Module 05 Course Project - Final Proposal Due

Purpose statement

The world has been revolutionized by the use of technology in handling various business processes. Globalization is occurring at a fast rate and many companies are expanding in an aim to reach a broader market. As a result, there is a need to create ways that enable people from various cultural backgrounds to effectively communicate. Employees of multinational companies are no longer restricted to their local communities and norms. They are now part of a global society and they have to adapt to working with people from a wide variety of cultures. The situation of having employees from different cultures in a company can be an advantage or a disadvantage (Peretz, Levi, & Fried, 2015). The solution to handling workplace diversity and increasing productivity lies in the maximizing and capitalization of the differences to create an environment in which business can thrive across a wide span of cultures. A company should develop a reliable organizational culture that can incorporate all the crucial features of all the cultures of their employees and merge them together in an amicable manner. The organizational culture should be created using a strategy that will unite the employees and make all the members of staff feel important to the company.

Problem statement

Cultural diversity is a very wide concept that is not understood by many managers of multinational companies. In some cases, this situation has been the cause of many business failures after trying to expand their market share in foreign countries. When a firm opens a branch in a foreign state, then it also has to hire workers from this state. Employing locally offers affordable labor costs and convenience. However, this strategy bears some challenges. It is usually very difficult for most human resource managers to figure out how the workers from the foreign countries will relate with the staff from different cultures (Peretz, Levi, & Fried, 2015). They initiate the hiring process without a model to use in bridging the cultural gaps. As a result, the employees’ relation is weak and the productivity of a company is negatively affected. In some cases, the situation worsens to a point where the managers are forced to close down the business in an effort to prevent further loses.

Solution

There are a couple of solutions that can be used to solve the issue of cultural diversity. These include:

1. Policies

The human resource departments in the multinational companies should always aim to create policies that favor the development of a diverse workforce. These policies should not only consider the relationship and communication strategies among the employees but also with the customers who are also foreign (Lambert, 2016). The human resource should collaborate with the sales department to ensure that they come up with brand creation strategies that will make the foreign company to become popular in the new foreign market.

2. Cultural shift process

It is also crucial for the managers to design procedural and well organized processes that can be used to initiate and handle the cultural diversity shift that occurs when a company is moving towards a foreign market (Lambert, 2016). This process should be continuous and that each step is completed without any ambiguity among the new foreign employees and the existing workers. This technique ensures less conflicts and more productivity.

Conclusion

Cultural diversity is a challenge that can destroy a company in case it is not well-managed. The managers of every company should conduct thorough investigations on their staff to identify the various diversities that could be existing in their workforce. After pointing out the most crucial types of diversities that affect their companies, then they should find solutions that are specific to their issue to ensure maximum effectiveness after implementing the method that they select.

References

Lambert, J. (2016). Cultural diversity as a mechanism for innovation: Workplace diversity and the absorptive capacity framework. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 20(1), 68.

Peretz, H., Levi, A., & Fried, Y. (2015). Organizational diversity programs across cultures: effects on absenteeism, turnover, performance and innovation. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(6), 875-903.