Transcript DIVERSITY AT WORK

DIVERSITY AT WORK
A Cross-Cultural Training Manual for
Literacy Tutors, Volunteers and
Practitioners
May, 2000
RESEARCHED AND PRODUCED BY THE CANADIAN CENTRE ON MINORITY AFFAIRS WITH
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM THE NATIONAL LITERACY SECRETARIAT.
EDITOR AVRIL ROBINSON
Agenda
•
Section A Introduction and
Objectives
- Workshop Objectives
•
Section B Diversity At Work
- What diversity means
- Why diversity is an
important issue
- Demographic change
- A new client base
- Diversity on literacy
organizations
NOTES
• Section C –
Dynamics Of Culture
- What is culture
- Why culture is important
- Caveats about culture
- Cultural diversity
- Understanding Cultural
Conditioning
• Section D –
Action Steps
- Implications for Tutors
- Next Steps
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Section A
Introduction
And Objectives
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Introduction
Increased diversity of client base
All tutors are affected
Effective interaction with diverse people essential to
achieve work objectives
Greater awareness and understanding of diversity needed
to meet the challenge
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Workshop Objectives
To assist tutors to better understand the culture
values and beliefs of their clients as well as their
own beliefs and values
To increase awareness of the impact of cultural
differences on behaviors and expectations of clients
and tutors
To identify ways in which tutors can improve
communication with clients from diverse
backgrounds to better achieve vocational
rehabilitation objectives
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Section B
Diversity
At Work
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What Diversity Means
Inborn/hard to change
Impact early learning,
values/beliefs
Shape self image and
world view
Condition access and
opportunities
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Secondary Dimensions
of Diversity
Work Background
Education
Functional Status
Parental Status
Geographic Location
Religious Beliefs
Sexual Orientation
Marital Status
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Why Is Understanding Diversity
Important?
The traditional client base has changed
Diversity has an impact on the client-tutor
relationship
Failure to adapt to change =lower learning
effectiveness
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Understanding Diversity Means
Creating an environment in which:
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Client needs can be accurately assessed
Learning objectives can be achieved
Cultural and other differences are not barriers to
good client-tutor relations
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The Context: Significant
Demographic Change
A new client base
More women
More immigrants
More cultural, racial, linguistic and religious diversity
Different values and beliefs
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Your New Client Base
Women as % of Labour Force- Canada
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Your New Client Base
Immigrants in Canadian Cities
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Your New Client Base
Top Ten Source Countries for
Immigration 1981-1991
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Total
Hong Kong
Poland
P.R. of China
India
United Kingdom
Vietnam
Philippines
United States
Portugal
Lebanon
Number
96,540
77,455
75,840
73,105
71,365
69,520
64,290
55,415
35,440
34,065
1,238,455
%
7.8
6.3
6.1
5.9
5.8
5.6
5.2
4.5
2.9
2.8
100.00
Source: Statistics Canada, 1991 Census of Canada
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Your New Client Base
Visible Minorities in Canadian Cities
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Your New Client Base
Destination of Immigrants to Canada
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Representation of Key Client
Groups - 1991
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Demographic Bottom Line
Female, minority and aboriginal clients will be an
increasing part of your caseload to the year 2000 and
beyond
Client expectations will differ significantly from the
past
Teaching approaches will have to be examined and
modified
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Diversity At Work
Small Group Exercise
Make notes about aspects of diversity that you have
experienced at teaching. Give examples of how this has
affected you as a tutor. Talk about this in your small
groups.
Aspects of Diversity
1.
Genderneutral structure
2.
Race
3.
Age
4.
Ethnicity
5.
Language
6.
Religion
7.
Education/Learning
8.
Work Experience
9.
Other
Examples of Affects on Teaching
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Diversity At Work
Small Group Exercise
Questions:
1. How has diversity affected the way you think
about and behave with clients?
2. What advantages and disadvantages have
resulted from this diversity?
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Diversity At Work
Advantages and Disadvantages of Group
Diversity
Advantages
Disadvantages
Diversity Permits Increased
Creativity
Diversity Causes Lack of
Cohesion
• Wider range of perspectives
• More and better ideas
• Less “groupthink”
• Mistrust
• Lower interpersonal attractiveness
• Stereotyping
Diversity Forces Enhanced
Concentration to
Understand Others’
• More within-culture conversations
• Ideas
• Meanings
• Arguments
• Miscommunication
• Slower speech ( non-native speakers) and
translation problems
• Less accurate
• Stress
• More counterproductive behaviour
• Less disagreement on content
• Tension
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Diversity At Work
Advantages and Disadvantages of Group
Diversity
Advantages
Disadvantages
Increased creativity
Can Lead to
Lack of Cohesion Causes
Inability to
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Better problem definitions
More alternatives
Better solutions
Better decisions
Groups Can Become
• More effective
• More productive
•
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Validate ideas and people
Agree when agreement is needed
Gain consensus on decisions
Take concerted action
Groups Can Become
• Less efficient
• Less effective
• Less productive
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Section C
Dynamics
Of Culture
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What is Culture?
