give clear direction or may be vague hints. Roadblocks may be removed by the leaders or he or she may help the employees to remove them. Encouragement with help of rewards can be given to the employees. All these decision regarding the leaders approach depends on the circumstances and the capabilities and motivation of the team members. Also the difficulty of the task and other factors also matters (Message, 2005). Path-Goal Theory can be divided into four parts and they are:- Supportive leadership- under this leadership the leader help in increasing the team members self-esteem and making the task interesting. Directive Leadership- giving directions to the followers about what is needed to be done and giving guidance throughout the way to achieve success. Participative Leadership- taking under consideration the suggestion of team members to reach the objective aimed. Achievement-Oriented Leadership- leaders set challenging goals for team members to achieve and reward them for succeeding those (Mukherjee Pyne, 2016). Conclusion Australia is one of the worlds most culturally diversified countries. Running an organisation efficiently with such a diversified workforce is really very difficult for the management. There are a number of barriers that come along while making the team members of the company perform for the company. Language, cultural beliefs, religion, gender, and behaviour style are the factors that act as a communication barrier for the leader while managing the culturally diverse workforce. It is necessary for the management to effectively communicate the visions they have for the company (Park, 2014). There are ethical issues also that have to be dealt by the management while attaining its objective with the help of their employees. Management has to take effective steps to manage the ethical issues arising due to the culturally diversified workforce without hurting their beliefs. For all this a good leadership style is necessary for the management to follow so they can lead their employees effectively to attain the organisational goal (Sutter Kieser, 2015). 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