Studies show that 52% of people perfer to work with people like themselves. This begs the question, "What about diversity in the workplace?" Since most of us cannot choose who we will have to communicate with at work, how do we navigate through the complexities of a multicultural workplace? The top 4 diversity issues that cause problems are:
1. Language Differences
2. Differences in Values and Etiquette
3. Tone of voice
4. "Clustering" (hanging out with others from similar backgrounds)
Post an example of how a difference in one of these areas has caused a misunderstanding due to diversity. Offer some suggestions on how you think communication between people from diverse backgrounds can relate better to each other.
1. Language Differences
2. Differences in Values and Etiquette
3. Tone of voice
4. "Clustering" (hanging out with others from similar backgrounds)
Post an example of how a difference in one of these areas has caused a misunderstanding due to diversity. Offer some suggestions on how you think communication between people from diverse backgrounds can relate better to each other.
When there is a difference in what type of language someone uses, it can be difficult to communication. As a personal trainer I see new members walk into the gym every day looking to better their fitness. However living in an area that is very diverse in language it is hard to know what they are looking for. I can remember a time when I was the only trainer at the gym when a family walked in that only spoke Spanish. The family wanted to speak to a trainer so they could see what type of exercises would be best for each member of their family. Well I could not talk to the family but luckily the girl at the front desk spoke Spanish and helped me communicate. This situation could have been different if I spoke Spanish and I could have had new clients.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen there is a difference in values between different people in the work place there can be a problem. While in the health field, working with people with disabilities, we have different ways of teaching our consumers their daily livings. An example is when one person taught the consumer one way how to wash the dishes and I was teaching another way the consumer happened to get confused and upset. Because people values are different about certain things the consumer got upset. A way to prevent this is to communicate with each other a certain way we are going to teach them daily livings and choose one way so there is no confusion.
ReplyDeleteim a host at chilis and i meet a ton of new people every day and i have to obviously communicate with them when i greet and seat them. i talk to all kinds of people and my communication is very important. i have to understand them and their needs and they have to understand what i respond to them especially if were on a wait. with my coworkers the most important thing is tone of voice.one simple miss understanding can lead to abig argument. A suggestion is just make sure to understand each other clearly so there are no miss understandings. that is the simplest easiest solution.
ReplyDeleteLong ago, I landed a job doing construction. My job was to install sheetrock. the "laborers" were to bring the 4 ft x 12 ft sheets in, hold them where i needed them untill anchored, then go get another one. i was usually up on a 15 ft tall scafold, and couldn't go get it myself.
ReplyDeleteThe problem i encountered was a HUGE language barrier. The laborers spoke only Spanish. because i'm from the rio grande valley, everyone, including my boss, THOUGHT i was bi-lingual. NOT the case. i ended up pointing, and giving hand signals. not only was this fairly ineffective and very inefficient, but also offended my co-workers.
I was eventually let go due to the inefficient work i was producing.
I work at Ameriprise Financial and am a client service manager so I communicate with people both verbally and through written correspondence everyday. Language barriers can definitely be a problem. Speaking to someone who is not fluent in english can be extremely challenging since there is so much room for error and misunderstanding, espically in dealing with financial jargon. Also, dealing with clients in general can be difficult espically if a client is upset. They are often impatient and do not understand some of the rules and regulations we must abdide by in order to help them. All too often a tone of voice can be a huge factor in making helping them harder because its tough to help someone who seems impatient or unapprecitive of your efforts.
ReplyDeleteI really haven't been in the workplace in quite awhile, but I do have to relate to school administrators, teachers, coaches, and counselors. The language I'm having to deal with is the "new words" my children are coming up with and making sure they are not offensive ones or disrespecting anyone and keeping up with who and how they speak to certain people.
ReplyDeleteI do not really have much of a workplace due to the fact that i am a landscaper. I have my own business and i tend to have a lot of different workplaces. However, i have ran across a few instances where my client's and my culture have clashed. Just the other day, i tended to a yard of an elderely hispanic lady. I was reffered to her by a buddy of mine. The lady didn't speak any english at all. This made collecting payment from her extremely difficult. I tried to use my hands to signal to her how much she owed me. However, this didnt work. Finally, i just called my friend that is fluent in both spanish and english and he helped me to resolve the problem.
ReplyDeleteMy first language is Spanish, and one day I went to the bank here in USA and I wanted a service but I didn't know how to say that in english, so I explained to a person in the bank and then came another, and another until the time that 5 persons were with me, and nobody knew what I needed. I thought that if in the bank they have a lot of clients who speak spanish, it most be good having bilingual employees and in the other side, for me as a the client it is good to have all the time with me my dictionary. Next time I went to the same bank, 5 employees were bilingual!!
ReplyDeleteIn values and ethiquete there are differences between countries and cultures. For example in Mexico is very normal to say hello with a kiss in the cheek and when we arrived here the people say hello with a hug, and this means a cultural shock. So we had to learn and change according to the american behavior and say hello only with a hand shake or some times a hug when we see american people, but when we see Mexica people, the normal way of ethiquete is to say hello with a kiss in the cheek.
