Cultural Assimilation or Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism, or cultural diversity, is based on the notion that cultural identities should not be discarded or ignored, but should be maintained, nurtured and valued. As one commentator has noted, multiculturalism is "dedicated to nurturing the self-esteem of the historically excluded and creating an egalitarian culture apart [from the majority] . . . . [It] discard[s] universalism and assimilation to focus on the consequences of culture" (Kauffman, 1993, 12)

Multiculturalism is a concept used by American business managers as an attempt to deal with the issues presented by the increased presence of women and minorities in the workplace. The literature connected with this concept uses various expressions to describe this act, including "managing diversity," "diversity awareness," or "valuing differences." These phrases are designed to give understanding to a wide range of philosophical constructs that are implemented to h

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s are routinely sought; and the perceived institutional obstacles to the success and advancement of women and minorities within the organization. III. Assessment Methods Gardenswartz & Rowe (1993). propose several different methodologies for conducting diversity audits, the three most common being 1) Questionnaire, 2) Interviews, and 3) Focus Groups. Regarding these, they say: Assessment generally calls up images of paper-and-pencil instruments such as your last employee attitude questionnaire or your customer satisfaction survey. While such written assessment tools represent one way to collect data, there are two others. A method borrowed from marketing research and being used more frequently in internal assessment groups is that of focus groups (Gardenswartz & Rowe, 1993, 265). There were several factors preventing use of interviews or focus groups. First, it would be impossible to travel to Las Vegas and conduct the interviews and focus studies in person. Second, to be effective, the focus groups would take up some time, and that was against the agreed upon conditions. Third, without the complete mastery of the subject, and the lack of observational techniques that this author faces, it was questionable whether
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Approximate Word count = 2808
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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