Cultural Diversity in the Workplace: Issues and Strategies

All CEOs, managers, supervisors, training professionals, and educators must be able to effectively recruit, train, manage, and promote a culturally diverse work force. Unfortunately, few of them have been adequately trained to do so. Effective management of diversity is good business. It takes effective communication, conflict resolution, and the creation of an inclusive organizational culture to succeed. This comprehensive book helps administrators better understand the problems they face and how to deal with them by dispelling the myths and facing the realities of cultural diversity.

Drawing on numerous examples of successful diversity initiatives, the book gives the reader a balanced view of distinct diversity interventions. Cross-cultural training programs are critiqued, along with specific methods for assuring quality in-service training activities. Self-administered quizzes, surveys, and critical incidents are included to allow the reader to gain self-insight and self-improvement. African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians, women, older workers, employees with disabilities, foreign workers, and majority cultural groups are discussed in great detail. Theories and laws, as well as behavioral, cognitive, and affective strategies are among the topics presented.

GEORGE HENDERSON, a pioneer among African American educators in Oklahoma, is chair of the Department of Human Relations and a Regents’ Professor at the University of Oklahoma. Professor Henderson is the author or co-author of 22 books and numerous articles focusing on cultural diversity and multicultural education, including Understanding Indigenous and Foreign Cultures (1989).