The world we live in is complex and diverse and this is due to the fact that globalization has

become an intensive phenomenon. We have nowadays not only the access to overwhelming
amount of information, but also the opportunity to interact with people from other cultures, either in
private life or in our jobs. In the working environment, people bring with them a multitude of
personal histories, beliefs and values, working styles and ways of communication, preferences and
needs. All these interfere with the work tasks and influence relationships people develop at the
workplace.
There is commonly agreed nowadays that cultural diversity should be capitalized and it can
bring added value to organizations. Often, for both public and private organizations, it is difficult to
manage the reality of a much more diverse internal context and, in this regard, they address this
issue through internal regulations, codes of conduct and, more precisely, by adopting appropriate
proactive rules and practices, which to support the integration and performance of all employees.
There is a variety of opinions, behaviours and decisions an organization need to know how to
implement in order to manage cultural diversity to its advantage. Work group heterogeneity
promotes creativity in all processes within the organization. Groups with members coming from
different cultures bring new ideas and perspectives on work tasks, leading to creative solutions.
In order to achieve the best outcome from a culturally diverse internal environment,
organizations need do discover and assign on strategic management positions the most talented
individuals in terms of communication in general and intercultural communication in particular. I
tend to believe that effective managers are those who possess a range of skills and strategies for
managing and conducting work in the context of ongoing engagement with diverse cultural
employees and third parties. From my perspective, among the attributes and abilities of an
intercultural team manager should be the tolerance to ambiguity, a high level of cognitive
openness, flexibility, respect, adaptability, creativity, sensibility. One should always be aware of
one`s own attitudes, prejudices and values. On top of these, a leader should possess a complex
understanding of the personal and cultural factors involved in the transmission and understanding
of verbal, non-verbal and para verbal messages. Intercultural competent individuals are
characterized by their commitment to continuous learning about cultural differences, the
development of cross-cultural skills and they are always willing to learn from their own mistakes.
I will be trying along this written paper to transpose into a leader within a multicultural
organization and try to discover what would I be doing in this position for enabling the internal
working environment to embrace diversity and put it to work for the advantage of the company.
Real equality of treatment in the workplace for all people would be my final goal. No matter of the
decisions I would be making and whatever the behaviours adopted, it would be of utmost
importance that my initiatives would develop from the strategic objectives of the organization and
be supported by the top management. And, very important, my own personality, cultural awareness
and behaviour should serve as main example within the company.
 Firstly, I would evaluate the situation within the organization, trying to see what general
rules are in place, if they are respected by free will or there are hard-mixed feelings about them,
what is the degree of diversity, how is the state of spirit within the employees in general and at
departmental level in particular. I would be very keen on organizing a strong HR department in
order to attract and retain valuable candidates, without restricting the choice, to allow access to
new recruitment segments, strengthen their attachment to organizational culture and increase the
level of motivation and efficiency of the people. I would be focused on the observation of the
working atmosphere and make sure discrimination is counteracted and diminished, and the dignity
of each person is respected.
If no internal pro-diversity and non-discrimination policy is in place, I would start to create
one from scratch, with the help of the other leaders and by counting on the general support as well.
I would support the development of a performance evaluation system within the organization,
based on objective criteria. The internal communication in the organization should be transparent,
no matter the cultural background. Each employee should clearly now what are the tasks,
requirements and also his/her benefits or career perspectives. I would definitely rely here on a
performance evaluation system based on objective criteria, and transparency. I would transparently
communicate with the employees about performance and how it can be achieved, as well as what
expectations there are from their work. Equal treatment is a must and the same performance
standards for all employees should be recognized. I would provide support to employees in career
planning and professional development.
I would also encourage brainstorming meetings in each department for projects of interest,
in order to get the most meaningful ideas from different perspectives. Team heterogeneity
promotes creativity in all processes in the organization; groups with the most diverse members
bring new ideas and perspectives on work tasks, leading to creative solutions and innovation.
Recognizing that employees make decisions and make choices based on their past experiences,
companies can develop ways to incorporate the different perspectives of employees into redefining
tasks, products, strategy, business practices. By doing so, companies learn to manage the diverse
outlook of employees by gaining the benefits of diversity. Different employees can generate better
solutions to the organization's various issues when least expected.
I would provide employees with access to mentoring programs, in particular to employees
in groups at risk of being discriminated and who also have management potential or talent in
communication. I would identify possible stereotypes of managers and employees through internal
workshops and meetings and as result, I would organize information sessions for managers on
managing differences and diversity.
Team buildings and fun moments won`t be something I would let for the end of my priorities
list. This is also a corner stone in a strong organization. These are informal moments when
everyone could get more relaxed and convey more and are also optimal opportunities for further
training for cognitive, social, emotional skills development.
 The tendency of increasing the frequency of use of information and communication
technologies may be effective, but it also has the cost of lowering the sense of social interaction
and emotional connection with other team members. I would encourage and facilitate face-to-face
interaction and the building up of solid interpersonal relationships.
I trust a good manager promotes and encourages the individual needs and abilities of
employees and transforms them into added value for the organization at the level of human capital.
He/she would always know how to discover the strengths that each employee can have to grow
and increase their own potential. This leads to a positive organizational environment where each
employee feels valuable and valued, feels that his talent is being used to the full in achieving the
organization's goals.
Globalization has made its presence felt in several organizations, which now have culturally
diverse employees, who need to be unified in order to achieve the organizational goals. Many
international companies are developing projects involving people of different nationalities, some of
them with integrated projects that take place at a considerable geographic distance and a variety of
time zones, so that the nature of teamwork also took on a profound change both in the
achievement of organizational goals and in the quality of communication and professional
engagement.
Diversity brings benefits to open organizations willing to cultivate it. A positive organizational
environment is the one in which each employee feels valuable and valued, and feels that his/her
talents, hard work and special cultural features are being used to the fullest extent in achieving the
organization's goals. The most important thing one should always remember is how wrong would
be to believe that “the way we do things here is the way things are done everywhere”!