Assignment
You have been hired as an external consultant to increase the productivity and reduce the conflict among a team of 20 professionals. The company's HR team has facilitated many exercises and interventions to improve the cohesiveness of the team whose cultural differences are leading to a great deal of the friction and discord.
Each of the team members has an important expertise that fits the needs of the organization, making it nearly impossible to remove any of them. To complete specialized tasks, the team breaks into small groups of 2-4 members.
The team has three months remaining to produce a product that is of national importance. The initial deadline was six months, but the first three months were largely lost due to the cultural conflict.
Your analysis should begin with a cultural self-analysis. You will have an opportunity to think through strategies to support the diversity in the community and improve feelings of inclusivity as you evaluate culturally diverse communication and strategies to support cultural empathy to help differentiate and create equality, equity, and justice in the work environment.
After a thorough HR investigation, it has been determined the common theme among most of the complaints and grievances that have led to the productivity issues are centered on the following:
1) A perceived lack of understanding and acceptance of some team members' diversity and differences in how they approach the task,
2) A perception among some inequities are not addressed by the company, and
3) Some not feeling included when working alongside others
Due to the highly confidential nature of the project, team members are required to live in a compound together for six months; however, they all have personal rooms. They are permitted the same number of hours to contact friends and family electronically (all conversations are knowingly recorded) but they are not allowed to leave. Outsiders are not allowed within the compound. Team members have agreed to work 10 hours per day, six days per week.
Some elements of some of the characteristics of the 20 members are as follows:
• Gender Identity
1) 8 people that identify as male
2) 8 people that identify as female
3) 4 people that do not identify as either male or female
• Ethnicity and Race
1) 6 people that self-report as Caucasian
2) 4 people that self-report as multi-racial (two or more races)
3) 4 that self-report as African American and/or Black
4) 1 person that self-reports as Asian
5) 1 person that self-reports as Pacific Islander
6) 1 person that self-reports as American Indian
7) 3 people that self-report as Hispanic or Latino
• Age
1) 10 members of the team are between the ages of 25 and 40
2) 10 members of the team are between the ages of 41 and 66
• Ability Status
1) 6 members of the team have reported disabilities that are protected under the ADA.
• Religion
1) 16 of them report being part of a specific religion, including denominations of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism and Taoism.
2) 4 of them do not report being associated with any religion and/or report being atheist.
• Sexual Orientation
1) 11 report being heterosexual
2) 8 report as being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or another sexual preference other than heterosexual
3) 1 reports as not having a sexuality at all
• BMI
1) 10 of them have a BMI that places them in the normal weight range.
2) 2 of them have a BMI that places them in the underweight category.
3) 6 of them have a BMI that places them in the overweight category.
4) 2 of them have a BMI that places them in the obese category.
• Language
1) All 20 of them speak English fluently.
2) 13 of them speak at least one other language fluently.
3) 9 of them do not identify English as their first language.
• Marital Status
1) 10 report "married" as their legal marital status
2) 6 report "single" as their legal marital status.
3) 1 reports "widowed" as their legal marital status.
4) 2 report "divorced" as their legal marital status.
5) 1 reports "separated" as their legal marital status.
*(Since domestic partnership is not legal in all US states, this was not an option to report)
• Parental Status
1) 10 of them report a parental status of at least 1 minor child
2) 6 of them report a parental status of children over the age of 18
3) 4 of them report that they are not legal parents of any children (minor or adult)
Question: Importance of Diversity
Click the 'scenario' button below to review the topic and then answer the following question:
Description: One suggestion to address the worksite grievances is this: Make the team less diverse and utilize local people with similar backgrounds because they can work more cohesively. From a diversity perspective, this would not be the best decision. This suggestion fails to use cultural self-awareness to see the benefits of a diverse team and the importance of culturally diverse communication to support feelings of inclusivity.
Question: What are five reasons why the team could benefit from not implementing this suggestion and continuing with its current diverse team? Could you tell us more about productivity, and global impact?