Collective conditioning of thought and behaviour
which distinguishes one human group from
another
The sum of the common characteristics that
influences what a group believes and values, and
how it thinks and behaves in response to its
environment
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What is Culture?
Something shared by all or almost all members
of a group
Something that older members of the group pass
on to younger members
Something that structures perceptions of the
world and shapes behaviour
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What is Culture?
A complex whole that includes
•Knowledge
•Belief
•Art
•Law
•Values/morals
•Customs
•Habits
•Capabilities
•Individual and
group identity
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Why is Culture Important?
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Why is Culture Important?
Values
• People express culture through the views they hold about
what’s important about life and the world around them
Attitudes
• What people see as important affects what they think and
how they react to a given situation
Behaviour
• What people think and how they react to a situation
determines how they will behave
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Why is Culture Important?
Learning how to act and how to
expect others to act
Provides a world view which affects:
•How people see themselves as individuals and members of a group
•What’s considered right and wrong
•How authority is viewed
•How comfortable people are interacting outside the group
•How much feelings and emotions are shown publicly and privately
•How important education is
•Which career or work is chosen
•What appropriate roles are for women and men
•How direct or indirect people are in communication
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Cultural Conditioning
Learning how to act in society and how to expect
others to act
Four stages of cultural conditioning
• 0-7 years: Imprinting. Behaviour patterns are established through
association with significant people in our lives. We observe and adopt
the behaviours of those who surround us.
• 8-13 years: Co-modelling. We take on the behaviour characteristics
of those we admire, a form of hero worship.
• 14-20 years: Peer group influence. We strive to be part of the “in
crowd” and adopt those behaviours perceived to be acceptable to this
group.
• 21+ years: Significant emotional event. Behaviour change is a
result of some traumatic event that alters the established view of the
world.
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Cultural Conditioning
Imprinting

An individual’s family preferences
become the unquestioned values
of children at this age
Co-Modelling
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Peer Group
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Significant

A conscious effort to seek out
and emulate the characteristics
of others
Constantly challenging and
purposefully shedding
Mostly established
Transition

The exclusionary patterns learned
as children become conditioned
reflexes of adults
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Caveats About Culture
Everyone is part of a culture where certain
behaviours are favoured and others are not
There is diversity within cultures
There are similarities between cultures
Cultural conditioning is an ongoing process
Cultural perspectives are limiting
• Appreciate what is familiar
• Judge critically what is different
Some cultural learning is misinformation
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Key Points
Identify your own cultural biases
Avoid stereotyping
• Culture helps explain group attitudes and behaviour, but
not all of the group all of the time
Experience and study are needed to understand the roots
and assumptions of any culture
Working cross-culturally requires an open mind and flexible
behaviour
Some cultural beliefs and assumptions have to be unlearned
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Understanding Cultural
Conditioning
Ten Aspects of Culture
1. Sense of self and space
• Proximity
• Familiarity
• Formality
4. Food and eating habits
• Religious rules
• Taboos
• Practices
2. Communication and
language
• Non-verbal
• Direct vs. Indirect
• Gestures
3. Dress and appearance
• Purpose: status symbols vs.
Self-expression
• Hair and head covering
• Body odour
5. Time and time
conscious
• Linear and finite vs. elastic
and relative
• Tasks vs. relationships
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Understanding Cultural
Conditioning
Ten Aspects of Culture (continued)
6. Relationships
• Family role and structure
7. Values and norms
• Individual freedom and
achievement and harmony
• Competition vs. cooperation
• Privacy
• Loyalty to abstractions vs.
Individuals
• How respect is shown
8. Beliefs and attitudes
• Religious beliefs
• Roles of women and men
• Authority
9. Mental processes and learning
• In control vs. fate and luck
• Logical cause and effect vs.
intuition and holistic thinking
• Learning style
10. Work habits
• Work as a calling vs.
a necessary evil
• Status of different kinds of work
• Value placed on different kinds
of rewards
• Initiative and self-direction vs.
