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• Culture


  Derived from Latin term "cultura", which means "cult, worship, or civilization"
• Culture (in the context of International HRM)

  Acquired knowledge that individuals use to understand experience and create social behavior
• Definitions of culture by various writers

  • Culture comprises the ways of life that individuals develop as members of a group or community (Coakley, 2007)
  • Culture is a community's socially transmitted behavior patterns, norms, beliefs, and values (J.W. Salacuse, 1998)
  • Culture is the communal programming of the mind that differentiates members of one group of people from another (Hofstede, 1984)
  • Culture is the comprehensive totality that encompasses knowledge, religion, art, morality, law, tradition and any other capacities and habits acquired by man as a member of society (Edward Tylor, 1871)
• Features of culture


  • Dynamic - changes, though sometimes slowly
  • Learnt - not an inherited trait, must be learned through interaction
  • Non-uniform - components vary significantly and evolve over time
  • Patterned - a change in one component will cause a change in others
  • Social - a result of society
  • Shared - something all members of an organization share
  • Transferrable - passed down from one generation to the next
• Diversity


  The practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.
• Definitions of diversity by various writers

  • Age, gender, ethnicity, education, religion, and culture are some of the ways that individuals vary that may influence a job or relationship inside an organization (Carrell, 2006)
  • Diversity refers to the cohabitation of individuals from different socio-cultural backgrounds inside a business, including cultural characteristics such as race, gender, age, color, physical ability, ethnicity, etc. (Kundu and Turan, 1999)
  • Diversity comprises all of the ways in which individuals vary, as well as the various traits that distinguish one person or group from another (Griggs, 1995)
• Features of diversity


  • Multidimensional - encompasses both visible and unseen human aspects
  • Inclusion - encompasses both differences and similarities among individuals
  • Pros and Cons - can provide a competitive advantage if managed correctly, but can lead to the firm's demise if mishandled
• Workplace


  A location where people perform tasks, jobs and projects for their employer
• Cultural diversity in the workplace


  The variety of cultural and ethnic groups that exist, based on factors like age, gender, ethnicity, or religion
• Types of cultural diversity in the workplace

  • Race
  • Religion
  • Age
  • Sexual orientation
  • Education
  • Gender
  • Language and Ethnicity
  • Disability
• Cultural diversity is defined as any significant difference in an individual's behavior within a culture
• Views on cultural dimensions

  • Cultural diversity is a specific and contextual concept, covering a wide range of apparent and hidden traits
  • Cultural diversity is a person's distinctive set of values, beliefs, attitudes, and expectations, as well as language, symbols, customs, and behaviors
  • Cultural diversity is identities arising from membership in socio-culturally distinct groups, that is, they collectively share norms, beliefs, or practices that vary from those of other groups
• Characteristics of cultural diversity

  • Can be both a source of conflict and a source of competitive advantage
  • Affirmative action and equal opportunity aren't enough
  • Encompasses not only basic characteristics but also secondary aspects
  • Responsibility of everyone in the company, not just senior executives or HR
  • A continuous process that must adapt to changing requirements
• Cultural diversity can be summarized as "workforce diversity", which includes all visible and non-visible factors that cause differences among people
• Cultural diversity is important for companies, especially in the hospitality industry when expanding internationally
• Recruiting, educating, and promoting culturally diverse employees is becoming more important for today's companies
• Basic foundation for the importance of cultural diversity


  • Organizations exist to fulfill human needs
  • Organizations and people need each other
  • When the fit between the individual and the organization is poor, either one of them or both of them will suffer
  • When the fit between the individual and the organization is good, both will gain
• Cultural diversity management


  The management of the differences and similarities of workers working at a workplace, as well as the degree of "otherness" felt by an individual
• Definitions of diversity management

  • Managing diversity refers to the establishment of organizational structures and processes that effectively utilize diversity in order to provide equal and fair work conditions for workers of all racial/ethnic and gender groupings
  • Diversity management is defined as the process of creating and maintaining an environment that allows all individuals to reach their full potential while achieving business objectives
  • Managing diversity is predicated on the premise that the workforce is made up of a diverse collection of people, and capitalizing on these differences can establish a productive environment where everyone feels valued and organizational goals are met
• Approaches to workplace diversity management

  • Approach to Discrimination and Fairness - Aims to eradicate bias and increase awareness of cultural differences
  • Approach to Access and Legitimacy - Aims to match the diversity of the workforce to the diversity of the customer base
  • Approach to Learning and Effectiveness - Aims to leverage diversity to enhance organizational learning and problem-solving
• Managing diversity


