Understanding and Managing Diversity Readings, Essay Example

In this scenario, a lot of ethnocentrism is at work. The first situation occurred when the French businessman entered an American restaurant expecting that French cuisine would be available, and then being annoyed at the restaurant for not having a fine appreciation of cheval. This is an example of ethnocentrism because it is unhealthy to expect that a different culture has the same standards for food as one’s own. It is instead necessary to enter new cultural situations with an openness to a culture and an understanding that what one would typically expect in their own home land may not be the standard elsewhere (Harvey & Allard, 2012). The second example of ethnocentrism occurred when the boss displayed his shock at the French businessman’s request for horsemeat. This business deal was doomed for failure because neither of the two parties was willing to be accepting of the other’s culture.

Since businessmen regularly travel around the world to engage in business deals, it is important for the individuals who engage in this travel to gain a cultural understanding of the societies they visit in order to ensure that they do not offend anyone and are not offended (Salter, 2002). Preferences and behaviors are very different among even English-speaking countries, and it is important to take these differences into consideration in order to ensure that communication will be effective. After learning that the client wanted horsemeat, I was shocked as well because horses are typically seen as companion animals in the United States and not food. Furthermore, I was annoyed at his anger that he couldn’t get it because it assumed that people in this country support the slaughter of horses for food. However, I would have been able to handle these reactions to a better extent than the client did because knowing a little about French culture, I wouldn’t be too surprised to hear that they eat horsemeat. While I would not choose to do this myself, I can understand that people may like such a dish. What is unacceptable however, is that the client was unsatisfied with any other food choice, indicating that he may just have a stubborn personality or a complete adverse feeling towards American culture. When people enter a restaurant where their favorite dish is not available, they typically order something else without being too upset. However, this was not the case in this situation.

It appears that my friend not being hired due to his skin color and cultural background is clear workplace discrimination. Since he was more qualified for the job, the concern that his accent may impair customer relations is unfounded. It is expected that his skills would allow him to succeed to a greater degree than the individual who was selected for the position. There are several federal laws that are in place to prohibit workplace discrimination. One such law is the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Law, which prohibits discrimination against employees of the basis of their skin color (EEOC, n.d.). Depending on the organization of the company, it would be important to report this anonymously to the human resources department to determine if this can be resolved. If not, it may be necessary for me to recommend that my friend file a suit against the company for discrimination, with the hope that understanding the law will change their hiring practices in the future. It would be only necessary for me to tell my friend if I am unable to change the company internally. However, this is a challenging spot to be in because any report of discrimination will be linked back to me. Therefore, the easiest route of doing this is an anonymous complaint, but if this is not possible, it would be important for me to make the situation known more blatantly.

References

EEOC. (n.d.). Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination Questions And Answers. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html

Harvey CP, Allard JM. (2012). Understanding and Managing Diversity, 5^th Edition. Pearson.

Salter, FK. (2002). Risky Transactions. Trust, Kinship, and Ethnicity. Oxford and New York:Berghahn.