Running head: CULTURES IN THE WORKPLACE

Multiple Cultures in the Workplace

Name

Institutional Affiliation
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Multiple Cultures in the Workplace

Working in a multi-diverse environment either in a formal or informal

organization requires an employee to understand how well to deal with peoples’
differing arguments, opinions, and philosophies about various issues. Peoples’
ideologies are influenced by their cultural, historical, and religious background, hence,
the need to understand why certain individuals behave the way they do when faced with
certain challenges. Interacting with people from various cultures is an excellent
exposure on how best to handle crisis situations involving policies, professional
conduct, and ethics at the workplace. Therefore, using the knowledge gained from a
multi-cultural workforce helps one to be creative, improves the quality of customer
service, and builds trust among all employees. The time spent in this working
environment will ensure that I learn key professional traits such as competence, ethics,
tolerance, integrity, efficiency, and diligence (Connerley & Pedersen, 2005). All these
objectives I intend to have learned and mastered them within a span of seven days, thus,
the need to constantly work with staff members from a different culture.

In my quest to learn all these diverse professional skills needed in a culturally

diverse organization, I am bound to experience some level of rebuke and challenges
from colleagues. Enforcing a measure of change is sometimes stressful especially if
people are not open-minded to embrace new practices and policies. Therefore, I intend
to approach the Human Resource Manager (HRM) with the idea of implementing a
mandatory employee program that ensures all workers that share the same culture do
not work in the same office (In Rozkwitalska, In Sułkowski & In Magala, 2017). Such
a directive guarantees that staff members will interact with another co-worker from a
different cultural background. Furthermore, it creates an environment of acceptance of
cultural differences. However, this plan will receive criticism from colleagues who
deem themselves to be above others based on their cultural and historical background.
Alternatively, I might be sidelined as an employee who wants to gain favor from the
company’s top management team simply because I suggested such an idea. Corporate
integration is the ultimate objective of being in a multi-cultural workplace environment
because it influences how an individual executes his job responsibilities in a company
of people that do not share similar professional and cultural practice. Therefore,
implementing an organizational policy that promotes cohesiveness and partnership
among workers is one approach of resolving the potential hurdles that might arise in a
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multi-diverse work environment. Moreover, assigning tasks and duties to workers from
different cultures is another technique to ensure that staff members learn how to co-exist
and coordinate their respective duties within the same office. Upon completion of the
personal development plan course, I intend to implement the knowledge gained within a
three-week period through a consolidated action plan.

Action 1; Draft all the objectives and goals I need to acquire within the 3 week period

Action 2: Set aside 7-hrs per day to work in an environment that has employees from
all walks of life and freely interact and socialize with them during free time.

Action 3: Share my workstation with a co-worker who shares a different culture and
tries to understand their point of view when it comes to professional qualifications and
career goals.

Action 4: Participate in problem-solving meetings and conflict resolution sessions

involving all company employees to learn how best to handle crisis involving workers
who have diverse cultures.

In conclusion, an organization that has a diverse workforce experiences high

growth in terms of profit margins, sales return and corporate expansion since their
workers are motivated to increase productivity and boost their performance levels. The
personal development course has enlightened my understanding of how to interact and
engage with people from all walks of life. Moreover, it showcases how crucial it is for a
company to enforce a diverse organizational culture within its work environment so that
all employees feel included in the firm’s development process.
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Appendix A

Personal Development Plan Outline

i. Brief Introduction of a Diverse Workplace Environment

ii. The ultimate objective of acquiring a multi-cultural skills/knowledge (Personal
Development Plan)
iii. Ways /steps to take to achieve this objective
iv. 3-week Action plan to implement the knowledge of working in a diverse
company
v. Conclusion
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References

Connerley, M. L., & Pedersen, P. B. (2005). Leadership in a Diverse and Multicultural

Environment: Developing Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills. Thousand Oaks:
SAGE Publications.
In Rozkwitalska, M., In Sułkowski, Ł., & In Magala, S. (2017). Intercultural
interactions in the multicultural workplace: Traditional and positive
organizational scholarship.