Managing Cultural Diversity

By now, we should all be fully (and sometimes painfully) aware of what Cultural Diversity is but just in case you “slept through” that part of your life, it is defined simply as:

The existence of a variety of cultural or ethnic groups within a society.

And, while this sentence does seem simple to read and understand, it is incredibly difficult to accept. On the surface, I want to scream out, why is this so difficult to accept... when our country, America, was created strong and viable because of our cultural diversity; but, I also know that the diverse cultural groups that were our early arrivals to America were not accepted either and oftentimes in the larger cities where they congregated there were cultural gangs that formed to protect “turf” and to fight amongst one another.

What really amazes me is when I visit the northern part of the United States like New York City, my wife and I instantly made fun of because of our southern accents; and, it is my wife more than me. However, there is also the preconceived idea (at least within me) that all northerners especially those from New York City are rude and vulgar.

There is a wall/barrier that prevents us from getting closer or accepting each other differences.

I or we can ask WHY but I bet it would take a lifetime to explain and I got better things to do with my life that to listen to someone explain the psychological reasons of why I don't willing accept northerners.

Then there are the differences between all the “weirdos” in Arnold's California and all the retirees in the coastal towns and cities in Florida. Of course, we cannot forget the Pennsylvania Amish and the Bayou Gator Eaters from Louisiana.

Geographic locations create diversities

Speech patterns create diversities

Attitudes create diversities

Dress styles create diversities

Gender and Age create diversities

Educational levels create diversities

If we have these kinds of diversities within our own country, and I just scratched the tip of the iceberg, can you imagine in any kind of comprehensive way how difficult it is going to be to manage all these different types of people in the workplace?

I mean... it simply boggles my mind and I cannot imagine where to start with my management thing...

So, inside our own country, we have our own inexhaustible supply of cultural as well as other differences with which we must contend and deal on a daily or routine basis.

As more and more immigrants penetrate the boarders of our lands, they bring with them with MODERN versions as well as the ANCIENT versions of their respective cultures and religions as they too attempt to deal with all the cultural variations within the boarders of their lands.

Americans are a bit different than the rest of the world because when Americans go overseas they expect and sometimes demand that all those people with whom they will deal while they are there, speak ENGLISH. And, in return, when all those people of foreign lands and countries come to this country to visit, work, or live, we, as Americans, expect them to speak ENGLISH.

When I was working with this company as a consultant, I was sent to Mexico several times a month for a year to teach the employees of this plant manufacturing American products how to apply statistical process controls to what they were doing and remove the variation.

No one but me expected me to be successful.

I taught these classes through an interpreter and while that was rather difficult sometimes, we found a way to not just make it work but to make the transfer of knowledge actually be transferred and in such a way that these employees began using this new knowledge successfully.

Not only was it successful but each of these teams at the end of the training program made presentations to the American Management Team who had flown down there, how they were able to use this knowledge and save them money.

After the presentations, American Management left the room and drove back to the airport (without saying of word of appreciation to these employees) so that they could fly to some undisclosed located with their bankers and celebrate paying down the loan quicker than anticipated.

Does all management act like this?

No... not always.... but, when they do, it may not be that often... if that helps...

So... I have a question for myself...

How was I able to transfer this difficult information to non-English speaking employees through an interpreter and be successful with that process?

Not a bad question if I do say so myself.

It is very simple actually.

The first thing that I did was believe that I could do it. And, I just don't mean saying over and over again:

I know I can...

I know I can...

I know I can...

I mean, I actually believed that I could do this because I had taught this many times so I knew my material. In fact, at this stage in my life I had probably taught almost 10,000 employees SPC (Statistical Process Control) and how it could be used in Root Cause Analysis to reduce variation and had collectively saved their respective companies each, millions of dollars.

So, I had no doubt about my level of knowledge and understanding, so what else could be possibly standing in my way?

Language you say.

Not at all and I had no need to speak Spanish if I had an interpreter and there was no need for them to speak English since I had an interpreter.

My classes were set up in groups of 8-10 as a team and each team was sitting at a particular table with a lead person or team supervisor who spoke English. Plus, I had a class interpreter who was on the stage with me or followed me around when I visited each team.

I would look into the students eyes and say what I needed to say as the interpreter put my English words into Spanish words. I had no desire to look at the interpreter. If the student's eyes did not convey understanding then I would try another approach until I thought of something to get the knowledge across.

Sometimes, the lead team member could think of examples that would help with understanding as well.

So, my special weapons were eye contact and treating the students with respect. Not only did I respect who they were but I also respected how they lived their lives, how they dressed, and any ritual that they may have had and needed to express at the time.

I also dressed to respect them... so I wore jeans and a T-shirt and flip flops and sometimes a baseball cap.

I made sure that the Plant Manager provided meals for them while they were in training as well as continued to pay them their daily wage along with a little incentive for being in the program. The breaks that I gave were frequent and lasted longer than their two breaks a day, one of which was considered lunch.

It was a privilege to be in my class as they were well treated so they in turn treated me well by bending over backwards to learn.

So, how do you manage diversity?

By thinking and believing that you have no diversity at all and that all employees should be treated with respect and courtesy as it pertains to themselves and their cultures as those differences relate to the culture of the company and to its safety and continued, profitable operations.

If you know what you are doing like I knew SPC then you should have no problems managing cultural diversity at all.

End note: In 2009 and in 2010, I went to New York Presbyterian Hospital 3 times for heart surgery and noticed all three times how much cultural diversity there was at that one location in New York City in all levels of operations. I made a point of asking people where they were from and at one time I had counted over 30 countries. I asked them how well they got along with each other and they all said fine which is to be expected and they all spoke English very well as well; but, the fact remains that all these different kinds of cultures were functioning in balance and in harmony.