Cultural Competency in Canadian workplace

Cultural Competency in Canadian workplace 

Today’s workplace is characterized by multiculturalism where the workforce is made up of people with different or diversified cultures. A multicultural workforce is the type of workforce that has a wide range of cultural differences making up the employees of an organization. The differences cultural divide in any workforce may be characterized in age, ethnicity, sex, physical ability, race, tribe, religion affiliation, and sexual orientation (Malgady, 2016). This multiculturalism at the workplace is evident in many parts of the globe and more so in Canada where it is hard to find a business organization with a workforce compromising of people from the same race and culture. For this reason, it is important for organization management teams and employees to be culturally competent when they are working in Canada.

Malgady, (2016) defines cultural competency as the measure of a person’s ability to work and function efficiently in a multi-cultural environment. Business entities and employers apply cultural competencies to its employees to enhance cross-cultural interactions and foster tolerance between people from different cultures at the workplace.

Many business organizations in Canada have taken it upon themselves to ensure that they have a culturally competent workforce in their entities as this is one of the best ways they can help create a conducive environment where employees can be motivated to perform their responsibilities effectively (Burnell & Schnackenberg, 2017). To attain this, many organizations in the country start by ensuring that they do not hire any individual that may be have any bigoted thoughts or behavior. This is attained by ensuring everybody applying to join their workforce as an employee is subjected to a vigorous recruitment process that can pick any forms of discrimination that an interview may be possessing. 

Once an individual has passed this step and they have gained lawful employment in an organization with a multicultural cultural workforce, the organization starts different programs that might help employees fit and be able to work effectively. Firstly, many organizations ask their employees to do a cultural competency tests in order to determine if they are culturally competent. Employees that do not pass these tests well can be subjected to training programs that are meant to improve their competencies and be able to work with other employees without any form of conflict (Burnell & Schnackenberg, 2017).

Many organizations take these calculated measures to ensure their workforce is culturally competence because having a culturally competent workforce has many benefits that can help improve the competitiveness of an organization. One major benefit of this is that it ensures that employees can work in harmony and without conflicts. It has been determined that organizations with low rates of workplace conflicts are much more productive when it comes to its employees. The main reason for this is that it provides the employees with an environment where they can concentrate on their work (Malgady, 2016). These employees are also motivated to work harder for their organizations and this helps the originations to attain their goals and objectives. 

It has also been established that Canadian organizations especially those in major cities such as Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver have workforce that is more culturally competent and these are the organizations with low employee turnover rates. By having employees that are tolerant with people from different religions and culture, these organizations are able to attract and retain highly skilled employees and this helps these organization to have some competitive edge to other organizations that do not have these qualities (Burnell & Schnackenberg, 2017). The fact that employees are made to feel included and appreciated increases feeling of belonging as well as their loyalty. It is also important to mention that language skills pool is increased and it helps propels an organization to higher levels to either to compete on the international level or increase its diverse customer base. These factors are bound to improve the standing of any organizations in its industry and become a leader by increasing its competitive advantage. 

By having employees that are culturally diverse as well as being culturally competent, an organization is able to increase its customer base. Customers like to associate with organizations that seem to give people equal chance of employment (Burnell & Schnackenberg, 2017). Organization should be giving people equal chances to work for them irrespective of one’s culture, race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender differences. 

In conclusion, one can state that Canada as a country is one of the most cultural competent nation across the globe. The country’s population is made up of people with diverse cultures and it is very hard to hear a case of cultural conflict in the country. This should be reflected in the workplace as well (Burnell & Schnackenberg, 2017). Companies should employee people from diverse culture, empower, and train them so that they may be able to work without any conflict. 

References

Burnell, B., & Schnackenberg, H. (2017). The Ethics of Cultural Competence in Higher

Education. Chicago, IL: CRC Press.

Malgady, R. (2016). Cultural Competence in Assessment and Intervention with Ethnic

Minorities: Some Perspectives from Psychology and Social Work

mpetence in Assessment, Diagnosis, And Intervention With Ethnic Minorities: Some  from Psychology, Social Work, and Education. New York, NY: Bentham Science Publishers.