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CM Journal Articles HR Corner: What is Cultural Sensitivity Anyway?
CM Journal Articles HR Corner: What is Cultural Sensitivity Anyway?
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Recently a friend of mine was told that she has to attend Cultural Sensitivity training. Another colleague heard this and mused that this seemed a strange requirement in a field that has required the ability to work with people from different communities for many years. I believe that Software Development, as an industry, has enjoyed a long history of mutual respect for differences and the value of a diverse work force. The focus on technical skills and demanding work ethics have certainly put a strong emphasis on what technology professionals can offer independent of their race, color or religion. I don't believe that this has always been the case. The shortage of professionals with strong technical skills certainly put the emphasis where it belongs. As a Sabbath observer I can remember times when it was downright difficult to get a job unless you were willing to sacrifice your religious beliefs. A close friend of mine has confided in me that he has had trouble getting interviews because his first name is Mohammed. Does Cultural Sensitivity have a place in the demanding field of IT today? You bet it does and I hope you will join me as we take a look at what these values mean and how they affect you and me!!! Hey I am Different Than You… Whether you look at me as a member of the "short chubby guy's club" or if you had known me back when I used Braille and audio tapes to read (and a white cane to get around), I have seldom found myself fitting in with cultural norms. Being different meant that I would actually hear people talking about me as if I wasn't even standing there. The irony of this is that as a former blind person my hearing was often more attuned than sighted people and I could hear (and remember what I heard) better than they could. I admit that I was seldom hesitant to confront people with what I heard them say either! (Back then I hung out with activists who mostly blind or para or quadriplegic…) The Psychology of Being Self Aware… Some people are predisposed to being more aware of how they come across to others (Self Monitoring). This self awareness is valuable if you are a lawyer or a salesman and can mean the difference between success and failure. Personally, I am aware that I really enjoy being in a diverse environment where cultural differences are valued and become part of the accepted Corporate Culture. I have worked in places where cultural differences were not tolerated. It's no surprise that these places also had repeated incidents of sexual harassment (that I personally witnessed) and other behaviors that had absolutely no place in the healthy work environment. Making an Effort to Understand… I happen to enjoy learning languages. One thing that I have noticed is that learning even a little bit of someone else's language, customs and belief systems helps me to do a better job of understanding and respecting where they are coming from. I believe that ignorance leads to prejudice while accurate unbiased information helps to improve mutual understanding. I like Leaving Early… As a Sabbath observer I leave the office pretty early on Fridays. During the winter this is often about 1:30 in the afternoon. I do usually login from home and answer email till about 3:30 or 4:00 pm and then I am always back on Saturday night to answer any emails that came in after I can no longer use the computer. I have had friends who when observing Ramadan were not able to really concentrate during the later afternoon because they had been fasting since sunrise. I learned that meeting with them early in the morning or waiting until the evening (after they had broken their fast) worked a lot better. Also, acknowledging their holiday and showing some respect and consideration for their needs clearly builds teamwork and relationships. What's in the Training… I have helped to give cultural sensitivity training to the Police Department in NYC. Many times after a short ten minute presentation on customs and religious beliefs cops have come up to me privately to ask me questions that they had never felt comfortable asking anyone else. (More than once we laughed as we realized that a cultural norm had been completely understood taken for something that was false!) I believe that ignorance leads to misunderstandings and ultimately to serious problems. Cultural sensitivity training helps us all to see things from a different perspective. Police Training for Civilians… Recently I was involved with a group of residents who were complaining about what they believed was a significant increase in neighborhood crime. These people could not understand why the cops were not doing more about the problem. A significant amount of misinformation was actually printed in several newspapers as a result. I asked some of the people involved to come out and "Patrol" with me (I am a coordinator for an Interfaith Civilian Patrol and an Auxiliary Police Lieutenant with the NYPD). It took only about a half hour for them to hear a call come over the radio about a crime in progress with a very vague description of the perpetrator and limited information on his direction of flight. I asked my friends to join me in going to "canvass" for the bad guy (no I wasn't really going to take them anywhere near the danger!). Their immediate reaction was that "we don't even really know what the "perp" looks like because the description was so vague". I smiled and said, "now you know what the cops go through. They have to try to respond to calls with little or no accurate information every day!" Effectively I had given sensitivity training to help them, as Civilians, understand how tough the job of the Police really is. Sensitivity is Really What you Make it… Sensitivity training was effective with the Police because the cops came to me privately to clear up some incorrect perceptions. I had opened a door by starting the discussion. But the real issue is are we open to learning about others? Do we want to understand their beliefs and ways of understanding the world. IT has always been a great field because we are valued for our skills and expertise. I am traveling in the Middle East (Israel and India) and I hope to be able to share what I see and learn during my travels. I hope that you share your own experiences with me and other professionals (either through our forums or just write to me directly!). Let me know about cultural information in the workplace that you would like to share with others or learn more about yourself!! Bob Aiello is a Senior Editor for Crossroads News and an Associate Director at a major financial services firm in NYC, where he has company wide responsibility for Software Configuration and Release Management best practices. Bob is on the Steering Committee of the NYC Software Process Improvement Network (CitySPIN), where he is also the chair of the CM SIG which meets in Midtown NYC. Mr. Aiello has a Masters in Industrial Psychology from NYU and a BS in Computer Science from Hofstra University. You can reach Mr. Aiello by email at raiello@acm.org
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| Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 January 2006 05:39 |
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