As organisations cross boundaries and create global workforces, they often ignore individual identities. Every person — whichever part of world he or she may be from — has something to offer; reason enough for companies to promote culturally intelligent work environments. Shreya Biswas suggests ways to create one:
Make the right start Globally, it’s standard practice. Companies don’t ask hires to mention their caste, creed, religion or marital status. If the job requirement doesn’t stipulate a person to be of a certain gender, religion, height or weight, leave it out. It brings in the awareness of being discriminated against. “Skills and merit should be the only criteria while hiring people for a job,” says A Sudhakar, executive director HR, Dabur. Organisations should also create sensitivity among employees to not support political agendas or socially debatable issues, which might hurt individuals.
Respect all cultures When we work with teams that have geographical, language, race, religious, gender or age diversity, we begin to appreciate how these could either be tapped to generate innovation and learning or kill productivity. “This requires investment in cross-cultural competence development by including it in goal-setting, performance evaluation and reward and recognition programmes. We also need to transform our hiring process to induct employees who represent the diversity of our customers and markets,” says Anil Sachdev, founder and CEO, School of Inspired Leadership.
Listen to every voice When crafting business strategy, it helps to listen to the diverse voices of stakeholders. By paying attention to subtler aspects, using tools like ethanography — a branch of anthropology that deals with cultures — we can increase awareness of requirements that most competitors would miss. “This will help us develop new offerings and create new markets,” says Mr Sachdev.
Celebrate diversity Organise different festivals and get everybody to participate. People will not only enjoy themselves but will also understand various aspects of a religion, sensitivities, dos and don’ts and on their own learn be a better team by respecting each others’ values.
Understand global systems In today’s globalised workplace, professionals operate in different time zones. “There are people who communicate informally in an email, while others take time to respond. You have to be aware of all this to co-operate and deliver,” says Aman Desai, an IT analyst from Delhi.
(06-05-2011, Mumbai, The Economic Times)
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