The following is an excerpt from Michalle E. Mor Barak’s book, Managing Diversity Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace. First, read the excerpt below:
Recent unprecedented global demographic trends have created ethnically diverse work environments that are often the backdrop for hostile relations, discrimination, and even hate crimes. Though diversity groupings vary from one culture or country to the next, the common factor that seems to transcend national boundaries is the experience of social exclusion, particularly in the workplace. Individuals and groups undergo exclusion implicitly or explicitly from job opportunities, information networks, team membership, human resource investments, and the decision-making process because of their actual or employer-perceived membership in a minority or disfavored identity group.
Employees’ experience of exclusion may play a critical role in explaining the connection between the lack of opportunities for members of diverse groups and their discontent with their roles as employees. Leaders of multicultural organizations, therefore, need to possess emotional, social, and cultural intelligences to remove barriers to social exchange and reward allocation. Leaders should nurture their organizational climates to overcome tensions between majority and minority identity groups to become inclusive organizations.
One way to combat exclusion is for leaders in work organizations to create an inclusive climate resting on a foundation of implemented employment practices and policies that are fair and eliminate bias, thereby flattening out perceived status levels among groups. Leaders can guide work teams to bridge understanding and tolerance among peoples from around the globe. If lead by emotionally, socially, and culturally fit leaders, cultural differences could lead to increased harmony among the groups involved.
Reference:
Mor Barak, M. E. (2017). Managing diversity. Toward a globally inclusive workplace (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
1. Find an article, video, journal, or blog that shares the experiences of a leader of a multicultural project team that overcame exclusion as described in Michalle’s book excerpt. Describe the issues in detail, using what you learned from your chapter reading and module resources.
2. Explain strategies the leader used to transform his or her project team to one where inclusion is valued and equitable.
3. Compare and contrast what you learned in this activity to what you or someone you know has experienced regarding exclusion as a member of a project team. Describe the situation from an emotional, social, and cultural vantage point.
