The Positive Influence of Cultural Diversity in Organizational Behavior

The hospitality industry is rich in diversity, found abundantly within guest and employee
demographics.
Cultural diversity involves the differences in the composition of members of an organization
in terms of nationality, race, color, gender, creed, religion or age --- in other words, an array
of culture found among people from diverse backgrounds. Organizational behavior refers to
the nature of interactions among people and groups within an organization. The positive
influence of cultural diversity facilitates members of the organization to build relationships
and acknowledge each other regardless of their differences of origin and background.
Define and Establish Cultural Diversity
A typical organization has an extensive range of people who have cultural and personal
differences. A small business interested in fostering cultural diversity among its employees
endeavors to create mutual respect for the different cultures, along with enabling personnel to
reach their full potential. Acknowledging diverse cultures enables the organization to
positively influence the organizational behavior that, in turn, enhances the performance and
image of the organization. The business should portray the cultural diversity aspect of the
organization in the mission statement.
Transforming Organizational Behavior
The patterns of behavior in the organization are influenced by the nature of interactions and
degree of diversity within the organization. The business, therefore, should seek to create an
organizational culture that not only enhances the diversity of its workforce composition but
also boosts individual performance. The positive influences of cultural diversity not only
enable the organization to increase the scope of its reach --- the business also receives
favorable exposure from every sector of the population due to its multicultural approach.
Influencing Cultural Diversity
Cultural diversity is geared toward having a deep respect and understanding of the various
people in the organization. This aspect of the organization is strengthened by having
feedback, teamwork, team-building activities and interpersonal communication. During such
engagements, individuals are able to interact and appreciate each other's culture;
consequently, an accommodating culture and organizational behavior is established within the
organization.

Sustaining Positive Influence Programs

Programs for positive influence should always be adjusted to suit the dynamic nature of
interactions among people. Establish regular forums and educational programs in which
participants are trained to be sensitive to and appreciate cultural diversity, as well as in
maintaining desirable organizational behavior. Regularly post motivational quotes and
messages of cultural diversity on public bulletin boards. Concentrate on creating programs
that internalize cultural diversity into the organization's behavior

Global Diversity
Organization behavior is a subject that analyzes the behavior of people in group and attempt
to create efficient and effective business environment.
Globalization is the process that improves the interaction through integration of society,
culture, politics and business across the world. Globalization is the integration of any market
with the global economy.
In short, Globalization refers to the complex economic networks of international competition,
resource suppliers, and product markets.
Before the globalization national borders were perfectly insulated and businesses were free
from any foreign competition. Today world is a global village where multinationals are
spreading their business across the world. At the same time large pool of workforce are
chasing down job opportunities across national borders.
As globalization has fostered the thought of multiculturalism, the relationship between
culture and organizational behavior has become increasingly valued.

Today organizations become more global; workforce of an organization made up of people

belongs to different nation and different culture. This diversity in workforce has created a
large shift in organization behavior. Global organizations bring diverse people together. These
diverse persons have different values, beliefs, and ethics. Besides, there are gender, age, race,
ethnicity differences among them. Management of diverse people gives new roles to the
leaders in the organizations.
Cultural diversity is geared toward having a deep respect and understanding of the various
people in the organization. This aspect of the organization is strengthened by having
feedback, teamwork, team-building activities and interpersonal communication. During such
engagements, individuals are able to interact and appreciate each others culture;
consequently, an accommodating culture and organizational behavior is established within the
organization.
Globalization and Leadership: Leadership might be universal in terms of a kind of social
process but that the content of leadership was affected by the culture. Different cultures
would lead to different contents, styles and effectiveness of leadership. In most situations,
leadership styles might not reveal leaders personal will, but reflect the culture and tradition
of the societies they are in. Moreover, the effectiveness of leadership would also be
influenced by local social context. For example: Defining, measuring and rewarding
performance in the same way does not work well across functions, business units and
occupations (See Rewarding Performance: Guiding Principles; Custom Strategies). In a
diversified workforce employees have varied beliefs, ethics, values, priorities and perception.
So to keep that diversified workforce as a whole unit, compatible with the overall
organizational strategy is huge challenge for leaders. Today in a globalized scenario crosscultural management must give more emphasis on 3R rule-

Recognize cultural difference

Respect peoples right to differ

Reconcile the issues differences create

Multi cultural Team: Multicultural team can provide strategic advancement for an
organization. However some researchers argued that transnational team (cultural difference,
electronic communication, lack of monitoring etc.) reduces the salience of team identity
which leads to team-withholding behavior. However culturally diverse team, work as or more
effectively as a homogeneous team when leadership helps to prevent communication
breakdown. In fact global virtual teams are more effective when they impose formal temporal
coordinating mechanism and develop norms for meaningful participation. However there is a

high chance that identities become salient in a multicultural team when either most or very
few of their fellow members belongs to a particular country of origin. But highly
heterogeneous teams sometimes outperform moderately heterogeneous team because they
avert subgroup fictionalization and faultiness.

The patterns of behavior in the organization are influenced by the nature of interactions and
degree of diversity within the organization. The business, therefore, should seek to create an
organizational culture that not only enhances the diversity of its workforce composition but
also boosts individual performance. The positive influences of cultural diversity not only
enable the organization to increase the scope of its reach the business also receives
favorable exposure from every sector of the population due to its multicultural approach.
The modern world is smaller yet global market that undergoes rapid change. Today, we are
confronted with the scenario of a changing workforce that is multicultural and diverse in
beliefs, ethnicities and behaviours. For instance, in the United States one-quarter of the
American workforce is represented by minorities with this figure expected to grow in the
future. Also, women account for fifty percent of the paid workforce in the United States.
This diversity presents organisations with both opportunities and unique challenges. A diverse
workforce in a global market is great advantage, but while the benefits are obvious, there are
also various issues that diversity throws up, these issues need attention for work to take place
in peaceful and efficient manner.

In this modern world that has been shrunk through transport and communication it is
paramount for work teams to consist of employees with different traits and behaviours. It is
the job of a manager to effectively manage these varied individuals and mould the behaviours
to bring about harmony and benefit the organisation keeping in mind the companys core
values and business aims.