English Presentation

Group 08
(BSIT)

Submitted to:
Maam Sana Sadiq

Submitted by:
 Muhammad Hamad (bsf24002938)
 Mansoor Ayaz Khan (bsf24002956)
 Salman Mustafa (bsf24002936)
 Shoaib Akhtar (bsf24002954)
 (Cultural Awareness;Understanding Diversity at workplace)

Introduction:

Culture is what shapes us, it is the reason we have certain beliefs, influences
how we behave and is what gives us our identity. Cultural diversity is the representation of
different cultural and ethnic groups in society. Workplaces are today becoming more diverse as
people from different backgrounds continue to work for organizations from all over the world.
Employees embrace cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity, and thus they have different
insights and experiences. This scenario should be embraced as the standard for diversity in the
workforce and as the reality through which any organization ought to go if it has to excel in its
endeavor to foster a coherent and efficient work force. A complete understanding of aspects such
as cultural differences avails cultural sensitivity as a significant component of making it happen.
This note looks at the topic of ethnicity, terms of appreciating diversity, the problem with
differences and how to manage it, and the role of corporate multiculturalism.

Cultural Sensitivity as a Foreign Language Classroom Parameter:

Therefore, cultural
sensitivity is important because it is a clear key to communication and working with people.
They can help people who work within the organization learn about their own cultural
assumptions and how those assumptions may systematically shape their behaviors. By
cultivating cultural awareness, organizations can:

1. Enhance Communication: Communication is done differently among people from

different cultures and this may lead to conflict. For instance, some cultures may be
pleased by the simplicity of the message passing through the media and the avoidance of
the obvious message, while others would prefer a more indirect message. When these
differences are known, conflicts can be avoided and communication can be made more
efficient.

2. Promote Inclusivity: Adherence to the diversity policies creates an organizational

culture of diversity; hence, this organization is sensitive to the needs of all its employees.
This in turn helps in bringing in more satisfaction and then loyalty with the business by
the employees.
 3. Boost Creativity and Innovation: Cohesiveness means that higher levels of diverse
thinking develop from substantive differences in thoughts and ideas faculties that bring
about creativity and innovations. The case is that employees need to think that their
contributions are valued, and this makes them share more.

4. Improve Employee Performance: It’s inherent that people would go extra miles and
deliver better results in organizations that embrace, recognize, and appreciate them,
organizations that understand and fulfill their needs. Cultural awareness at the workplace
helps in enabling the organization to determine the capability and ability of all the people
of diverse cultures.

5. Enhance Customer Relations: Since people from different cultures have their own
unique way of perceiving things, the knowledge of such peculiarities will help to act
better in any organization to maintain good relations with clients. Cultural awareness
facilitates the ability of the employees to relate with the majority of the customers in the
market.

Understanding Diversity:

Diversity encompasses various dimensions, including but not limited

to:

1. Race and Ethnicity: Those originating from different races and ethnicities have different
views, cultures, and even actions. This book is aimed at revealing these tendencies in
order to improve teamwork.

2. Gender and Sexual Orientation: Sex and sexual orientation come under diversity,
which plays an essential part in matters concerning organizational and employee
characteristics and experiences.

3. Age: It can impact the dynamics of dealing with information and technology, the manner
of working, and the vision of technology.
 4. Socioeconomic Status: Meaningful employment relationships are critical across
significant, noticeable living standards variations that employees bring in as a result of
their socionic backgrounds.

5. Disability: It will be necessary to understand the troubles found in the workplace by

persons with a disability and establish the right environment for integrating such people
into the team.

6. Cultural Norms and Values: Every culture can be described with certain values, beliefs,
and norms, which may influence employees’s behavior. This kind of difference should be
recognized in an effort to foster a team at a close and corporate level.

Advantages of Being Diverse:

Organizations that embrace diversity and cultural awareness

enjoy several key benefits:

1. Enhanced problem-solving: It is widely believed that because diverse teams can see
issues in a variety of ways, solutions from diverse teams are more effective. For instance,
a project team that is represented by people from different cultural backgrounds may
produce a vast number of ideas compared to the team with a similar cultural background.

2. Improved Company Reputation: It was found that companies that support diversity and
inclusion are generally perceived more positively by individuals acting in their customer
and employee capacities. The positive reputation can cause improvement in business
conditions, as indicated in the research above.

