Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Reflective Paper
Chicago Day 2
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Reflective Paper- Dr. Vernese Edghill-Walden
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Reflective Paper- Dr. Vernese Edghill-Walden
culture has a boundary- defining role, conveys a sense of identity for the organization members,
facilitates commitment, and enhances the stability of the social system (Robbins and Judge,
2014).
Living in the Cayman Islands is a blend of the old and the new, traditional and modern, with both
British, Jamaican and American influences. Many Caymanians have traveled the world as
merchant seamen, and others have lived and worked for long periods in the United States,
Central America, Canada and Europe (Cayman Islands Government, 2015). Employers value
fairness and objectivity in selecting employees of various dimensions and focus on the
communication and productivity potential of the recruited staff. (Robbins and Judge, 2014).
Many companies are embracing the need for diversity in the workplace and rightly so supported
by the law to prohibit employee discrimination activities. Research find that one-shot training
sessions without strategies to encourage effective diversity management on the job are likely to
be very ineffective (Robbins and Judge, 2014). However, on the other hand, employers that
invest in diversity training can benefit from employee relations as well as enhance the ability to
interact and manage employees from several perspectives (Scott and Media, 2015).
Globalization is increasing, and cross-cultural diversity in the workplace is inevitable. It is
unfortunate that many people in various industries have different biases and expectations due to
assumptions and lack of knowledge. For example, the assumption that women of color are
underperformers. Hence, efforts are made to prevent these assumptions with diverse
organizations development of training programs. Dr. Walden showed us a very interesting TED
Talk film by Mellony Holson titled Color Blind or Color Brave (Walden, 2016). I believe these
programs encourage the awareness of the discrimination-and-fairness paradigm that focuses on
fair treatment, equal opportunity recruitment and compliance with the law. Additionally,
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Reflective Paper- Dr. Vernese Edghill-Walden
mentoring and career-development programs specifically for women and people of color in
their ranks and training other employees to respect cultural differences is beneficial (Thomas
and Ely, 1996). Training is successful, especially when processes such as monitoring, measuring
and rewarding individual performance are in place.
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Reflective Paper- Dr. Vernese Edghill-Walden
References
Cayman Islands Government. (2015). Culture. Retrieved from
http://www.gov.ky/portal/page/portal/cighome/cayman/thepeople/culture
Dessler, G. (2013). Human Resources Management. 13th Edition. United States of America:
Pearson Education. Chapter 2.
Robbins, S., and Judge, T. (2014). Essentials of Organizational Behavior. 12th Edition. The
United States of America. Chapter 2.
Scott, S., and Media, D. (2015). Cultural Diversity Training & Education in the Workplace.
Small Business. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/cultural-diversitytraining-education-workplace-1853.html
Thomas, D., and Ely, R. (1996). Cross-Cultural Management. Making Differences Matter: A
New Paradigm for Managing Diversity. Retrieved from:https://hbr.org/1996/09/makingdifferences-matter-a-new-paradigm-for-managing-diversity