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In an ideal world, every person is treated equally when it comes to getting a job,
advancing in their career, and being treated fairly in the workplace. In reality, we
know this is not the case. Racial discrimination does still exist in hiring, firing,
and promotions.
For African, Hispanic (Latino), and Asian
Americans to overcome these challenges, they must be able to recognize the
problems, understand the remedies, and be willing to take action.
In this section, we cover the most
significant factors that affect cultural diversity in the workplace. The
most obvious factor is workplace
discrimination, which can come in many forms, ranging from subtle
preferential treatment to an overtly hostile workplace environment.
A company can have a very diverse workforce in numbers, but
still have an impenetrable Glass Ceiling.
This will lead to an unhealthy corporate culture where employees know the
company's policy for determining promotions is not merit-based, and result in
some of the best people leaving.
To their credit, many companies do have
corporate diversity programs, which are
intended to increase cultural diversity in the workplace. While most of
these programs represent a sincere effort to improve corporate culture, many of
them are nothing more than a public relations ploy to deflect past controversies
or bolster a company's image as a "good corporate citizen".
One effective, but controversial tool to increase workplace
diversity is affirmative action.
While these programs typically achieve their intended goals, there is a common
misconception that they create a quota system that results in the hiring of
unqualified minorities over qualified non-minorities.
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