Cultural Diversity Worldwide Telecommunication example essay topic

Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. Prepares for Cultural DiversityVrenda Michelle CampbellEnikimberly Avery James Dickey Amy DombergerDamion Moser University of Phoenix COMM/215 Robert Hughes April 18, 2005 Abstract Worldwide Telecommunication, Incorporated (Inc.) is a growing telecommunications company that has an international workforce which changes continuously. As the company's international personnel base expands, the needs of the employees will vary and become more diverse. As new employees come aboard, the organization will see that not all workers have the same requirements or requests. Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. must be able to fulfill the needs of staff at all levels regardless of any potential cultural barriers. Whether the employees' needs are basic or complex, Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. is positioning itself for the challenge.

Prepares for Cultural Diversity Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. is an innovative company which offers communication solutions to customers all over the world. Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. provides long-distance service and equipment, cellular phones, satellite TV, computers, pagers, calling cards, email, voicemail, wireless services, web services, and more. Due to global availability of the offered products and services, the company has determined the need to employ a universal workforce. Multicultural workforce will allow Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. to effectively operate and service all customers both locally and internationally. As an equal opportunity-employer, the company employs individuals regardless of their ethnicity, creed, gender, or social class. However, the common element of all employees is that they possess the required skills, knowledge, and experience to carry out the job requirements.

As a result, the mixture of multicultural barriers does affect teamwork and communication within our large company. The culturally connected obstacles range from language barriers to individual selective perception. Throughout the course of this paper, we will analyze these barriers and conclude how Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. will benefit from a diverse workforce. Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. is an amazing company in which to pursue a lifelong career. The organization is profitable and business focused, yet still understands the special needs of its employees and customers. "Successful, expanding organizations often face the threat of losing the strong and unique cultures that made them attractive to their employees, investors, and their customers" (Gayeski, 1998).

The corporation realizes in order to accomplish the company's objective, which is to drive revenue for a more profitable company; there must be core values in place. These core values include quality customer service, teamwork, employee respect, dignity, integrity, and innovation. Without everyone upholding the company's core values, Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. understands accomplishing the company objectives would be a mission impossible. Although Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. currently enjoys a culture of effective communication, employee alliance, teamwork, and collaboration, the corporation has faced many challenges reaching this point. The old company's atmosphere consisted of poor communication skills and inconsistent teamwork, which eventually led to low employee morale. The distasteful company culture was rooted in favoritism, prejudices, and preferential treatment for a selected group of employees.

After enormous revenue and employee losses, the company sought to improve its habits, beliefs, attitudes, and expectations. "The workplace setting is fertile breeding ground for conflicts because of the dynamics and interdependency of the employee-to-employee, customer-to-employee, and employee-to-outside vendor relationships" (Rau-Foster, 2000). Recognizing and addressing the factors that give rise to the potential for conflict can have a positive impact on workplace and the productivity in the workplace. At Worldwide Telecommunications, Inc., there are many diverse barriers that will affect teamwork and communication. Age, race, color, beliefs, gender, sexual preference, culture and physical and mental differences combined together could cause huge problems, but even as few as two of these differences could cause significant issues. These barriers are going to cause differences between people but will be dealt within a professional manner.

Some of the possible disadvantages of poor teamwork and poor communication at Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. are limitless. Poor teamwork and poor communication can destroy a company. Deadlines not being met on time, important documents will being lost, and important messages will not reaching the correct person are just a few of the operational fallout's that may occur. The corporation will have numerous issues without effective teamwork. No one man can run a company. Corporate success takes several people.

Proper communication ensures workers are directed to complete the right tasks, ensures that the right people will receive their messages, and ensures that someone informs the board of directors about any problems that may arise. Then the board can inform human resources of fire and hire-issues that need to be dealt with. Good teamwork along with excellent communication is essential basic skills that need to be taught from the beginning of employment to be successful. Good communication skills begin with excellent listening skills which will ensure success. The language barrier is an area that needs special attention. Many different languages are spoken here at Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc., and we have an obligation to respect everyone's differences.

It is very imperative that a point is made very clearly when speaking to someone who obviously does not understand ones language that well. If the person being spoken to misinterpret what was being requested and a task is not completed or the person completes it wrong, we then have to determine where the lines of communication failed. Communication is very important at this time, and the language barrier cannot become an issue. Employing multilingual personnel will help eliminate uncertainty related to misinterpretation. The problem with selective perception is "how we view our world to create or justify our own reality" (Howard, 2005). Well, things are not always the way one wants them.

In order for Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. to remain a properly controlled organization, there has to be a structured way of doing things. All issues must be explained so that there can be no room for selective perception. In companies today, there is far too much prejudice, favoritism, and preferential treatment. Prejudice is certainly way down from where it once was, but favoritism and preferential treatment are still around in full force. Here at Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc., we try to keep this outside our doors.

This not only creates tension, but weakens work habits. Work habits not only affects individual but can also affects other team members as well. Eventually this attitude will affect the entire team and their work. Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. recognizes that multicultural personnel are progressively becoming more of an essential part of our workforce. While many of the multicultural workers have assimilated into the workforce, others find that overcoming cultural and language barriers that exist are more of a challenge. Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. believes that cultural awareness and appreciation for diversity throughout the organization are important for the employer as well as the employee in order to improved company performance.