ReplyDeleteI work at Chase and everyday I encounter language barriers and different cultures. The consumers I speak to may speak cantonese, vietnamese,spanish, creole, french, etc. Fortunately, I am able to transfer them to a department that has every type of translator to help with the issues. Tone is something that is quite a barrier when you're working in the credit card industry - especially when we are speaking in plain english. Everyday tone is effective in handling delicate situations about consumers' money - and LOTS of it! I decided to major in Communications since I use my persuasive skills and the use of an empathetic tone to work with consumers.
ReplyDeleteI worked on a crew with people who preferred to speak Spanish, since it was their first language (which is understandable). I ran into alot of communication issues because they had been working together so long and were use to communicating with each other in spanish. So most of the times they would just give me simple and blunt directions, which sucked because I was new and trying to learn. I felt like I kept running into a wall(communication wise) and basically had to learn everything on my own. I was never upset but it was kinda frustrating because I liked detailed explanations but due to the language barriers I got blunt responses and often made mistakes due to me misunderstanding what they wanted.
ReplyDeleteEven though English is not my first language I've never notice misunderstandings in my workplce because of that. Now, I do have some misunderstandings with my boyfriend because of that, mainly because I speak Portuguese pretty much all the time with him and he speaks Spanish all the time with me. I often say we are together because we don't understand each other... hehehe
ReplyDeleteIn the workplace, misunderstands, when they do happen, are due to differences in values and /or etiquette. And I always tell people where I'm from, when I feel we're having a problem, and explain how we do things differently not better not worse, just different! When people learn where I'm from they try to be more friendly!
I work in fast food and I would think the most common and difficult is language differences. Both the customers and some people I work with don't speak english and it makes it really hard to work together. Like Nicole said you ask them something and then they just repeat it and its like umm..sorry I still don't speak the language you which is why I keep on staring at you weird. Its just really frustrating and causes a lot of problems and when we finally do find someone who can speak spanish we've then realized we owe the customers all this free food because we rang it up wrong.
ReplyDeleteAs I began working in a restaurant, I soon realized how important it was to adapt to guest expectations. Even working efficiently with other employees depended on the ability to understand the difference of cultures. Unfortunately, there was a downside to the service industry when it came to interacting with people from different backgrounds. People begin to stereotype. Servers might get upset when a table is sat that is expected to not tip well, not order much while occupying the table for a long period of time, know to be extremely demanding with little-to-no tip, or be easy to please with a large tip. Tone of voice, etiquette, appropriate language, and understanding all play a large roll when interacting with people that may be hungry, impatient, excited about a special event, upset over a not-so-special event, etc. I enjoyed meeting different people, learning to communicate effectively, and providing an enjoyable experience for someone I had never met before.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was working at the bank I would constantly help people from different cultural backgrounds. The most difficult to handle were the hispanic people. I speak a bit of spanish but not enough to carry on a whole complete conversation. I would always do my best to help them with their needs but a lot of times I would be completely lost and have to find someone at my work that could help. So I began trying to use as much spanish as I could whenever I had a hispanic customer so that I could get better at helping them. Over time I got used to figuring out what it was that they needed help with whether I understood them or not. It was helpful to the people I worked with because they did not have to take time out of their job to help me with a transaction with specific customers. It made my workplace an easier place to work for me and my coworkers and they were nicer to me because I made the effort to figure it out myself.
ReplyDeleteWell I can relate bc at my house we have a person staying with us, and bc of her tone of voice she uses I can count how many times we talked, she said its black n white but I see colors in my world and if most of y'all know me. There is no such thing as bad news or good mews just news..I find it vary difficult to even carry a two min conversation bc she is every emotional person. And I don't see why she can't get a job and step up..idk this is a challenge I deal with everyday and mostly two things will happen we are going to have it out or I'm going to have to fix this my self even though I'm 20 n she 34 I guess I'm just waiting for her to step up to me, even though she is 6'7. I wont say nothing bc she only disrespected me once there for we don't talk.but I just say hi bye and that's it. Even though I don't she don't say it..I just truly think she is narrow minded and has no communication skills...I'm not trying to be mean just honest but its not easy I find my self not wanting to come home..I'm a very understandable person, if u come up to me...did I just vent on a blog lol. I know what I have to do but just don't want to bc its a lot of work and just don't need the stress or the emotional toll it takes...so in this case its not worth it.
ReplyDeleteI have found that tone of voice seems to cause many issues in the workplace. You may choose the perfect words and the wrong tone could make them ineffective,sarcastic or even offensive.Even through a language barrier, the wrong tone can come through perfectly clear(impatience for example). Furthermore, tone can be so easily affected....stress, sickness, temperature, fatigue, hunger and the list goes on.
ReplyDelete