Cultural Diferences

Why is so important for managers to understand the Hispanic culture? The major reason is because the Hispanic community is rising faster than any other community in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau show

Do most of the diversity training programs are successful? No, they are not. Diversity training programs has rarely had the impact that organizations expected in terms of assisting companies to use diversity to their best advantage. The common flaws of diversity training programs include their lack of tangible standards, failure to advocate conflict resolution, promotion of stereotyping, failure to consider individual differences and increased legal risk (Paskoff, 1996). Typical diversity training programs have unclear objectives and fail to give managers tangible standards. It is very difficult to managers measure the blend of characteristics of an individual employee to determine which cultural strains are important so that managers may adapt their interpersonal behavior accordingly to each employee. Conflict resolution is another problem of diversity training programs. An underlying goal of many diversity training programs is conflict resolution. The premise is that by exploring cultural differences of other employees, it would be easy to understand and be understood by other employees. However, most experts in conflict resolution recommend an opposite approach: The parties should discover as many areas of agreement as possible and build on that common ground to resolve their conflict (Fernandez, 1991). Programs that focus on how groups differ merely wind up conditioning people to dwell on their differences. Most of the diversity training programs failure to recognize that individuals are different. Each person has a unique individual identity. Diversity training programs may acknowledge this or even stress it; but then it proceeds to ignore the human complexity it has just admitted by urging that a single characteristic, such as race or gender, should play a determinative role in how a given person is managed or treated (Fernandez, 1991). Stereotype is created by most of diversity training programs. Overtly, by focusing on group differences, many diversity training programs communicate that certain cultural, racial or sexual stereotypes- the ones taught in the diversity program- have validity (Domino, 1992). It's a short step from there to a manager's decision that his personal stereotypes are also a valid behavioral guide. Thus, training intended to dispel discriminatory attitudes can help perpetuate them. Legal issues are a problem of typical diversity training programs. Drawing employees' attention to how they differ from one another as a result of an immutable category to which they belong has potential legal risks (Cote and Ratneshwar, 1992). Either directly or by implication, this approach gives the organization's stamp of approval to an assumption that people act as they do because of their race or culture or sex. This is simplistic and can lead to illegal, disparate treatment.

A second important element to study cultural differences is the value of individualism, defined as the degree of social connectedness among individuals (Hofstede, 1980; Earley and Gibson, 1998). In a highly individualistic society (American society) there are weak connections among individuals, the self-concept is defined in terms of the individual or traits, and personal identity is derived from individual achievement. In contrast, in less individualistic or collectivist societies (Hispanic society), there are many and varied strong connections among people, self-concept is defined with reference to a societal and cultural context, and personal identity is derived through the in-group and its successes (Earley and Gibson, 1998). Cultures characterized by individualism place a high value on individual rewards and the individual ownership of property. This emphasis encourages managers within this culture type to act in a self-interested manner. On the other hand, managers acting within a collectivist culture are expected to behave in a manner that serves the group. For instance, in collectivist cultures, personnel managers will be mor

Some topics in this essay:
Bartlett Goshal, American Hispanic, Yes American, Hispanic American, Cox Nkomo, Erez Earley, Earley Gibson, Hispanic Culture, Sanchez Brock, Roosevelt Thomas, diversity training, diversity training programs, training programs, hispanic employees, cultural differences, power distance, hispanic culture, polychronic behavior, conflict resolution, training program, diversity initiative, diversity training program, differences diversity training, hispanic american cultures, power distance individualism,