do as directed
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Understanding Cultural
Conditioning
Comparing Ten Aspects of Culture
Aspects of
Culture
Mainstream North
American Culture
Other
Cultures
1. Sense of self
and space
Informal
Handshake
Formal
Hugs, bows, handshakes
2. Communication
and language
Explicit, direct
communication
Emphasis on contentmeaning found in words
Implicit, indirect
communication
Emphasis on contentmeaning found around
words
3. Dress and
appearance
“Dress for success” ideal;
wide range in accepted
dress
Dress seen as a sign of
position, wealth,
prestige; religious rites
4. Food and
eating habits
Eating as a necessityfast food
Dining as a social
experience; religious rites
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Understanding Cultural
Conditioning
Comparing Ten Aspects of Culture ( continued)
Aspects of
Culture
Mainstream North
American Culture
Other
Cultures
5. Time and time
consciousness
Linear and exact time
consciousness
Value on promptnesstime= money
Elastic and relative time
consciousness
Time spent on enjoyment
of relationships
6. Relationships,
family, friends
Focus on nuclear family
Responsibility for self
Value on youth, age seen
as handicap
Focus on extended family
Loyalty and responsibility
to family
Age given status and respect
7. Values and
norms
Individual orientation
Independence
Preference for direct
confrontation of conflict
Group orientation
Conformity
Preference for harmony
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Understanding Cultural
Conditioning
Comparing Ten Aspects of Culture ( continued)
Aspects of
Culture
Mainstream North
American Culture
Other
Cultures
8. Beliefs and
attitudes
Egalitarian; challenging
of authority
Individuals control their
destiny
Gender equity
Hierarchical; respect for
authority and social order
Individuals accept their
destiny
Different roles for men and
women
9. Mental
processes and
learning style
Linear, logical, sequential Lateral, holistic, simultaneous
Problem-solving focus
Accepting of life’s difficulties
Emphasis on relationships
10. Work habits
and practices
Emphasis on task
Rewards based on
individual achievement
Work has intrinsic value
Rewards based on seniority,
relationships
Work is a necessity of life
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Hife Grid
Four Primary Cultures
Group
Rules
Group Boundaries
High
High
Low
Hierarchical
Institutionalized authority
Each person has their role
Inequality based on differences at birth
Group more important than the individual
Decisions made for group well- being
Work an expression of group solidarity
Orientation toward the past
Egalitarian
Authority by consent
Anyone can perform any role
Inequality based on difference is minimized
Both individual and group are important
Decisions are negotiated to achieve
“win-win”
Work benefits individual and society
Present and future orientation
Individualistic
Self-regulation is the ideal
Roles are self-determined
Inequality based on survival of the fittest
Individual more important than the group
Decisions benefit individual interests
Work is for personal gain
Orientation toward the present
Fatalistic
Authority lies outside the group
Roles are assigned
Inequality based on distance from power
Group more important than the individual
Decisions are based on rules that can’t be
changed
Work is a necessary evil
Orientation toward the future
Low
High
Low
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Cultural Proverbs
“A nail that sticks up is hammered down”
“It’s every man for himself”
“All for one and one for all”
“What will be, will be”
“God willing”
“It’s not whether you win or lose it’s how you play the game”
“Might makes right”
“Live and let live”
“Respect your elders”
“Some live to work, I work to live”
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Small Group Exercise
Apply your understanding about differences in cultural conditioning to
your own situation. Analyze your own conditioning in each of the ten
areas; then analyze what you think one particular client’s conditioning has
been.
Aspects of Culture
Cultural Conditioning
YOU
Cultural Conditioning
YOUR CLIENT
1. Sense of self and
space
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2. Communication
and language
3. Dress and
appearance
4. Food and eating
habits
5. Time and time
consciousness
6. Relationships,
family, friends
7. Values and norms
8. Beliefs and attitudes
9. Mental processes
and learning style
10. Work habits and
practices
Questions
1.
Which areas where there have been differences in cultural
conditioning and expectations may be causing problems?
2.
How could you use this information to overcome some of
these cultural barriers?
3.
What are you willing to do or expect differently in order to
clear up any misunderstandings or erroneous assumptions?
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Cross-Cultural Hot Buttons
Discounting or refusing to deal with women
Speaking in a language other than English
Bringing whole family/children to classes
Refusal to shake hands with women
No nonverbal feedback (lack of facial expression)
No eye contact
Soft, “dead fish” handshake
Standing too close when talking
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Cross-Cultural Hot Buttons
(cont’d)
Heavy accent or limited English facility
Coming late to classes or being unavailable
Withholding or not volunteering necessary information
Not taking initiative to ask questions
Calling/not calling you by your first name
Emphasizing formal titles in addressing people
Unwillingness to make quick decisions
Offering “foreign” food and beverages
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Section D
Action
Steps
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Implications for Tutors
Understanding where you and your client are coming from
can enable you to find better ways to support and motivate
your clients and use the teaching relationship more effectively
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Next Steps
Enhance your ability to recognize, describe and understand
the differences you encounter
Become aware of your own assumptions and stereotypes
without allowing them to limit your expectations and actions
Develop ways to modify your own thinking and behaviour to
meet client and organizational needs
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