Diversity awareness training

Many organisations provide diversity awareness training to help people become aware of
their own cultural boundaries, their prejudices and their stereotypes, so they can learn to work
and Iivee together. Working or living in a multicultural context requires a person to interact
with others using skills that transcend the way they deal with others from their own in-group.
Diversity awareness programs help people learn how to handle conflict in a constructive
manner, which tends to reduce stress and negative energy in diverse work teams.
People vary in their sensitivity and openness to other cultures. Exhibit 13A.4 shows a model
of les stages of diversity awareness. The continuum ranges from a total lack of awareness to
a.
EXIBIT 13A.4
STAGES OF DIVERSITY AWARENESS
Highest level of awareness
1. Integration
 Multicultural attitude-enables one to integrate differences and adapt both cognitively
and behaviorally
2. Adaptation
 Able to empathise with those of other cultures
 Able to shift from one cultural perspective to another
3. Acceptance
 Accepts behavioral differences and underlying differences in values
 Recognises validity of other ways of thinking and perceiving the world
4. Minimising differences
 Hides or trivialises cultural differences
 Focuses on similarities among all peoples
5. Defense
 Perceives threat against one's comfortable worldview
 Uses negative stereotyping
 Assumes own culture superior
6. Denial
 Parochial view of the world
 No awareness of cultural differences
 In extreme cases, may claim other cultures are subhuman
Lowest level of awareness

complete understanding and acceptance of people's differences. This model is useful in

helping diversity awareness trainers assess participants' openness to change. People at
different stages may require different kinds of training. A basic aim of awareness training is
to help people recognise that hidden and overt biases direct their thinking about specific
individuals and groups. If people can come away from a training session recognising that
they prejudge people and that this needs to be consciously addressed in communications with
and treatment of others, an important goal of diversity awareness training has been reached.
Many diversity awareness programs used today are designed to help people of varying back.
grounds communicate effectively with one another and to understand the language and
context used in dealing with people from other groups. The point of this training is to help
people be more flexible in their communications with others, to treat each person as an
individual and not to rely on stereotypes. Effective programs move people towards being
open in their relationships with others. For example, if you were a part of such a program, it
would help you develop an explicit awareness of your own cultural values, your own cultural
boundaties and your own cultural behaviour. Then you would be provided the same
information about other groups, and you would be given the opportunity to learn about and
communicate with people from other groups. One of the most important elements in diversity
training is to bring together people of differing perspectives so that they can engage in
leaming new interpersonal communication skills with one another.
Defining new relationships in organisations
One outcome of diversity is an increased incidence of close personal relationships in the
workplace, which can have both positive and negative results for employees as well as the
organisation. Two issues of concern are emotional intimacy and sexual harassment.
Emotional intimacy
Close relationships between men and women often have been discouraged in organisations
for fear that they would disrupt the balance of power and threaten organisational stability.
This opinion grew out of the assumption that organisations are designed for rationality and
efficiency, which were best achieved in an non-emotional environment. Close relationships
between men and women could become romantic or sexual in nature, upsetting the stable
working relationships.
A recent study of friendships in organisations sheds interesting light on this issue. Managers
and workers responded to a survey about emotionally intimate relationships with both male
and female co-workers. Many men and women reported having close relationship with an
opposite-sex co-worker. These friendships resulted in trust, respect, constructive feedback
and support in achieving work goals. Intimate friendships did not necessarily become
romantic, and they affected each person's job and career in a positive way. Rather than
causing problems, non-romantic love relationships, according to the study, affected work
teams in a positive manner because conflict was reduced. Indeed, men reported somewhat
greater benefit than women from these relationships, perhaps because the men had fewer
close relationships outside the workplace upon which to depend.
However, when such relationships do become romantic or sexual in nature, real problems can
result. Office romance is on the rise, with more than 30 per cent of employees reporting they
have been involved with a co-worker at some time in their careers. Although not all
officeromances lead to trouble, usually they create difficulties for managers. Such
relationships disrupt productivity and distract co-workers. According to Dorothy Light,
president of Alden Enterprises, office romances are the biggest productivity disrupters next to
mergers and downscing. One of the most difficult dilemmas is how to deal with other staff
members who may be jealous, intrigued or embarrassed by the relationship, or may spend
their time gossiping about the involvement of their co-workers. There is a growing
recognition that organisations cannot ban office romance, but it is an important issue that
should be managed carefully.
Romances that require the most attention from managers are those that arise between a
supervisor and an employee. These relationships often lead to morale problems among other
staff members, complaints of favouritism, and questions about the supervisor's intentions or
judgement. Although few organisations have written policies about workplace romance in
general, 70 per cent of organisations recently surveyed have policies prohibiting romantic
relationships between a superior and a subordinate.At IBM, training programs and written
policies emphasise that a manager can become romantically involved with an employee only
the or she agrees to stop supervising the employee. If a manager wants to pursue a
relationship with an employee, the company requests that he or she step forward and transfer
to another job within or outside the company. The onus is on the manager rather than the
employee to take action.The most difficult part of an office romance is often when it comes
to an end. At worst, such failed relationships can lead to claims of sexual harassment - one of
the most troubling people issues managers face today.
