Thinking About Diversity And Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Diversity and Inclusion

Introduction

Culture means the basic feature that defines what people are, where they belong, what is their identity and what influences these people. Culture can be defined as the way of being of a person. In a given culture, there are many people who have some similar features or background, which makes them form this culture (Banks, 2015). For instance, these people might share the same language, they might have the same beliefs, they might have some mutually agreeable norms and this culture might also be formed on the bases of religion. What can be interpreted from this above said the definition is that culture is shared between people. And there are some specific features that make these people different from the rest. These people who share a culture can be called a group, every group has a separate culture, and this culture varies from one place to another.

Cultural diversity is defined as the set of beliefs which are accepted and recognized in any society or an organization which includes people from different cultures. These cultures are respected throughout this society and the cultural differences are understood. The example of cultural diversity in America. America is the most diverse country in the world, cultural wise. It includes people from many cultures and many cities. In the United States of America, there exist people from different ethnic groups, different religions, people who have different languages and people from different races. All these people live together in America as Americans, and every group respects the other group.

Cultural diversity means the recognition that other groups exist in society; these people might have beliefs and values different than one’s own. These differences can also prove to be a good thing because cultures can be a base of learning for others. Like in a culture if there is a ritual in which people help the poor and celebrate with them, then other cultures can also adopt this ritual as there is no harm being done to any value or norm.

Dimensions of Cultural Diversity

The diversity based upon culture in a society can be based upon many things, these things prove the differences that these group of people has, which separates them from one another. Following are the dimensions of cultural diversity;

Age

Age is one of the main dimensions that constitute cultural diversity. The stereotyping done on the basis of age is discrimination in another form. It is true that people from all ages have faced discrimination in some form, but the people who are of the age 65 or higher are the ones targeted mainly. Because young people are preferred over them in places, just because they are fresher and can work better.

Gender-based Cultural Diversity

It still exists today in many places over the world. And it is not necessary that only women are discriminated, but in many cases, women are preferred over men unfairly. In many places in the world, men receive more wages than women. If we talk globally, women as a whole lack even the most basic human rights (Banks, 2015).

Religion

Today is the biggest reason for cultural diversity. People have made religion a problem. This is because religion is that main thing that tells people what kind of lifestyle they should lead, what they should eat and who should they marry. And these values vary from one religion to another. Hence conflict is created just on the basis of religion.

Sexual orientation

It is the basic identity possessed by a person based on what kind of gender a person is attracted to. This means that diversity exists because of the change in sexual preferences of people. People have different choices like some are bisexual, some are homosexual and others can be heterosexual.

Race

Race causes cultural diversity because in this world there are people who belong to many different races. Some are black, some are white, some can be brown, etc. So in a society, the existence of people based upon race exists.

Identification

In the society that we all live, there are many people who are different from one another. These differences can be based on the change in culture, ethnicity and many other things.

Ethnicity means the similarity that exists between groups of people based upon some similar language or history etc. the identification can be done by watching how these people are living their life. What are their cultural values? What are their festivals? How do they live, and what are their beliefs?

All these things make it easy to identify what group or culture a person belongs. For example, let us take an example of Muslims; they have a separate set of belief. They lead a lifestyle which is different from the others. Their religious beliefs tell them what to do and what not. They have preferences in what to eat, whom to marry and other things.

So identifying a group or culture involves looking at what the people have in common. Because the things they have in common is what makes them different from the others.

Diversity and Inclusion

There exists a common relation between diversity and inclusion. If here we talk in the cultural context, diversity is the differences present between people based upon race, ethnicity, religion and many other factors. But what inclusion means is the welcoming of these differences present between people. Inclusion emphasizes on rather than fighting on the bases of change in culture, people of all cultures should work together, regardless of the cultures (Matlin et al., 2019).

Workplace Culture and Diversity

With the passage of time workplace environments have evolved. In the early times, when racism and other factors were at their utmost peak, only the people with the same culture, religion, gender, values, and beliefs were included in a single workplace. But now as the times have changed, workplace diversity has been formed. Workplace diversity is defined as in an organization the people working are from different cultures. People are from all cultural dimensions. For instance, people of all ages, values, cultures, genders, and races work together. This cultural diversity has profited the organization because of inclusion, which states that people from different cultures should work together to thrive and achieve success for each other. Cultural inclusion includes the fact that success is better than the silly differences which are based upon beliefs and cultures (Matlin et al., 2019).

Workplace Diversity Training

Workplace diversity training is considered very important in organizations. Because the employees can be from different backgrounds, work should be done so that these differences are ignored so that the focus is completely on achieving success.It is not important if people are from different backgrounds, religions and ethnic groups. If they are working together, then these differences should never create any problem, because these problems are baseless. So the companies have to focus on the fact that no cultural differences are created, and every employee should work together.

Workplace culture these days is focused on inclusion. Because in a society the people are from different groups and backgrounds. Hence the fact is obvious that the workplaces will also include people of all cultures. This is why the workplaces are focusing on training their employees on the fact that the cultural differences should be ignored and all the people should work in harmony irrespective of their differences so that success is achieved for both the employees and the organization.

References

Banks, J. A. (2015). Cultural diversity and education. Routledge.

Matlin, S. A., Yam, V. W., Mehta, G., Krief, A., & Hopf, H. (2019). The Need for Cultural Competence in Science: A Practical Approach to Enhancing Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English).