Cultural Competence
As U.S. demographics shift and economic globalization continues, organizations are becoming increasingly diverse. To sustain a competitive advantage and enhance organizational performance, HRM professionals must help to develop an environment that acknowledges and values employee differences. Throughout your career, you will see national demographics evolve and the make-up of the nation's population change. Diversity will become the norm and not the exception in the coming years. This is not a matter of policy; it is a matter of the changing face of the country. HRM professionals are at the forefront of the evolving landscape of the nation. This means that you should work to expand your knowledge of diversity and the many cultures that now comprise our nation. In an effort to help guide this part of your development you will be presented with readings about cultural competence. It is a very important portion of the course and the reality of the modern workplace. For this discussion, address the following:
• Complete the Cultural Competency Survey for Managers and Supervisors, to assess the cultural competence of your organization.
• Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your organization's cultural competence.
• Support your analysis with the survey results and examples of initiatives and actions you have witnessed in your organization.
Diversity Management Challenges
In your studies for this unit, you researched two diversity challenges in an HRM area such as affirmative action or recognition for prior learning. For this discussion, address the following:
• Describe your two challenges, using support from the resources you located and examples from your workplace.
• Discuss how you could turn these challenges around to positively affect your organization.
• Read the short Wall Street Journal article, "Women Lag Further in Reaching Executive Ranks." Whether or not you researched diversity challenges in relation to women, discuss how this article is relevant to diversity management.
The Inclusion Model
The Dolezalek article from the studies for this unit presents an approach to diversity management that goes beyond diversity training initiatives, to integrating diversity into organizational strategy. For this discussion, describe how you, as an HRM professional, could model inclusion within your organization.
• From the perspective of an HR manager, what inclusion strategies could you use, or what actions could you take?
• Are there organizational impacts that need to be considered?
• Does your organization currently have any constraints that would hinder your actions?
• How might they be overcome?
• Are there any costs involved?