The Role Of Cultural Diversity In The Workplace - Personal Experience And Group Essay.

Personal Experience

Diversity plays an extremely important role in our lives. It is the basis of every existing culture on this planet. Cultural diversity essentially refers to a vibrant array of cultures all around the globe. It is imperative to note that cultural diversity plays an extremely vital role in the functioning of society. This is because diversity educates people about the different cultures prevalent around the world and helps them to become accepting and welcoming. This refers to the fact that cultural diversity allows people to understand, value, and respect the culture of others. Within a company, cultural diversity enables the workforce with the opportunity of enhancing their performance. In addition to this cultural diversity also allows employees of the company to learn as well as grow by understanding the other person's experience. This evidence suggests that since the employees come from different backgrounds their ideas, thought process, as well as approach towards problems, are different which help the company flourish in its designated industry. This paper strives to discuss my experience of working on a group project within my company. The paper will also discuss my personal experience with cultural diversity as well as my learning about the same.

I have not had much experience with cultural diversity during my education. However, this module allowed me to mingle with people from varied cultures and it helped me understand it better. Before joining this company, I had almost little to no interaction with anybody who came from a different culture. This is why I did not know much about other cultures and I also felt a sort of barrier in terms of engaging with them. Working in this group project has enabled me with the ability to not only interact with people from different cultures but also do it respectably. One of the most distinct memories that I have of engaging and interacting with people from diverse cultures includes my first day in this company. I had recently been recruited and was extremely nervous about how I would fit in. However, I was put into a team where I had to interact with people from different cultures. The initial few days were extremely difficult as I did not know how to approach them respectfully. I did not want to offend them in any way with my questions. However, my teammates finally realized that I was undergoing an internal debate and approached me themselves. This helped me communicate with them directly and also made me understand more about their culture. I realized that at the end of the day we are all human and our differences make us unique and better. Having communicated with them I realized that the cultures all around the world are extremely different from one another and have so many different ways of doing things. Not only did we discuss how we were brought up but we also discussed how different our childhoods were. For instance, while I grew up listening to certain nursery rhymes in playschool some of my friends from different cultures had completely different rhymes that they learned growing up.

Group Project

This entire situation helped me to understand the different cultures that exist in the world. This also enabled me to understand that different ideas add value when people have the same purpose. This means that since we were all working in a team, we all had the same purpose of doing our work diligently. Our different cultural backgrounds helped us achieve our goal as we all had innovative ideas that could be creatively conducted. Based on my personal experience not only did I speak to people from different cultural backgrounds but I also gained knowledge about the various features of their culture.

In regards to my group project, I had an intense time while I tried to find my footing within the team. This essentially lays reference to the fact that since my team was made of people from different cultures, I had a difficult time trying to position myself within the team. This is not only because they came from different cultures but it was also because we had no idea about the other’s strengths or weaknesses. The first few days of the group project were long and tedious as we had to figure out how to work around each other. However, I was extremely glad that I was working in a team with such a diverse workforce. This is because not only was I able to communicate with people from different backgrounds but I was also learning so much in terms of innovation and creativity as everybody had different ideas. It is important to note that since we all had the same purpose which was to get through with the project successfully, we were all highly motivated to work. This was initially difficult as we all had different types of ideas, different approaches, and different ways to look at things. However, eventually, we all came to a consensus as our main purpose was to successfully conduct the project.

However, there were several challenges that we faced along the way. This mainly refers to the fact that as a team we faced many difficulties that were made even more difficult because of the cultural barrier that we seem to have had initially. I felt an extreme sense of doubt while working within the team in the initial few days as I had to figure out how to work around people who came from different cultural backgrounds. I also had to figure out a way to communicate clearly. In regards to my role within the team, the most frustrating challenge that I faced was not being able to comprehend or visualize the vision of my teammates. This mainly suggests that there were often when my teammates could visualize the direction of the project and I felt like I was falling short. However, my teammates were extremely kind and helped me understand their viewpoint in a logical sense, and also took my feedback into account. Eventually, we worked through it and came to a consensus as we decided to work together rather than in separate directions. It is inevitable for a team that is culturally diverse to not have arguments or a difference of opinion. We had our share of arguments and different opinions as well however we figured out a way to get past it as our sole purpose was to succeed in our project. Not only did I learn how to communicate well within a team I also learned that it is extremely important that I must be willing to listen. My teammates enabled within me the ability to be respectful towards the opinions of others. Not only were they respectful towards my opinion but they also made it a point that I felt valued. In return, I made sure that I was extremely approachable and understanding in terms of solving disagreements. This helped our team function successfully and efficiently. This entire experience taught me the importance of cultural diversity and its benefits in terms of working on this module.

Challenges Faced

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said that the entire experience helped me understand the importance of cultural diversity. It is extremely essential to understand that cultural diversity is an integral part of a company. For a company to succeed in its designated purpose in an innovative way it must ensure that its workforce is culturally diverse. This will enable the company to have innovative and creative ideas that will set it apart from its competitors. My experience while working on this module, helped me to learn about cultural diversity and also enabled me to understand that our differences make us unique. I was also put in a position where I had the opportunity to interact with a lot of different people from different backgrounds. This not only helped me learn about the different cultures prevalent in the world but also enabled me with a deep understanding of how to approach somebody from a different cultural background respectfully and kindly.

References

Alhendi, O., Tóth, J., Lengyel, P. and Balogh, P., 2021. Tolerance, Cultural Diversity and Economic Growth: Evidence from Dynamic Panel Data Analysis. Economies, 9(1), p.20.

ALMASKARI, T.H., MOHAMAD, E., YAHAYA, S.N. and JALIL, M.F., 2021. Leadership as a driver of employees' innovation performance: The mediating effect of cultural diversity in UAE universities. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 8(8), pp.271-285.

Ayega, E.N. and Muathe, S., 2018. Critical review of literature on cultural diversity in the work place and organizational performance: A research agenda. Journal of Human Resource Management, 6(1), pp.9-17.

Bouncken, R., Brem, A. and Kraus, S., 2016. Multi-cultural teams as sources for creativity and innovation: The role of cultural diversity on team performance. International Journal of Innovation Management, 20(01), p.1650012.

Cletus, H.E., Mahmood, N.A., Umar, A. and Ibrahim, A.D., 2018. Prospects and challenges of workplace diversity in modern day organizations: A critical review. HOLISTICA–Journal of Business and Public Administration, 9(2), pp.35-52.

Han, S.J. and Beyerlein, M., 2016. Framing the effects of multinational cultural diversity on virtual team processes. Small group research, 47(4), pp.351-383.

Hunt, V., Prince, S., Dixon-Fyle, S. and Yee, L., 2018. Delivering through diversity. McKinsey & Company, 231.

Jang, S., 2017. Cultural brokerage and creative performance in multicultural teams. Organization Science, 28(6), pp.993-1009.

Lambert, J., 2016. Cultural diversity as a mechanism for innovation: Workplace diversity and the absorptive capacity framework.

Orsini, P., 2020. The effect of early international experience on the perception of cultural diversity in the workplace. Keizai Shushi, 90, pp.93-114.

Raewf, M.B. and Mahmood, Y.N., 2021. The Cultural Diversity in the Workplace. Cihan University-Erbil Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 5(1), pp.1-6.