Question

How to: Managing conflicts in a culturally diverse workplace

Answer 1

The answer:

Diversity at the workplace refers to the differences in age, gender, culture, religion, physical capacity, political ideology, and sexual orientation of employees. Culture diversity refers to the difference in the cultures or ethnicity of the people of the organization.

The conflicts in a culturally diverse workplace arise due to the difference in social style, perspectives, cultural background, and communication styles. For instance, the employees from high-context cultures usually have indirect communication, while the employees from the low-context culture prefer direct communication. Due to the different communication styles, conflicts may arise. The managers may adopt the following strategies to manage and reduce conflicts in a culturally diverse workforce.

1. Open communication: The managers should promote open communication and exchange of ideas among employees. Open communication will help the employees to learn about different cultures, and understand the other person’s perspective.

2. Sensitivity training: The managers may arrange sensitivity training to sensitize the employees about other’s culture. For instance, Cocacola provides cultural sensitivity training to employees by hiring intercultural trainers. It helps the employees to understand and respect other’s cultures.

3. Active listening: The managers should listen to the concerns of the employees. For instance, people from China and Japan usually do not discuss their concerns in public. In such cases, the manager should ask and listen to their concerns accordingly.

4. Eliminate assumptions and analyze: The managers should not assume that the conflicts are due to cultural bias only. The managers should analyze the situation without any prejudices and discover the reason for conflict.