The proceeding essay will highlight three components of cultural identity, which include, philosophy, language and particular

biological traits such as race, ethnicity. These components help managers understand employee behavior and how can the workforce be managed. Components of cultural diversity are studied as part of identifying an organizations cultural identity and how can managers benefit from these concepts. When you are surrounded by sameness, you get only variations on the same. - Kevin Sullivan, VP of Human Resources at Apple Computers It is of dire need for corporate existence in the international market to vary, diversity in all its appearance is dictated by components of culture in organizations. It was towards the 80s, many organizations took interest in the implications of cultural diversity, likewise Philosophy is the first component studied with Religious Diversity as the focal point. As stated by Jameson (2007), religion and philosophy define cultural groups that cut across nationality and ethnicity, therefore religion in its most common sense is the belief system that helps individual/s identify their moral and spiritual values. Global aspects of diversity are rooted from beliefs and religious ideals, diverse organizations involve in acceptance and appreciation of opinions from different religious identities. For example, IBMs Bill Johnson says, If we dont understand our biases, well never be able to look at another culture with an open mind, he believes in letting minorities through. Despite modest data available on religious research and economics, religious freedom affects business environment, economics and trade, as trade in Japan is vitally influenced by the degree of religious freedom a country and its functioning organizations cater to (Dolansky and Alon, 2002). Political, religious or social views help create groups, just as how organizations in reality are a complex structure of networks that depend upon intergroup relations characterized by power, status and prestige differentials (Hogg and Terry, 2000), managers at The Boeing Company develop strategies as working in teams. The risk of failure and loss is minimized, the degree of innovation and frequency of ideas generating is higher when an individuals are joint together as players. Language as the second component describes cultural diversity as a medium of communication and a symbolic system through which culture in all its form is conveyed according to Jameson (2007). With diverse setups managers need to identify their

organizational culture as adaptive to transformation and globalization, and variation in languages within an organization is the repercussion of a diverse workforce. Research identifies that organizations today will be dealing with diversity in any country they desire to operate (Kandola, 1998, pg.30), as stated, the EU has 15 nations with many being multilingual, 11 official languages, 50 million of that population to be minority language speakers and in 1989 alone the EU made 1500 cross-border acquisitions worldwide which included UK and North America buying companies from the rest of the world. These statistics identify the increasing level of internationalization and the advent of individuals from various nationalities and backgrounds working together. Large organizations such as IBM Europe cater to an International Employee Opinion Research Program, 3M provides equal opportunity being a peoples company. (Pollit, 2006, pg.12). Managers similarly will benefit from the variation in language context, the degree of creativity is high in such organizations and product development takes a faster pace. A larger market audience can be identified, with the variety in mediums of communication, a company can address a large target force. Biological traits such as Race and Ethnicity fall under a similar yet delusional context of cultural diversity. Top management and leaders recognizing cultural multiplicity need to endure the challenge of defining their guidelines and developing new ones to adhere to equal needs and opportunities, success can only follow, for example; Barclays Bank when entering Africa in 2002 had to ensure their success by bringing the top management team together and devising a plan of action for their 12,000 (estimate) in the country. While Religious identity plays its role in diverse contexts, a more resourceful definition towards Ethnicity are inter-twined yet secular to religious beliefs. Where religion is clarified by individual behavior, ethnic beliefs cater to groups or belonging to a common heritage and culture to someone. As discussed by Taylor and Francis (2002), if ethnicity is well-managed such as firms in the Sub-saharan Africa, it can bring organizational harmony and effectiveness. They also share the facts that by deliberately embracing inclusion rather then exclusion in managing human resource and appreciating the inherent employee difference it will improve the image and effectiveness of organizations operations. Organizations functioning in the United States, for example, refer themselves to as the salad bowl whereas Canadian organization would refer to it as the cultural mosaic. Managers can undergo complex planning to extract positive results out of diversity and avoid problems such as communication can be ambiguous, interpretation of an

action can be negative and implicate incorrect responses. Efficient managers and leaders derive solid ideas, facilitate change, implement variety in decision-making and generate large profits with increase in productivity and a decrease turn-over. Diversity in all its form is imminent and looming over the corporate world, managers and CEOs are dealing with variety in workforce. Components of diversity such as religious identity, language and ethnic backgrounds provide insightful data on the results managers experience when incorporating change. Jameson (2007) relates religion directly to personal development, similarly organizations worldwide need to be aware of religious ideals and belief systems to avoid obscurity in policy making, along with language as a universal bridge for communication people are united over the discourse of sharing a mode of communication. Variation in race and ethnicity identify biological traits, with little debate present in Jameson (2007) relating ethnicity to organizational growth, he has identified race as more closely linked to religion however research shows that nations like Africa have provided most information on organizations developing new strategies to cater change. Large organizations are more likely to face biased and the dilemma of equal opportunity, but, managers need to incorporate variation proficiently, increase in productivity, influx of ideas and innovation, reducing frequency of failure.

References; Cox, T. Jr., (1991), The MultiCultural Organization, The Executive (Academy of Management), Vol.5. no. 2. Dolansky, E., Alon, I., (2008), Religious freedom, religious diversity, and Japanese foreign direct investment, Research in International Business and Finance, Vol. 22, p:29-39. Eck, D. 2003, Encountering God: A spiritual journey from Bozemann to Banaras, Beacon Press, Boston. Golembiewski T. Robert., Managing diversity in organization. Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., Minkov, M. 2010, Culture and Organizations: softwares of the mind, McGraw Hill Companies, United States of America. Hogg, M. A., Terry, D. J., (2000), Social Identity and self-categorization processes in organizational context, University of Queensland review, Vol. 25, 1. 121 140. Jameson, D., A., (2007), Reconceptualizing Cultural Identity and its Role in Intercultural Business Communication, Journal of Business Communication, 44:199 Kandola, R., S., Fullerton, J., 1994, 1998, Diversity in Action: Managing the mosaic, 1996, The Cromwell Press, Trowbridge, Britian. Nkomo, S., M., 1992, Managerial Levels in Organizations, New Ways to Work, London. Golembiewski, R., T., 1995, Managing Diversity in Organizations, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alamabama Pollit, D., (2006), Diversity in the Workforce, Human Resource Management Digest, Vol. 14, No. 3. Rice, R., E., (2008), Religious diversity and the making of meaning: Implications for the classroom, Association of American Colleges and Universities, Vol. 11, 1.

Taylor., Francis., (2002), Ethnicity and human resource management practice in sub-Saharan Africa:the relevance of the managing diversity discourse, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 13, Issue. 7. 1

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