Managing Diversity and Equality Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Managing Diversity and Equality - Assignment Example While conflicts and tensions may occur that managers must deal with, cultural differences may also be a strength if dealt with correctly. Diversity may be seen as an active policy rather than the passive acceptance inculcated by equality. A PESTLE Analysis, which considers the external factors working on an organization, will be useful in examining how managers can overcome cultural problems and promote diversity. . PESTLE stands for the following: While superficially it might seem the first three elements of the analysis, (Political, Economic and Sociological), might seem to be the most applicable to a discussion of culture within the workplace, the others are as well. PESTLE has been used by many companies to examine both the internal and external factors that will influence both present and future business. It is a way of viewing complex situations through the prism of a strong model that can both provide a rational framework for the examination of complex issues and also provide a foundation for possible alleviation of the problems discovered. Thus the problem of "culture" is one that is posed for nearly all managers in all businesses, but especially within increasingly diverse environments such as are found in Europe. First of all, what does "culture" mean The dictionary defines it in the following manner: What does such an esoteric subject have to do with the or... Culture. 1. The behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions and all other products of human work and thought, especially as expressed in a particular time or community. (American, 2004) What does such an esoteric subject have to do with the ordinary business environment one might ask Basically, culture is all the beliefs, biases, likes, dislikes and general attitude towards life that an employee brings into the workplace. If all these were homogenous within each company then culture could be ignored as it would be shared and unified. Problems arise when a culture is not shared, specifically when a particular manner, way of speaking or belief conflicts with another. On a most basic level one might deal with the problem with hand gestures. In England the gesture of putting the second and third fingers up to someone is regarded as an insult, whereas in the United States this is just a way of simply stating "two". An American who is not aware of the meaning of this sign in Britain will be surely at a disadvantage if she starts negotiating by saying that she will pay 2,000,000 for something with what she regarded as a harmless gesture. Similarly, an English businessman visiting America who does not know that this gesture is quite harmless in that country will be at a disadvantage. This is an extreme, but actually quite common example of how cultural problems can stem from communication problems. The manager dealing with this situation needs to communicate the differences in culture between the two parties involved, and hopefully resolve it in an amicable manner. Best of all would be to communicate the various cultural differences that might arise before they occur. Pre-warned is