Sexual harassment
While psychological closeness between men and women in the workplace may be a positive
experience, sexual harassment is not. Sexual harassment is illegal. The following categorise
various forms of sexual harassment as defined by one university :
• Generalised. This form involves sexual remarks and actions that are not intended to lead
to sexual activity but that are directed towards a co-worker based solely on gender and
reflect on the entire group.
 Inappropriate or offensive. Though not sexually threatening, it causes discomfort in a
co-worker, whose reaction in avoiding the harasser may limit his or her freedom and
abilityto function in the workplace.
 Solicitation with promise of reward. This action treads a fine line as an attempt to
purchase sex, with the potential for criminal prosecution.
 Coercion with threat of punishment. The harasser coerces a co-worker into sexual
activity by using the threat of power (through recommendations, grades, promotions, and
so on) to jeopardise the victim's career.
 Sexual crimes and misdemeanours. The highest level of sexual harassment, these acts
would, if reported to the police, be considered criminal acts.
Because the corporate world is dominated by a male culture, sexual harassment affect women
to a much greater extent. Women who are moving up the corporate hierarchy by entering
male-dominated industries report a high frequency of harassment. Surveys report an increase
in sexual harassment programs, but female employees also report a lack of prompt and just
action by executives to incidents of sexual harassment. However, organisations are
discovering that 'an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure. Top executives are
seeking to address problems of harassment through diversity programs, revised complaint
systems and grievance procedures, written policy statements, workshops, lectures and role-
playing exercises to increase employee sensitivity and awareness to the issue.
Global diversity
Globalisation is a reality for today's organisations. As stated in a recent report from the
Hudson Institute, Workforce 2020, 'The rest of the world matters to a degree that it never did
in the past”. Even small organisations that do not do business in other countries are affected
by global diversity issues. However, large multinational organisations that hire employees in
many countries face tremendous challenges because they must apply diversity management
across a broader stage than their home country. Managers must develop new skills and
awareness to handle the unique challenges of global diversity: cross-cultural understanding,
the ability to build networks and the understanding of geopolitical forces. Two significant
aspects of global diversity programs involve employee selection and training and the
understanding of the communication context.
Selection and training
Expatriates are employees who live and work in a country other than their own. Careful
screening, selection and training of employees to serve overseas increase the potential for
core porate global success. HR managers consider global skills in the selection process. In
addition, expatriates receive cross-cultural training that develops language skills and cultural
and historical orientation. Career-path counselling often is available.
Equally important, however, is honest self-analysis by overseas candidates and their families
Before seeking or accepting an assignment in another country, candidates should ask
themselves questions like these :
 Is my partner interrupting his or her own career path to support my career? Is that
acceptable to both of us?
 Is family separation for long periods involved?
• Can I initiate social contacts in a foreign culture?
• Can I adjust well to different environments and changes in personal comfort or quality of
living, such as the lack of television, petrol at $5 a litre, limited hot water, varied cuisine,
national phone strikes and warm beer?
• Can I manage my future re-entry into the job market by networking and maintaining
contacts in my home country?
Employees working overseas must adjust to all these conditions. Managers going global may
find their own management style' needs adjustment to succeed in a foreign country. One
aspect of this adjustment is learning the communication context of a foreign location.
Communication differences
People from some cultures tend to pay more attention to the social context (social setting, non
verbal behaviour, social status) of their verbal communication than Australians and other
Westerners do. For example, General Norman Schwarzkopf soon realised that social context
was of considerable importance to leaders of Saudi Arabia. During the initial buildup for the
Persian Gulf War, he suppressed his own tendency towards impatience and devoted hours to
'philosophising' with members of the Saudi royal family. Schwarzkopf realised it was their
way of making decisions.
Exhibit 13A-5 shows how the emphasis on social context varies among countries. In a high
context culture, people are sensitive to circumstances surrounding social exchanges. People
use communication primarily to build personal social relationships: meaning is derived from
context - setting status, non-verbal behaviour rather than from explicit words, relationships
and this are more important than business; and the welfare and harmony of the group are
valued. In a low-context culture, people use communication primarily to exchange facts and
information, meaning is derived primarily from words; business transactions are more
important than building relationships and trust; and individual welfare and achievement are
more important than the group.
 To understand how differences in cultural context affect communications, consider
the expression The squeaky wheel gets the oil.' It means that the loudest person will get the
most attention, and attention is assumed to be favourable. Equivalent sayings in China and
Japan are Quacking ducks get shor' and 'The nail that sticks up gets hammered down,
respectively. Standing out as an individual in these cultures clearly merits unfavourable
attention.
High-context cultures include Asian and Arab countries. Low-context cultures include
those of Australia, North America and Northern Europe. Cultural subgroups vary in the
extent to which context counts, explaining why differences among groups make successful
communication difficult. A high-context interaction requires more time because a
relationship has to be developed, and trust and friendship must be established. Furthermore,
most male managers and most people doing the hiring in organisations are from low-context
cultures, which conflicts with people entering the organisation from a background in a higher
context culture. Overcoming these differences in communication is a major goal of diversity
awareness training.
