Introduction
Social values and ethics are complex concepts that involve many contributing factors. For instance, the spread of humanitarian ideas in the Enlightenment era was associated with the origination of the printing press and the availability of printed books and education. Since then, information has become more important and available, allowing public opinion and values on certain topics. The principle of expertise, promoted by the concept of cultural competence, for example, cannot ensure that individual culture or individual diversity is embraced. Humility recognizes that every person is unique and refuses categorization to avoid ignorance, prejudice, and cultural bias. Instead, the cultural humility principle is based on embracing the way other people categorize themselves.
One of the examples of how ethical behaviors and values develop can be seen in how racial and ethical biases are eliminated from workplaces in most organizations. Cultural and racial biases have been in existence for long periods. The biases are witnessed in almost all sectors of our societies. They are witnessed in our schools, justice, and healthcare, among other institutions. Despite concerted efforts to eliminate these biases, they still exist among. It is difficult to deny the existence of racial and cultural biases; there are no places where an individual can go subconsciously without the imagination of encountering cultural and racial biases.
However, the development of ethical, humanitarian values has reshaped how people treat each other. The formation of new values was associated with growing levels of education and accessibility of knowledge. As education becomes more available to the public, society acquires common knowledge, and common values are formed. Growing awareness of issues of racial discrimination and social inequalities has caused people to act differently within their realms. The changes in the behaviors associated with new values have led to changes in society and gradual eradication of discriminatory practices, and the formation of codes of conduct that represent common values. As noted by Savage (2005), organizations provide an opportunity for change implementation in society and act as a hope for the poor. By applying the button-up approach, the values of workers can be embraced and protected within the organization.
Cultural Diversity
Over the last several decades, the globalized nature of the state, business, and personal interaction have seen elemental levels of cultural diversity. For example, this diversity in the workplace has created a learning and managerial opportunity for many companies and their staff. As people and organizations from different cultures interact, they share their experiences, behaviors, beliefs, and values and develop new frontiers. From such interactions, new and effective communication processes, sustainable and inclusive policies, and significant organizational culture shifts have enhanced how businesses operate locally and internationally (Trefry & Vaillant, 2018).
Learning at the personal level is now defined by diverse and immense global opportunities. The integrated pace of the global community has increasingly demanded enhanced interpersonal skills across the board (Raewf & Mahmood, 2021). As different cultures interact, they exchange knowledge and even share beliefs. People must internalize and appreciate their differences in a learning process that ensures positive collaboration and interactions.
Organizational culture refers to a system of shared values, beliefs, and actions that guide the behavior of the members of a company. Culture plays a role in the significant functions of a company. They include allocating status, authority, and power, establishing a shared understanding of the persons who will get sanctions or rewards for their actions, and determining how to develop and communicate friendship guidelines (Howard & Ulferts, 2020). An organization’s shared values turn routine activities into valuable actions for the company’s longevity. They link the company to the significant values of the larger society.
Diversity is one of the aspects that employees of different organizations have to deal with daily. Therefore, both positive and negative impacts stem from diversity since it entails exchanging ideas (Al-Jenaibi, 2017). It is important to note that without discrimination, employees are in a position to come up with friendships that will prevent stereotyping. On the other hand, diversity has brought about a communication gap owing to the resistance to change and the language barrier. For this reason, apart from diversity being the avenue through which societies differentiate people from one another, it plays an important role in organizational performance. Hence, diversity in the workplace is an indicator that there is heterogeneity when it comes to gender, ethnicity, and race, among others.
Benefits of Cultural Diversity
Many organizations have taken advantage of their company’s competitive advantage by valuing diversity. It is important to note that workforce diversity is a valuable, non-sustainable, rare, and inimitable organizational resource. New models of organizations, such as the hybrid structure, embrace the benefits of culturally diverse workplaces (Writing, 2010). Organizations need to adopt innovativeness in their problem-solving insights to identify competitive advantage.
On the other hand, a diverse workforce indicates that employees will bring together their experiences and skills that promote the company’s performance. Factors such as education, age, and culture assist in generating a positive influence that brings about a competitive advantage. Besides, the mixed-gender groups have, in the past years, performed better than the same-gender groups. Hence, the decision-making procedures adopted by diversified workforces are better placed to make quality decisions.
Conclusion
Humility recognizes that every person is unique and refuses categorization to avoid ignorance, prejudice, and cultural bias. Instead, the cultural humility principle is based on embracing the way other people categorize themselves. As different cultures interact, they exchange knowledge and even share beliefs. People must internalize and appreciate their differences in a learning process that ensures positive collaboration and interactions. The exchange of skills and information favors cohesion whereby the different genders and races in an organization contribute positively to the overall goals of the job and the organization.
References
Al-Jenaibi, B. (2017). The scope and impact of workplace diversity in the United Arab Emirates–A preliminary study. Geografia-Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 8(1).
Howard, T. L., & Ulferts, G. W. (2020). The Changing Value of Diversity in Organizations. Journal of Business Diversity, 20(2).
Raewf, M. B., & Mahmood, Y. N. (2021). The cultural diversity in the workplace. Cihan University-Erbil Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 5(1), 1-6.
Savage, S. (2005). Organization Evolution: The Natural Change Model for Organizational Structure in Changing Times. Redorbit. Web.
Trefry, M. G., & Vaillant, G. (2018). Harnessing cultural diversity to stimulate organizational learning. In Current Topics in Management (pp. 47-60). Routledge.
Writing, A. (2010). Advantages of Hybrid Organizational Structures. Web.