Understand cultural diversity in the workplace

- Are we talking about culture, diversity, or cultural diversity here? How about I say all three? Everyone's culture should be respected. And as I found out during my first doctorate, there are over 200 definitions for culture. However, let's not get distracted by definitions. There are reasons why organizations and leaders are being asked to take a look at practices affecting particular groups. There's widespread research indicating patterns of where underrepresented groups are more likely to be ignored, overlooked, undervalued, and held back in the workplace. So one way that we can work towards breaking the chains of poor practice, which are holding back necessary change is to examine the cultural dimensions governing worker communications. Cultural diversity may mean different things to each of us. In this context, cultural diversity means preserving differences, ideally celebrating them and protecting the characteristics of those who may be most at risk from discrimination. And that's due to existing ingrained workplace cultures. Also, it's worth remembering that you may not be able to see or detect all of those differences and characteristics. For example, a disability, family and cultural heritage, or a religious belief. So it's definitely more than appreciating international cuisine, regional accents, and religious celebrations. Although, those could be a start. Rather we make real and meaningful inroads when we look at the intersection between three factors. Organizational culture, an individual's personal beliefs needs and practices, and ensuring that we maximize accessibility and inclusion. Think, do some groups have to adapt more than others and modify their behavior right down to every day speaking? Do people feel exposed and alienated when they participate? If those are the case, then they're not good signs. And resentment is likely to build up. So important points to take notice of are whether everyone is talking about and understanding cultural diversity at the same level. Can everyone participate freely? And does it mean more than just a tickbox HR initiative or marketing campaign? Also, consider whether you're making judgments based upon big chunking or little chunking workplace practices? Here's some big chunk observations. "There are no Black people working in this company." "None of the senior managers are women." "They wish everyone Happy Easter, "but they don't do it for Muslim and Jewish festivals. "And yet, a lot of our client base "and revenue comes to the Middle East." The absence of addressing these practices leads to big chunk judgments, which leaves a feeling of cultural disconnect. Okay, but what if you have enough of these things? Does that mean that you've achieved cultural diversity? On paper, yes, but maybe not in practice because your coworkers instead could be making small chunk judgements on issues such as unconscious bias, microaggressions, or indirect discrimination, which affect particular individuals. Conversely, negative small chunk judgments are likely to cause greater dissatisfaction because you start to see more problems, and it feels personal. For effective, rich, and culturally sensitive communication to happen you need to tackle the big issues first of representation. Then you can move towards ensuring that coworkers feel they're on a level playing field where their personal nuances are acknowledged and they are empowered to be themselves freely and without labels. If you want to eat some of the piece pie, big chunks and little chunks matter.