Cultural Diversity in the Workplace: HUCL1101 Assignment 2 Report

This report explores the multifaceted aspects of cultural diversity within the workplace, focusing on the cultural context of Mexico. It identifies four key elements of culture: health beliefs and practices, family patterns, communication styles, and death and dying practices. The report analyzes these elements, highlighting the influence of Catholicism on health beliefs, the importance of family unity, the indirect communication style of Mexican employees, and unique death and dying traditions. The report emphasizes the need for understanding and adapting to these cultural nuances to foster a more inclusive and effective work environment. It concludes by stressing the significance of acknowledging these cultural elements to address diversity challenges, particularly in communication and workplace dynamics. The report uses various sources to support its findings, emphasizing the importance of cultural sensitivity for improving workplace interactions.

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Cultural diversity in the
workplace

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Four elements of culture..................................................................................................................2
Health beliefs and practices.........................................................................................................2
Family patterns.............................................................................................................................3
Communication style...................................................................................................................3
Death and dying practices............................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The term cultural diversity is mainly used interchangeably with the concept of
multiculturalism. Diversity is a group of diverse consumers from various cultures that mainly
take into religion, gender, and account language. It is determined that cultural diversity is
capable to affect the workplace effectively and it is significant to address such points in the
business (Wilson, 2014). There are key four elements that can be used for evaluating culture
diversity including health beliefs, family patterns, and death and communication style. The
objective of the paper is to review the four elements of culture and address the problem of
cultural diversity in the workplace.
Four elements of culture
There are major four elements of culture that can be applied in the workplaces for
addressing cultural diversity which are described below:
Health beliefs and practices
Mexicans are very religious with the major religion being Catholicism. Traditional
medicine in Mexico is completely based on the Greek belief which is brought by the Spaniards in
major four senses of humor including yellow bile, phlegm, blood, and black bile. In order to
manage cultural diversity in Mexico, individuals can focus on health beliefs and practices. In
Mexico, it is significant to manage good health by evaluating medical related practices (Berrey,
2014).
Figure: Health beliefs and practices

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(Source: Berrey, 2014)
When some in Mexico are sick, it is because they are out of balance having too much
cold or heat. Awareness of such belief is necessary when prescribing medicine in Mexico. There
are various variables that affect the health beliefs and practices of Mexico that need to be
managed in order to address cultural diversity in the workplace. These variables include
generational practices, culture, socioeconomic factors, current trends and many more. Dastane, &
Eshegbe, (2015) reported that healthcare system procedures and structures may be unfamiliar to
patients and family members from other cultures. The culture-specific roles of Mexican women
and males have the capability to impact on cultural diversity and care of pediatric for which it is
significant to include effective health beliefs and practices in the workplace.
Family patterns
Every culture has a unique set of values, norms, and traditions. The general cultures of
Mexican individuals and families have a strong foundation in unity. Feng, (2014) reported that
the family in Mexico has long deep roots that go back even further than pre-Columbian eras. It is
determined for addressing cultural diversity in the workplace; the indigenous Mexican family
structure tends to be patrilineal, patriarchal, extended, structured and spiritual.

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Figure: Family culture of Mexico
(Source: Feng, 2014)
Catholic influences generally changed the social culture and spiritual practices into one
where the church had the authority. Mexican families are still patriarchal, structured and
organized by which the level of cultural diversity can be managed in all ages of people and
genders.
From a recent study, it is determined that most Mexican families have common
characteristics and able to identify kinds of family members’ accounts in the social context and
heritage that creates diverse communication among families (Feng, 2014). The families play a
crucial character in the development of cultural diversity in Mexico and care for the families to
manage health-related issues effectively. Therefore, it is reported that family patterns of Mexican
families are effective but it is significant to manage and evaluate health-related concerns in order
to manage cultural diversity in the workplace.

