Cultural Diversity Case Study

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Cultural Diversity Case Study

Setting relevant goals is a significant challenge for students developing their career plans. A career is
something that an individual feels passionate about and intends to pursue enjoyment and professional
practice. However, an individual must set goals in order to have successful careers. This implies that the
inability to come up with appropriate goals could affect the career planning process. An individual must
have a clear understanding of the short term goals and the long term goals they intend to achieve in the
course of their career (McKenzie, Coldwell – Neilson & Palmer, 20170. This why students must take the
extra step of seeking guidance from career planners in order to come up with goals that resonate with
their career field, their personal, and professional ambitions.

Race is one of the cultural and diversity issues that are associated with Scott. Race is one of the major
factors that determine the career path of most people in the United States. As much as issues such as
discrimination are battled in the American community, the aspect of ethnic privilege still exists. After
release from prison, it is possible that Scott would get a job because of his ethnic privilege. The White
community is one of the most established communities living in the United States (Lundberg, Pollak &
Stearns, 2016). This makes it easier for the members of this community to leverage their resources to
help the less fortunate within their community. However, education is another culture and diversity
issue related to Scott’s condition. Considering that he dropped out of school at 10 th grade, it might be a
challenge to get a job with such a low academic experience.

Gender, culture, and education are the main societal norms that could impact Scott’s career
development efforts. Being a man, Scott stands a better chance of developing a career. This is because
he is exposed to many career options that would be less accommodative for a woman. Belonging to the
White culture would also boost Scott in his career development efforts. It would be easier to develop a
career as a White man out of prison compared to a Black man out of prison for ten years. This is because
the White community has a strong support system for its members (Lundberg et al. 2016). On the other
hand, Scott's low academic experience would negatively affect his career development efforts.
Regardless of other positive factors, most employers in the modern job market require individuals with
proper qualifications and some experience.

The issue of gender and career development would mostly affect Scott's mental health and life roles. As
a man, Scott is projected in a certain way when it comes to career development. There are specific roles
associated with men that Scott would have to undertake. Scott's gender would also affect his mental
health if he fails to get the appropriate career, yet other people look up to him as a man. The aspect of
culture would significantly affect Scott's mental health and relationship with others. The cultural norms
in the United States depict a negative impression of people who have served a jail term. This implies
that many people would have a difficult time relating to Scott. Eventually, this could have a significant
impact on his mental health due to isolation. The aspect of education would affect both Scott’s mental
health, relationship with others, and life roles. With such a low level of education, there are various
roles that Scot would not pursue in his career. The fact that Scott would interact among other people
with a higher educational level could affect his mental health due to discouragement. Seemingly, some
people would feel uncomfortable relating to someone who dropped out of school at such a lower level.

Gender, education, and culture both affect the decision of making career goals. Education is one of the
critical factors that define career goals. Individuals with a higher educational experience are likely to set
higher career goals that they can attain compared to individuals with a lower level of education. Culture
has a lower impact on defining career goals. An individual's culture hardly determines what they intend
to achieve in the course of their career. However, gender also plays an important role in defining career
goals. This is due to the perceived roles of men and women in the society (Karim, Lindberg, Wamala &
Emelin, 2017). As a man, Scott would have to set career goals that meet these societal expectations.

Biases and assumptions can have a significant impact on the career counseling process. These elements,
from the perspective of the counselor, would affect the counselor's objectiveness during the counseling
sessions. The counselor would provide information that he believes is true rather than information that
resonates with the client's condition. Seemingly, biases and assumptions from the perspective of the
client would affect the client's ability to follow the advice that is provided by the counselor. The best
way to avoid the impacts of biases and assumptions is through direct interaction. The counselor must be
able to ask questions and clarifications from the client as well as the client (Karanicolas, Farrokhyar &
Bhandari, 2010). This would enable them to clear some of the contentious issues that could cause
biases.

Biases ns assumptions mostly manifest when dealing with a larger population. This is because different
members of the audience have different opinions on the issues addressed. Creating awareness is the
best way to avoid such biases and assumptions when dealing with masses. Creating awareness would
enable these individuals to understand the main objective of the counseling process and what they
stand to gain at the end. Showing them that the counseling process intends to help them address their
issues would cause them to listen (Holroyd, 2015). However, the awareness campaigns should also
target the main counseling issue.

Just like other people, I also have biases, especially when addressing a large number of people. Masses
are made up of people from different cultures and different backgrounds. This makes it easier to
knowingly or unknowingly portray biases regarding some of the people in the audience. Research is the
best way I would use to avoid biases and assumptions in such situations. Through research, I would be
able to learn a lot about the people who are part of the congregation. I would learn about their cultural
beliefs and expectations when I address them. Through this, I would be able to ascertain the best
approach I can take with them without giving in to my biases and assumptions (Jung, 2015). However, it
is also important to interact with some of the people in the audience in order to ascertain if I have other
biases that I do not recognize. This implies that counseling is not an easy task. It is more than a simple
presentation in front of a group of people. It is important to consider how the people would perceive
what you tell them.
References

Holroyd, J. (2015). Implicit bias, awareness, and imperfect cognitions. Conscious and Cognition; Vol. 33.

Jung, Y. (2015). Post Stereotypes: Deconstructing Racial Assumptions and Biases through Visual Culture
and Confrontational Pedagogy. Studies in Art Education, 56:3, 214-227, DOI:
10.1080/00393541.2015.11518964

Karanicolas, P. J., Farrokhyar, F., & Bhandari, M. (2010). Practical tips for surgical research: blinding:
who, what, when, why, how?. Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie, 53(5), 345–
348.

Karim, R., Lindberg, L., Wamala, S., & Emmelin, M. (2018). Men’s Perceptions of Women’s
Participation in Development Initiatives in Rural Bangladesh. American Journal of Men’s Health,
398–410. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988317735394

Lundberg, S., Pollak, R. A., & Stearns, J. (2016). Family Inequality: Diverging Patterns in Marriage,
Cohabitation, and Childbearing. The journal of economic perspectives : a journal of the American
Economic Association, 30(2), 79–102. doi:10.1257/jep.30.2.79

McKenzie, S., Coldwell-Neilson, J., & Palmer, S. (2017). Informing the career development of IT
students by understanding their career aspirations and skill development action plans. Australian
Journal of Career Development, 26(1), 14–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/1038416217697972