Final paper

Cultural Diversity

Janet McMillan

Chamberlain College of Nursing

The scenario that I selected was of an employee, Maria, who complained that she was denied a promotion on basis of racial discrimination. This is when an individual receives unfair treatment due to their actual or supposed race (Herberg, 1993). The reason that I chose this topic is due to the importance of cultural diversity and the level at which it is misunderstood. Another reason that I chose this topic is because it offers an opportunity to suggest solution from problems arising from cultural diversity.

In my opinion, there are no prejudicial treatments in the company. The employee that was promoted was promoted due to his hard work contrary to Maria who the company’s management complained that she had the wrong attitude. The company did not have to hire anyone. This means that they were under no obligation to promote her anyway. Since the company required employees that communicated effectively with the clients, Maria was not qualified for the position. This is because she could not communicate effectively with the clients. Promoting her could prove to be more retrogressive for the company. Even though Alex, the person that was promoted was had spent a shorter time at the company; he had positive reviews and evaluations from the company.

There is no indication that Maria was unfairly treated and the only reason that she was not promoted was because her aggressiveness would cost the company customers. The company has the right to require that the employees communicate with the clients in unaccented English. To avoid this from ever happening again, the company should consider promoting accented individuals, like Maria in other departments that do not require them to talk to the clients directly. The company can also consider training the employees how to communicate with the clients properly. Finally, the company should also consider letting the employees know the requirements that each of them must have so as to be viable for a promotion. This would eliminate any confusion that may occur as in the case with Maria.

References

Herberg, D. (1993). Frameworks for cultural and racial diversity. Toronto, Ont.: Canadian Scholars' Press.