  • Workforce is made up of a diverse collection of people
  • Examples of visible and non-visible differences include gender, age, background, race, disability, personality, and work style
  • By capitalizing on these differences, a productive environment can be established in which everyone feels valued, their talents fully used, and organizational goals are met
• Approaches to workplace diversity management

  • Approach to Discrimination and Fairness
  • Approach to Access and Legitimacy
  • Approach to Learning and Effectiveness
• Approach to Discrimination and Fairness


  1. Primary motivation is to eradicate bias in the workplace and to increase awareness of cultural differences

  2. Companies provide mentorship and professional development programs specifically for women and individuals of minority groups, as well as training for other workers to recognize cultural differences
• Approach to Access and Legitimacy

  1. Strategy emphasizes on employee acceptance and use of diversity in order to serve to different client groups

  2. Organizations or businesses strive to improve the diversity of their workforce because they recognize the importance of having workers who are multi-skilled and fluent in more than one language so that consumers may be better understood and serviced
• Approach to Learning and Effectiveness


  1. Seeks to integrate workers by understanding that cultural differences are a significant source of organizational learning

  2. The distinctions are appreciated and incorporated into the fundamental business operations

  3. The group that takes this method believes in open debate and tolerance for diversity

  4. The strategy seeks to foster a positive diversity environment and, as a result, a culture of inclusion
• Process of cultural diversity management

  1. Diagnosis

  2. Aims Setting

  3. Awareness Raising

  4. Policy Development

  5. Managing the Transition

  6. To Sustain Momentum

  7. To Assess Achievements in Terms of Business Benefits
• Strategies in managing cultural diversity

  • Ignore Cultural Differences
  • Minimize Cultural Differences
  • Manage Cultural Differences
• Ignore Cultural Differences

  • The manager following this approach in the organization does not recognize cultural differences and its impact on the organization
  • This strategy is mainly adopted by parochial type of organizations where managers and employees believe that our way is the only way to manage and organize
  • In their view, diversity is just an irrelevant concept
• Minimize Cultural Differences

  • This technique is more likely to be used by ethnocentric groups
  • Managers in ethnocentric companies think that their style of organization and management is the best
  • They believe that other people's management techniques are inferior
  • They do not consider the benefits of diversity
  • As a consequence, such a business desires to hire/have a homogeneous workforce
• Manage Cultural Differences

  • Synergetic organizations recognize or comprehend the effect of cultural diversity, which may have both good and negative repercussions
  • Managers who use this approach believe that our methods of managing and acting differ from ours
  • The best approach to manage and organize may be a creative combination of our way and their way
  • Synergetic businesses handle cultural diversity by educating managers and employees how to recognize cultural differences and how to use those differences to the company's advantage
• Cultural adaptation

  • Humans' and civilizations' capacity to adapt to changes in their natural and social surroundings via cultural adaptations
  • Depending on the extent of habitat changes, culture changes can range from minor changes in livelihood systems to major transformations of the entire cultural system
• Culture Shock

  • The psychological disorientation that most people experience when they are exposed to a culture different than their own for an extended period of time
  • Caused by the stress of having to deal with cultural differences on a regular basis
  • Can undercut or threaten our sense of purpose in life, leading to anxiety, fatigue, negative emotions, discomfort, incompetence, and confusion of values and identity
• Components of sense of meaning in life

  • Identity
  • Self-worth
  • Competence
  • Security
  • Belonging
• Stages of cultural adaptation

  1. Honeymoon or Contact Stage

  2. Disintegration/ Disorientation

  3. Reintegration/Irritation and Hostility

  4. Autonomy/ Adjustment and Integration

  5. Independence/ Biculturality
• Cultural competence

  • The awareness, knowledge, skills, practices, and processes needed to function effectively and appropriately in culturally diverse contexts in general, and in interactions with people from different cultures in particular
  • A lifelong learning process that includes personal and organizational cross-cultural experience, language acquisition, cross-cultural training, and cross-cultural education
• Levels of cultural competence

  • Systemic cultural competence
  • Cultural competence in the workplace
  • Professional cultural competence
  • Individual cultural competence
• Ensuring cultural competence

  1. Plan ahead of time and discover various civilizations and cross-cultural relationships

  2. Be aware of your own cultural beliefs, expectations, and biases

  3. Explain key differences as needed

  4. Assist immigrants in assimilating into the society; involve them in the communication process; work with ethnic groupings
• Benefits of cultural competence

  • Cultural self-awareness
  • Confidence
  • Mutual knowledge and openness
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Psychological health
  • Discovering the 'third culture' via intercultural identity