Abstract
The different perspectives that our employees bring to organizations may not always reconcile seamlessly; sometimes there could be contradictions. One way to rise above potential chaos is to use emotional intelligence. Employing emotional intelligence at every level in the organization will improve interpersonal relations. Organizational culture is often set by the leadership, but can also be influenced from the inside. Analyzing the culture of an organization from different angles will yield different results. In this chapter, the author examined existing research and highlighted goals from organizations that are working toward an improved culture. There are suggestions for implementing concepts that may help organizations improve their position and alter how employees interact.
TopCase Description
In this chapter on Multiculturalism in the workplace, we will examine emotional intelligence using the following sub-sections:
- 1.
Organizational Culture defined
- 2.
Levels of Organizational Culture
- 3.
The role of multiculturalism
- 4.
How does culture impact performance?
- 5.
The Leader’s Role in Organizational Culture
- 6.
Defining Emotional Intelligence
- 7.
Changing an organization’s culture
As we begin to regularize how we function in a post-pandemic world, there are several things that we are learning anew and some things that we are unlearning. The concept of things being post-pandemic is new to our lifetime. While history has recorded that the Covid-19 epidemic was not the first pandemic, the uncertainties that surrounded it, and the way that information was handled, certainly made it unparalleled.
In Schein’s (1991) article on culture, he indicated that culture is:
- 1.
A pattern of shared basic assumptions,
- 2.
invented, discovered, or developed by a given group,
- 3.
as it learns to cope with problems of external adaptation, and internal integration,
- 4.
that has worked well enough to be considered valid, and, therefore,
- 5.
is to be taught to new members of the group, as the
- 6.
correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.
The concepts and new ways of being that we are currently embracing and regularizing in the post-pandemic world can still find roots in Schein’s seminal work. Within organizations, that are striving to be multicultural, there must be basic tenets that are observed. By its very nature, multicultural indicates that there are several cultures existing in the same space. Not only should the cultures exist, but the harmonization is also important. If we follow Schein (1991) suggestions, then the organization has a specific set of assumptions that all employees are aware of and embrace. These assumptions may have been inherited and the current employees follow them because they may have worked for a long time. Existing employees use these assumptions as the guide for how things function in that space.
When we create a multicultural space today, we are expected to have different races and nationalities, varying ages, diverse genders, an assortment of cultures in the organization, to name a few. However, research has shown that this thinking is the bare minimum. In the United States, the goal to deliberately mix the workforce, can be seen more as ensuring diversity, and to some extent inclusivity, than fostering multiculturalism.
Cunningham (2023) noted that
“there are many challenges involved in providing a diverse and inclusive organization, as the barriers are wide-ranging, and they include cultural gaps between people with different ethnic backgrounds, negative attitudes, or stereotypes of various minority groups, organizational practices which reinforce systemic views concerning the prioritization of certain groups over others, and organizational cultures which are unwelcoming.”
However, when there is a mandate, either from the community within which the organization exists, or the organization itself, to embrace multiculturalism, then several elements must work together to make it functional.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Emotional Intelligence: The ability to identify and understand one’s emotions, the emotions of others’, and to use that ability to manage relationships.
Culture: The manner in which people are socialized into an existing way of being; how new people are taught to function in an organization.
Change Management: The way in which change in an organization is identified, planned for, and executed to an expected end.
Multiculturalism: The presence of several distinct cultural groups within the same space.
Diversity: Variety of people from different backgrounds that make up an organization. They could vary by age, gender, race, national origin, culture, etc
Inclusion: The practice of giving the same opportunities, or equitable division of resources to everyone with an organization.
Leadership: The skill of setting a direction for a team.
Organizational Culture: The distinct way in which an organization functions; a way of operating that may be handed down to new employees by existing employees.