Assignment:
Practice Being A Manager
Culture, Subcultures, and You Diversity may contribute a richness of perspective and understanding to a work group or organization. But to unlock these riches, it is essential that we develop tools for understanding individuals and cultures different from our own. Not all college students have experienced crossing a cultural boundary to live in another country. But most have encountered subcultures in the context of their middle or high school years. Teen subcultures are often quite pronounced and diverse. This exercise will offer practice in recognizing and understanding diversity.
Step 1: Get into groups. Your professor will organize you in small groups of three or four students.
Step 2: Identify teen subcultures. Think back to your middle school or high school experiences and identify some of the major subcultures you observed (Athletes, Toughs, and so on). Share descriptions of these subcultures with the members of your group.
Step 3: Conduct diversity training. Take turns training each other on what it would be like to be a member of one of the subcultures that you knew well. It is not necessary to have belonged to this subculture, but only to be able to recall it vividly. Teach your fellow group members what a young person would need to know to fi t in with this subculture, including such dimensions as
• Clothing
• Manner of speech, common slang, or "code language"
• Music
• Value of the subculture to members; what it means to be "in" this group
Step 4: Discuss how teen subcultures are diverse. Discuss as a group the impact of teen subcultures on valuing diversity. In what ways do teen subcultures bond diverse people together (athletes of different races, for example), and help them to understand one another better? In what ways do teen subcultures separate people into "cliques" or foster stereotyping ("us" vs. "them")?
Step 5: Debrief as a class. Based on your group discussions, what are the challenges for organizations that are seriously attempting to value diversity? What are the benefits to these organizations? How do organizations train people about cultural (and subcultural) differences without falling into stereotyping?