3. Increased Employee Engagement: From the influence outlined above, one can deduce
that an organization with diversity at work is more likely to create better participation
rates among employees. This is for the reason that employees who experience
incorporated respect from their organizational leaders have a tendency to be more
committed to the organization.
 4. Attraction of Talent: Multicultural Workforce: An organization that tries to attract the
best talent wants to be a melting pot for all. Employees today are looking for
organizations that are aligned to their beliefs, and this includes diversity.

5. Global Competitiveness: In today’s economic environment, those firms that learn to

utilize cultural differences are likely to succeed in an international market. Culture-savvy,
on the other hand, can help an organization counter cross-cultural complexities.

Realities that Threaten Cultural Sensitivity:

While the benefits of cultural awareness are clear,

organizations often face challenges in achieving it.

1. Unconscious Bias: Subtle prejudice may be built into some staff, and they will not know
how to treat specific ethnicities or races. These are biases that one needs to be aware of so
as to combat them if one wants to be tolerant of all the different people in the society.

2. Resistance to Change: It is possible that certain employees will not want to accept
diversity because it brings unknowns and may be uncomfortable with different thinking.
This resistance can prove to be an obstacle to culture change interventions.

3. Lack of Training: They discovered that there is often little emphasis put on learning
about cultural sensitivity in the workplace, such that employees are not prepared for
diverse interactions. It is crucial to pursue cultures in an ongoing manner and acquire a
culture of training to create a multicultural staff.

4. Miscommunication: When people have different ways of interacting, it can cause issues
and rifts. There should be practices for training employees to identify communication
styles and how to deal with them.
 5. Cultural Stereotypes: That is the reason why prejudices on definite cultures may
produce stereotyping and discrimination. Of course, more attention should be paid to
destroying these stereotyped attitudes and spreading tolerance and acceptance.

Best Practices of Culturally Sensitive Learning:

To cultivate cultural awareness and promote

diversity in the workplace, organizations can adopt several strategies:

1. Training and Education: Multicultural training should be conducted often to ensure that
they are aware of their biases, build knowledge of the other cultures, and practice on how
to derive means to interact with the other cultures among the employees. It seems that
workshops, seminars, and online courses can be used in the acquisition of this kind of
knowledge.

2. Encourage open dialogue: Making the workers feel comfortable sharing with others
their stories regarding issues of culture should help avoid stereotyping. Provide the
mechanism for continuous communicating with the team members through meetings,
forums, or diversity councils.

3. Celebrate Diversity: Organizations also need to embrace the culture in their business by
holding cultural events, cultural activities, and cultural celebrations. Besides enhancing
the sense of belonging, it also orients the workers on varied cultures.

4. Implement inclusive policies: To increase the scale of diversity, there is a need to set up
a baseline that forms policies that encourage the corporation. An example is equal
employment opportunity, cultural sensitivity, and a policy on diversity with stipulations
for time off on cultural holidays and disability accommodations.

5. Mentorship Programs: Introducing and encouraging systemic openness, which will

include pairing employees of a different cultural background for purposes of mentorship.
This means that through mentorship, employees will be encouraged to gain understanding
and knowledge from each other.
 6. Diverse Recruitment Practices: There is usually a need for having a more diverse staff,
and therefore the need to consider multiple strategies to recruit from those particular
groups. This includes expanding the sourcing methods, multiple interviewer technique,
and emphasizing skills instead of culture agreement.

7. Feedback Mechanisms: Voice being collected systematically from the employees to

review the experience makes it easier for the organizations to identify areas to work on.
From exit polls, focus group discussions, and suggestion boxes, information required on
what employees think of diversity efforts is obtained.

8. Lead by Example: An organization’s social culture can most significantly be driven by

leaders. Managers should support diversity, act diversely, and ensure that colleagues act
diversely and engage in pro-diversity actions.

Conclusion:

Culture sensitivity is not a gimmick; it is an essential part of the workplace. As

culture and diversity are recognized and appreciated, it is possible to create a working
environment in which everyone, regardless of sex, race, or nationality, feels that he or she is an
important and valuable part of the company. Although some barriers exist, the positive impacts
of developing an organization’s cultural intelligence are way more than the barriers. By
orienting, communicating, and providing organizational developmental resources, leaders of
organizations should also strive to encourage mutuality that fosters teamwork, creativity, and
effectiveness in organizations. Given globalization as the major factor in the current business
environment, it goes without saying that cultural competency is not a luxury any longer but
rather a necessity in today’s working environment.