MULTICULTURAL PLAN

Multicultural Plan

Multicultural Plan

Introduction

The integration of individuals from different backgrounds can be an enriching and productive experience in a business team setting. When used properly and appreciated the differences can be used to produce an effective and high-performance team. The team can become a juggernaut in the business world and not only enrich the lives of its team members but that of the organizations to which they belong.

Different cultural groups have different values, styles, and personalities, each of which may have a significant effect on the way they perform. The following will discuss how ethnicity, gender, age, and religion impact individual behavior in the working environment.

Discussion

Understanding the complexity of ethnicity and race is certainly an important factor for leaders and employees to effectively recognize and deal with appropriately. Further reading and study in psychology can help managers recognize the influence of ethnic identity, by understanding of some easily confused terms such as racism, prejudice, race and ethnicity (Goffman, 2007). Ethnicity is defined as the sense of being different than other groups because of cultural tradition, ancestry, national origin, history, or religion. Ethnicity also relates to a common culture and shared meaning. It includes feelings, thoughts, perceptions, expectations and actions of a group resulting from shared experiences.

Americans tend to see each other in terms of age, economic class, religion, gender, ethnicity, and race. Commonly recognized American ethnic groups include: American Indians, Latinos, Chinese, African Americans, and European Americans. In some cases, ethnicity involves merely a group identity with little or no cultural traditions in common, for example the Irish and German Americans (www.cenus.gov).

Cultural diversity is defined as the “Coexistence of numerous distinct ethnic, racial, religious, or cultural groups within one social unit, organization, or population” ("Define Cultural," 2006). Diversity can help a team to achieve many objectives, much as the United States military does everyday. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines work together even though many of them are from different races, religions, or ethnicities.

Each individual military member brings a unique perspective to the objective at hand; while one individual may be passionate about maintaining freedom because he or she is of African-American decent, another individual may be passionate about freedom because he or she is Jewish. Both individuals are fighting for the same cause, but their motivation may come from different sources. This diversity helps to maintain a driving force to the team called the military.

It is not necessarily the diversity that affects the outcome of the mission, as much as it is the team itself. If a team cannot work together then nothing will be accomplished. “A healthy organization is one in which an obvious effort is made to get people with different backgrounds, skills, and abilities to work together toward the goal or purpose of the organization” (Schauber, 2001). Group behavior can be affected by cultural diversity; however, it is the team's job to put all different backgrounds aside to achieve the mission.

Religion also contributes to the diversity of the workplace and impacts group ...