Benefits of valuing diversity
As a rule, organisations have not been highly successful in managing women and ethnic
minorities, as evidenced by higher turnover rates, higher absenteeism, lower job satisfaction
and general frustration over career development for these groups. Moreover, the fact that
women and minorities are clustered at lower organisation levels indicates they are not
progressing as far as they might and are not developing their full potential. Diversity in the
workplace is inevitable and provides many benefits for organisations. Organisations need
internal diversity to help them meet the needs of an increasingly diverse marketplace. With
the growing diversity of the population, formerly small market niches are becoming major
ones that many organisations want to pursue.
Another benefit from valuing diversity is the opportunity to develop employee and
organisational potential. This means higher morale, because people feel valued for what they
bring to the organisation. It also produces better relationships at work, because people acquire
the skills to recognise, understand and accept cultural differences. Developing employee
skills and valuing diversity have become a bottom-line business issue.
In addition, organisations that treat women and people from racial or ethnic minorities well
will be able to recruit the best employees those who are new to the workforce as well as
experienced employees from other organisations. Retaining these employees means a
qualified, trained workforce for the future. Demographics tell us that the labour market is
slowly tightening, and organisations that boast a healthy environment for women and
minorities will be in the best competitive position to attract and retain scarce employees.
When women and minorities experience prejudice and non-acceptance, reduced individual
and organisational productivity occurs because people do not feel valued and are not willing
to take risks for the organisation. Minority employees often leave the organisation out of
frustration if they feel their opportunities for career advancement are blocked.
Finally, diversity within the organisation provides a broader and deeper base of experience
for problem solving, creativity and innovation. For example, research shows that
heterogenecus teams produce more innovative solutions to problems than do homogeneous
teams. One reason is that people with diverse backgrounds bring different perspectives to
problem solving. In addition, when allowed an active role, minority employees can help
organisations grow and improve by challenging basic assumptions about the way the
organisation works.
Diversity is essential to the learning organisation, in which teams of workers that cross
functional boundaries are engaged regularly in identifying and solving problems. Employees
in learning organisations are encouraged to think, express divergent opinions and be creative
in order to help the organisation leam and change; a diverse mix of employees is a real plus in
this environment. One study found that organisations that rate highly on creativity and
innovation have a higher percentage of women and non-white male employees than less
innovative organisations. Hewlett-Packard, a company long known for innovation, makes a
strong commitment to diversity, as discussed in the Learning Organisation box. Competitive
pressures are challenging all managers to create organisational environments that support
diversity.
As one senior American executive said, 'In a country seeking competitive advantage in a
global economy, the goal of managing diversity is to develop our capacity to accept, incorpo
rate and empower the diverse human talents of the most diverse nation on earth. It is our
reality We need to make it our strength.
LEADING THE REVOLUTION: THE LEARNING ORGANISATION
The strength of diversity
Creating a diverse, inclusive workforce is a continuous process at Hewlett-Packard (H-P),
where managers see diversity as an opportunity to tap a broad range of human potential and
use it to keep learning, changing and growing. H-P's commitment to diversity began years
before equal employment opportunity or affirmative action guidelines required it. It is an
outgrowth of the company's founding values of treating each employee with dignity and
respect.
However, after a survey revealed that many women and employees of colour did not feel they
had equal opportunities at H-P, company managers involved all employees in a complete
examination of H-P's work environment. By involving all employees, managers avoided the
problem of issuing a 'diversity directive that did not have the support of line managers. In
addition, participation ensured that the real needs of employees were addressed. Today, H-P's
diversity strategy recognises many aspects of diversity, including race, gender, culture, age,
economic status, sexual orientation and physical ability. The emphasis on employee
involvement has continued, with the formation of employee network groups that represent
various minority groups in the organisation. Workers also are involved in discussing diversity
issues at coffee talks, task forces, diversity councils, conferences and regular team meetings.
Supporting diversity is ingrained in the culture at H-P. Managers and other workers are
encouraged to challenge norms and biases and address inappropriate language or behaviour.
Often, those who do so are rewarded by the company for being 'diversity champions. Another
key to a successful diversity program at H-P is ensuring management leadership and
involvement. Senior managers representing all of H-P's businesses develop and drive
diversity initiatives worldwide. However, top managers then cascade responsibility and
accountablity for diversity success to all managers and employees through performance plans
and evaluations. Diversity objectives are of major importance in staffing activities and
decisions. When hiring new people, a diverse interviewing team is considered equally as
important as a diverse slate of candidates. This helps to ensure that minority candidates have
equal opportunities to move into higher management positions. In addition, H-P sponsors a
unique mentoring program to make sure 'supporting diversity' is more than talk. The program
matches minority employees with higher level managers, who are evaluated on their mentee's
progress. Many participants in the program move into higher-level jobs in the company. The
company also supports and funds a number of other employee development and job
enrichment opportunities and assignments for minority employees. As a learning
organisation, H.PiS continually striving to create an environment where everyone feels
valued and included.