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Communication style
Communication is a major factor that impacts on the cultural diversity in the workplace.
In the area of Mexican members, communication tends to be subtle and indirect and highlighted
in a non-confrontation manner. Most of the Mexican employees transfer the message through
non-verbal types of communication. In order to address cultural diversity in the workplace,
employees should evaluate and analyze the communication styles and signs used by the Mexican
people.
Figure: Communication style of Mexican people
(Source: Feng, 2014)
Guillaume, Dawson, Otaye‐Ebede, Woods, & West, (2017) reported that Mexican will
often disguise “no” in numerous responses including we will see and maybe in order to avoid the
problem of disappointing and offending. In the context of business communities, it is complex to
yield this unintended method with Mexican complements because it may help to strengthen
business relationships and address the problem of cultural diversity in a reliable manner. In
Mexico, time is included to be flexible and circular and the word “manana” is related to the
Mexican idea of time. It is determined that family-owned is not common in Mexico and it is

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significant for the employees to understand the communication styles used by Mexicans in order
to enhance cultural diversity.
Kim, Lee, & Kim, (2015) highlighted that in Mexico it is common to address
communication gaps for managing workability and culture diversity. The other religions should
provide complete information about communication styles used by the Mexican people in order
to manage cultural diversity in the workplace. It is identified that Mexican people are very open
in regards to private life and their families. Moreover, Mexicans also communicate with the
foreigners what the prices are like in their country and religions. Therefore, it is reported that the
employees of other cultures should be aware of the communication styles used by the Mexican
people.
Death and dying practices
Kyalo, & Gachunga, (2015) provided their views on cultural diversity and reported that
the way Mexican culture treats death and dying is different from what many individuals are
utilized in the system and Mexican people are capable to addresses the problem honestly and
openly. In Mexican people, it is common to hold a death wake, immediately after death. From a
recent study, it is determined that a Mexican wake usually topographies an open chest, and
photographs of the lifeless are showed as a compliment. For other religions, it is significant to
understand the dying and death practices used by Mexican people in order to manage cultural
diversity.
Figure: Mexican funeral traditions

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(Source: Martin, 2014)
It is found that in Mexico, individuals comprise the highest Latino group in the bay
sections (Martin, 2014). In Mexico, after a death, a vigil is held with family members for 24
hours. In which individuals can eat and drink together and other people will bring the family
gifts and pray for the family members. It is observed that death and dying hold a unique place in
the Mexican culture as the earliest steps of Mexican culture have embraced death as a portion of
life.
Conclusion
From the above evaluation, it may be concluded that cultural diversity can be addressed
using four elements of culture including health belief, family patterns, death, and dying practices
and communication styles. This paper critically reviewed these elements in the context of
Mexico culture and evaluated the impact of cultural diversity. It is found that the communication
style used by the Mexican is indirect and it is significant for the other religions to understand the
communication systems and styles used by the Mexican people for addressing the level of

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cultural diversity in the workplace. This research provided a way to enhance skills in the area of
cultural diversity by applying the elements of culture in regards to Mexico.
References
Berrey, E. (2014). Breaking glass ceilings, ignoring dirty floors: The culture and class bias of
diversity management. American Behavioral Scientist, 58(2), 347-370.
Dastane, O., & Eshegbe, J. W. (2015). Effect of diversity elements at the workplace: An
empirical study. International Journal of Accounting and Business Management, 3(1),
62-69.
Feng, Y. (2014). Cultural diversity and workplace safety on Australian construction sites.
In Proceedings of the 18th International Symposium on Advancement of Construction
Management and Real Estate (pp. 371-379). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Guillaume, Y. R., Dawson, J. F., Otaye‐Ebede, L., Woods, S. A., & West, M. A. (2017).
Harnessing demographic differences in organizations: What moderates the effects of
workplace diversity?. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(2), 276-303.
Kim, H. K., Lee, U. H., & Kim, Y. H. (2015). The effect of workplace diversity management in a
highly male-dominated culture. Career Development International.
Kyalo, J. M. K., & Gachunga, H. (2015). Effect of diversity in the workplace on employee
performance in the banking industry in Kenya. Strategic Journal of Business & Change
Management, 2(2).

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Martin, G. C. (2014). The effects of cultural diversity in the workplace. Journal of Diversity
Management (JDM), 9(2), 89-92.
Wilson, E. (2014). Diversity, culture and the glass ceiling. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 21(3),
83.