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Lecture Notes
Chapter 5: Getting to Know Your Diverse Workplace
Learning Objectives
5.1. Describe each phase of the assimilation process
5.2. Assess the culture in your organization
5.3. Define key concepts related to diversity in the workplace and the important role they play
5.4. Discuss examples of different kinds of diversity that you may encounter as you enter the
workplace
5.5. Utilize the KEYS approach to conduct yourself with professional excellence as you get to
know your diverse workplace
Chapter Summary
Chapter 5 describes each phase of the assimilation process. It discusses how to assess the culture
in your organization. It then defines the key concepts related to diversity in the workplace and
the important role they play. The chapter also discusses examples of different kinds of diversity
that you may encounter as you enter the workplace. Finally, it applies the KEYS approach to
professional excellence outlining how to know your diverse workplace.
Chapter Outline
I. Learning Your Workplace Culture
A. Assimilation
1. Assimilation is part of socialization--experiences that shape our attitudes,
perceptions, emotions, and communication choices.
2. We are assimilated by learning about the culture, or the rules of living and
functioning in society.
3. Organizational culture refers to the way an organization operates.
4. Assimilation process: the adjustment period and “settling in” that’s common
for anyone starting a new job
a. Organizations begin to assimilate you into their culture before you are
even hired.
b. As a new member of an organizational culture, you will be formally and
informally taught the acceptable ways to think and behave.
II. Assimilating College Students
A. Six Tactics Used by Newcomers
1. Overt questioning
2. Indirect questioning
3. Third-party questioning
4. Testing limits
5. Disguising conversation
6. Surveillance
B. Evaluating an Organization’s Culture
1. Artifacts
a. Temporary objects characteristic of a culture or institution.
b. Provide information about personalities, attitudes, group affiliation, and
organizational membership.
2. Cultural rituals
a. Practices, behaviors, celebrations, and traditions common to an
organization.
3. Jargon
a. Language that must be learned to communicate effectively in your
chosen field.
4. Narratives
a. Stories used to understand the organizational culture and one another.
b. Paying attention to an organization’s stories is important to
understanding the culture.
III. Diversity in Your Workplace: Some Important Concepts
A. Cultural Diversity Awareness and Worldview
1. Cultural diversity awareness: being aware of the diversity that’s present in
any working or social environment
2. Worldview refers to a culture’s orientation to supernatural, human, and natural
entities in the cosmological universe and other philosophical issues influencing
how its members see the world.
B. Cultural Competence
1. Cultural competence is the level of knowledge a person has about others who
differ in comparison to himself or herself.
2. Perception checking: asking others if their perception is correct or incorrect.
C. Mutual Respect
1. Mutual respect or mutual understanding helps prevent cultural tensions,
misunderstandings, and conflict.
2. When mutual respect is absent, discrimination, the act of excluding or denying
people of product, rights, and services, can occur.
IV. Examples of Diversity in Professional Contexts
A. Gender
1. Men and women are part of different cultures.
2. Men and women have different ways of communicating.
3. Understanding the cultural differences in the ways men and women
communicate can help you avoid miscommunication and false stereotypes.
B. Ethnicity and Race
1. Race is the categorization of people based on physical characteristics such as
skin color, dimensions of the face, and hair.
2. Ethnicity refers to a social group that may be joined together by factors such as
shared history, shared identity, shared geography, or shared culture.
3. Stereotypes: the way humans categorize or understand can impact our
understanding of ethnicity and communication.
C. Language Differences
1. Globalization brings us into greater contact with the rest of the world and
gives our daily lives an increasingly international orientation.
2. Globalization brings us into contact with accents, or how people pronounce
various words of a language.
3. Globalization brings us into contact with dialect differences, which are
variations in the pronunciation of words, as well as vocabulary and syntax.
4. When you experience language barriers, ask and answer questions to ensure a
clear understanding.
5. Translation services provide interpretation systems to assist with language
barriers and communication concerns.
D. Religion and Spirituality
1. Religion and spirituality are other areas of diversity among coworkers.
E. People With Disabilities
1. Communication with people with disabilities is important in your personal and
professional life.
2. Some forms of disability are invisible.
a. State and federal laws promote equal and fair treatment of people with
disabilities in professional contexts.
b. Go beyond minimal, legal compliance by educating yourself and
striving to communicate with and respect people with disabilities in any
personal or professional setting.
F. Generational Differences
1. Age can also influence the level of communication among group members.
2. The time in which we are born affects how we view and interact with the world
as we get older.
3. The most significant conflict caused by generational differences deals with the
different sets of values that members of each generation possess.
V. KEYS to Excellence in Getting to Know Your Diverse Workplace
A. Know Yourself
1. Practiced cultural competence
B. Evaluate the Professional Context
1. Become more audience centered and aware of the potential for cultural
differences in both professional and personal contexts.
C. Your Communication Interaction
1. Work more at planning your messages and asking for clarification to avoid
misunderstanding.
D. Step Back and Reflect
1. Revisit conversations to make sure the situation was handled well.