This helps bridge the language and cultural barriers that divide employees as more diverse cultural workers flow into the workforce. Being proactive in helping bring down these obstacles that can decrease pricey, on-the-job mistakes caused by employees' not fully comprehending operation procedures while helping to improve employers' ability to recruit, employ, and retain personnel. Furthermore, becoming proactive enhances workers' productivity. The reality is that verbal communication and cultural barriers cause misinterpretation that can hinder effective communication and generate complications in the workplace, including safety issues... Attitudinal barriers, preconception and stereotyping by coworkers, directors, and administrators can impede the potential of a business to recruit and effectively employ multicultural workers. Additionally, universal barriers such as employment policies, day-to-day practices, and systems can have an unwanted affect on certain groups.

For example, a number of corporations require certain education qualifications with no consideration given to comparable combinations of education and training; therefore, removing otherwise qualified candidates from the potential employment pool. "Tapping into a talent reservoir that is truly free from influences and restraints of traditional diversity barriers opens on organization's doors to a myriad of employees representing a wide of variety of life experiences" (Powers, 2004). Since cultural diversity is an essential part of the future of Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc., it is imperative that the business community, personnel instructors, trainers and human resource professionals achieve an enhanced understanding of and sensitivity to verbal communication barriers and cultural differences among employees from all backgrounds. "To succeed-or even to survive, given the increasing competition for international markets-American executives need to move beyond individuality to the systemic, see through simplicity to complexity, and abandon a self-assigned superiority to understand multiple cultures and global markets" (Barnett & Weathersby, 1995, p. 11).

Eventually, cultural understanding will help companies remain competitive by maintaining a steady, creative, and secure workforce. Human resource professionals and employees have worked together to identify the common cultural diversities and misinterpretations that often exist in the workplace. Some of these cultural differences identified were roles and status, personal space, body language, religion, and personal hygiene. Roles and status are one of the causes for misunderstanding in the workplace. For instance, in many countries, women are inferior to men. Understanding the relations between sexes, and the position or status assigned in diverse cultures is essential.

Personal space is another cause for misunderstandings between cultures. Americans characteristically choose to position themselves about five feet away from each other while talking. However, people from various cultures may have different comfort zones. Knowing these fine distinctions in personal space can assist communications greatly. Body language states a great deal but can be read differently in other cultures, which can lead to someone being offended. For example, Americans signal no by shaking their heads back and forth, but people from several countries may raise their chins.

Americans would view this as a form of snobbery. Religion, in some cultures, rules their way of life in a manner that Americans often find hard to comprehend. Muslim cultures, for instance, may worship three times a day, which is in accordance with their religion. These differences should to be respected, when feasible, and not disregarded. Personal hygiene was another barrier that may cause a communication discord. Personal hygiene cultural differences identified were cleanliness, grooming, eating practices, and apparel can differ from culture to culture.

There are other cultural nuances that exist; however, with the growing number of ethnic groups in the workforce, it is increasingly impossible to name all the possible cultural differences. As you can see, cultural boundaries must be overcome in order to streamline businesses. To overcome our differences in our cultures, everyone must do his or her part. For instance, a woman's roles in the workplace must be consistent with a man's roles in the workplace.

We should no longer consider men the only option for certain positions. Wal-Mart, for example, deployed trainings called Woman in Leadership that specifically targets their woman in management. Other cultural boundaries such as personal hygiene can be dealt with through communication. The importance of cleanliness in America is a high priority. All employees must make sure that they are clean, appropriately dressed, and well groomed. Communicating this to our workplace is essential to streamlining our business.

In order to help our employees understand personal hygiene, Worldwide Telecommunications, Inc. should incorporate a dress code. This dress code should include shirt and tie, or causal polo shirts for men and skirts of an appropriate length for woman. Of course, these details need to incorporate religious attire. Body language between different cultures could be handled with seminars for all the employees at Worldwide Telecommunications, Inc.

In these seminars, we could discuss the differences with body language between cultures and how to better understand them. Worldwide Telecommunications, Inc. could also publish reading material which could help educate our employees. This material could include information about the differences in cultures around the world. This could help employees better understand cultural diversity in our workplace.

This material could also include information about the major religions around the world. An understanding employee is a better working employee. Teams are essential in businesses of today. Worldwide Telecommunications, Inc. understands this. We should encourage teams to include members of different cultures.

When teams work together they gain a better understanding of one others' cultures which will lead to cultural understanding and cohesiveness. In order to deal with resisting employees, Worldwide Telecommunications, Inc could incorporate a point system. Employees would be issued points if they do not cooperate and resist seminars, trainings, and multi-cultural team building. It is imperative that every employee understands each other in order for us to survive in today's business world!

If we are to avoid misunderstandings, every employee must do his or her part to identify with all's culture within our workplace. To continue improvement of our cultural understandings, trainings should be held on a regular basis. This could be quarterly or annually. Training new hires and retraining our existing staff will keep us ahead of the rest! Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. has been faced with the challenge of making changes consistently while meeting the everyday needs of their employees. Making the commitments to ensure that each employee is understood will guarantee that the company is successful.

Cultural diversity can bring a whole new environment to a company. Changing the atmosphere with trading and understanding could lead to the success or failure of Worldwide Telecommunication, Inc. There is so much that each employee can bring to the company it is important to know each individual and his or her contributions outside of their cultural differences.

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