BUILDING+RELATIONSHIPS+WITH+DIVERSE+OTHERS



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Historically, humans seldom had to connect with people other than those living in their own hunting and gathering groups. In the past many organizations were built on uniformity, separation, and specialization. People who thought alike and had similar job skills were grouped together.

In today's growing global society there is an increased need for individuals to interact with people from different cultures, races, genders, and ages. In 2005, nearly forty percent of people entering the workforce in the United States were non-white. Half of those people were first generation immigrants, with two thirds of them being female. (Daft, 2005) The need to build relationships with diverse others has become very important for successful communication within organizations.

The concept of diversity involves accepting the unique differences of each individual. These differences include, race, class, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs and other ideologies. It is important to understand these differences in order to build meaningful relationships with diverse others in the workplace. In his book, "Bridges Not Walls", John Stewart describes four of the six steps that Psychologist David W. Johnson outlines for building relationships with diverse others. These steps are as follows: 1. Accepting yourself -Involves reflecting on your own identity which can be divided into three parts: self-schema, gender identity, and ethnic identity. 2. Lowering the barriers-Involves the difficulties of prejudice, blaming the victim, and cultural clash when building relationships with diverse others. 3. Recognizing and valuing diversity -Involves appreciating your own cultural background, appreciating the cultural background of others, creating a strong self identify, and developing a set of pluralistic values. 4. Clarifying miscommunications -Involves the awareness of language differences and stylistic elements when communicating with diverse others. These steps will be discussed in detail during my upcoming workshop on Tuesday, November 1, 2011.

The video below is a clip from an episode of the tv sitcome "The Office" entitled "Diversity Training". In this clip members of the staff are participating in an activity to guess the identity their co-workers are displaying on their foreheads by using context clues.

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__MEETING OPENER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQRF6cNHUjQ__