Zeke Smith

Intercultural Communication Guide for the Engineering Workplace: U.S. Latinos

Introduction:

Intercultural communication is an inevitable and crucial experience in almost any

workplace. With demographic changes in the U.S. leading to the Latino population skyrocketing

within this country, it is vital that employees and employers educate themselves on how to

overcome intercultural communication barriers to better accommodate the needs of Latino

employees, customers, and students aspiring to enter the workforce. As it pertains to the field of

engineering, effective intercultural communication between Latinos and non-Latinos is critical

on the basis that it can improve workplace safety, promote understanding between fellow

employees and customers, and change the demographic of the engineering workforce to more

equitably reflect the demographics of the nation. This guide will discuss how culturally

competent communication may help address these three issues in the field of engineering.

Safety Hazards:

Background:

• The engineering workplace is one with inherent safety hazards. Most engineers work

with and supervise those who operate heavy machinery that yield significant safety risks.

• Studies have linked higher rates of workplace injuries and fatalities to those of Latino

ethnicity, including data released by the CDC in 2008, which showed that Latinos

workers experience a workplace-death rate of 5.0 for every 100,000 workers, as

compared to a rate of 4.0 for white non-Latino workers (Cieprich, 2008).

• Many factors play into these discrepancies. Engineers, whose job it is to ensure

workplace safety, need to make themselves aware of differences that contribute to these

rates in order to improve workplace safety for U.S. Latinos.

Factors:

• “Machismo” is a common Hispanic cultural trait in which men experience an

expectation that they must display a sense of masculine pride and self-reliance. As a

result, male Latinos in the workplace may be less likely to ask for assistance or direction

when handling hazardous tasks, which can increase risk factors leading to potential

injuries.

• Power distance is another cultural trait that can inhibit intercultural communication,

hence producing safety hazards. Latino cultures generally have higher power distance,

meaning people in subordinate positions are expected not to approach or question their

superiors. As a result, Latinos in the workplace may be less likely to seek counsel from

superiors in terms of safest practices on job sites, and they also may be more willing to

take blame for injuries or follow through with unsafe orders so as not to upset the

hierarchical order by questioning or challenging superiors.

• Language barriers are one of the most prominent factors that contribute to work place

injuries for Latinos, as non-English speaking Latinos are more prone to misunderstand

safety guidelines and procedures than English speaking employees.

Addressing the Issue:

• There are a number of steps that can be taken on both an individual and company-wide

basis in order to mitigate the higher safety risks faced by Latino employees.
 • By maintaining awareness of Latino employees’ potential tendency to exhibit high power

distance behaviors, engineers can make use of this knowledge to reduce safety hazards by

encouraging communication. From the standpoint of a supervisor of Latino workers, this

means being intentional about facilitating discussion and regularly checking in to ensure

safety policies are understood by all employees. An engineering supervisor should not

assume that an employee, particularly a Latino employee, understands safety procedures

simply because they don’t ask questions about the subject. Rather, the supervisor should

be intentional about asking their subordinates questions directly to ensure all is

understood, as Latino employees are likely to expect their supervisor to approach them

rather than the converse.

• Another appropriate strategy to minimize risk is to create open lines of feedback from

employees in regards to safety perception. Ideally, there should be indirect ways for

employees to provide feedback such as safety surveys. This allows Latino employees to

state concerns if they are uncomfortable with directly approaching supervisors.

• From a company-wide standpoint, language barriers must be acknowledged and

accommodated, especially when it comes to safety training. It is imperative that

employers provide safety training and guidelines in languages understandable by all

employees, including Latinos. This will promote understanding of safety practices among

non-English speaking Latinos and better equip them to handle hazardous situations.

Ethnic Disparities:

Background:

• In 2013, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering published data

showing that while Latinos make up around 17% of the total U.S. population, only
 approximately 8% of bachelor’s degrees in engineering were earned by Latinos

(NACME, 2013).

• A number of factors contribute to these disparities, including Latino cultures’ tendency to

exhibit high uncertainty avoidance. Because of this cultural factor, Latino students can be

more likely to follow in the paths of their parents. Due to their own cultural tendencies as

well as pressure placed on them by their parents to stick with what is familiar, Latino

students may be less likely to pursue a higher education that will equip them for a career

in engineering.

Addressing the Issue:

• In order to overcame this gap, it is the duty of engineering employers to make efforts to

increase diversity in the workplace. The most basic way to accomplish this, is to be

intentional about promoting diversity when hiring new engineers.

• In order to address this problem from a systemic level though, companies must approach

the issue from the ground up. This means working with students from a relatively early

age to increase awareness about career options in the field of engineering. Companies

should host educational workshops and events for Latino students and their parents to

learn about engineering careers, in order to broaden their perspectives. By allowing

students and parents to familiarize themselves with career options in engineering,

uncertainty on the subject will be reduced, so students may be more likely to pursue

engineering careers with the support of their parents.

• Another concrete strategy that employers can use to bridge the gap between Latinos and

non-Latinos in engineering, is to provide economic support to Latino families with

students that want to pursue a career in engineering. The best way to do this is by offering
 scholarships for Latino students that pursue higher education in engineering. Financial

struggles are a huge barrier that prevent many Latinos from pursuing higher education

required to become an engineer. By providing scholarships, companies can create

incentive that will benefit individual families as well as the entire engineering community

by promoting diversity and inclusion for the under-represented Latino population.

Managing General Cultural Communication Barriers:

• A lot can be done to improve engineering workplace communication between Latinos

and non-Latinos. This guide has already established some of the cultural barriers that

inhibit effective communication, such as cultural differences in power distance and

uncertainty avoidance. The following are general tips on how to be mindful of these

differences in order to enhance communication across cultures in the field of engineering.

• Avoid using figures of speech that may not be common across cultures or languages, as

employees or customers of different cultures may fail to understand such expressions

which could cause feelings of isolation.

• When providing directions or explanations, be thorough and deliberate with wording.

Ensure that your explanation or instructions explain exhaustively how to complete the

designated task and that wording allows minimal room for misunderstanding.

• Wherever possible, try to communicate in person rather than over technology such as

email. In-person interaction allows for meaning to be conveyed more effectively, because

it includes nonverbal communication which is often more universal than verbal

communication. In-person communication also allows for misunderstandings to be

communicated and corrected more efficiently than when communicating electronically.

Sources:

Al-Bayati, Ahmed Jalil, et al. “Managing Cultural Diversity at U.S. Construction Sites: Hispanic
Workers’ Perspectives.” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, vol. 143,
no. 9, 2017.

Cieprich, H., et al. (2008, June 6). Work-Related Injury Deaths Among Hispanics --- United
States, 1992--2006. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5722a1.htm

Gilkey, David, et al. Comparative Analysis of Safety Culture & Risk Perceptions Among Latino
& Non-Latino Workers in the Construction Industry, June 2013.

NACME, inc. NACME 2013 Data Book, NACME, 2013.