In the workplace environment, a variety of employees come together from different cultures and backgrounds to conduct business and to manage all required roles and responsibilities. Cultural diversity in the workplace introduces many different perspectives and developments which impact work-related activities and relationships. The opportunity to engage with people from different cultures is very important in building different approaches to the workplace environment and advancing key perspectives which influence decision-making and performance in this setting. Based upon the ability to obtain different perspectives and approaches to problem-solving, cultural diversity is a critical asset for an organization and provides a means of understanding the dynamics and strengths of an organization and its employees. In this capacity, organizations should take full advantage of these opportunities and engage in many activities which utilize diverse perspectives to accomplish specific goals in a timely manner. Therefore, cultural diversity is a key strength within an organization and an opportunity to be productive to support a sustainable competitive advantage.
Cultural diversity offers a unique approach to problem-solving which requires employees to effectively communicate their ideas to others to produce successful results. Therefore, this process is essential to the workplace to accomplish specific goals and objectives, along with recognizing the value of all employees and what they bring to the table. This process is essential to the discovery of new ideas and concepts introduced from people from different cultures who have unique experiences of their own to share which can make a difference in the lives of many people. In the team setting, a collaboration of people from different experience levels and cultures is critical to the success of a project or an approach to addressing a problem but requires some degree of oversight from leaders to ensure that communication is smooth and timely.
A team leader must focus his or her efforts on bringing people together and promoting an efficient use of resources in these settings by recognizing when conflicts may emerge and attempting to curb those conflicts in a timely manner to prevent loss of productivity or other problems. There must be a greater understanding of the challenges that organizations and teams face when cultural perspectives do not represent the ideals of the organization, thereby creating difficult issues. Therefore, team leaders must play a role in these practices and aim to strengthen communication by resolving conflicts as they arise in a timely manner. This process will demonstrate the importance of collaboration and leadership in addressing areas of need within the organization which can benefit from this type of approach. Leaders can make a difference when they use cultural diversity as a primary advantage and do not discriminate against different employees by treating each of them with the same level of respect during communications and in providing different opportunities for growth that will have lasting benefits for the team and for the organization.
Cultural diversity in the workplace is a critical aspect of decision-making and supports the development of problem-solving skills which address a variety of problems in productive ways by introducing different perspectives and experience levels to the decision-making process. This requires employees and team leaders to take all contributions seriously and to ensure that all possible options are explored to promote an environment where cohesion among employees is a primary strength of the organization. In addition, this process will ensure that an organization is effectively prepared to address a variety of challenging conditions and has the knowledge and resources in place to introduce different perspectives which may be highly valuable and appropriate for different situations.