Archives for January 2017

Diversity…such a broad topic, there could easily be a semester course on the subject.  Differences within a group, more specifically surface-level diversity.  One would think surface-level diversity would be an easy topic for me for two reasons, female and a person of color, however it is not.  These are things I can’t change about myself and which actually have very little to do with how I think and act. (PSU 2017)

This reminds me of a weeklong leadership course I attended that all new leaders must attend at the company I work.  You’re at a hotel for a week, assigned a group and all actives are planned from breakfast until about 9:00PM.  These activities are focused on various aspects of leadership, role playing things like that so that the company can clearly communicate what their expectation is of their leaders in various situations.  One afternoon the topic of diversity was discussed, more specifically how the company viewed diversity.  On the surface, myself and a gentleman from India seemed to be the only diverse individuals within our group.  As such, our group looked to us to provide those “outside eyes” on the discussion, yet we’re puzzled when our views were not necessarily different from theirs.  I suspect the group expected me to have “Black” views and him to have “Indian” views.  I was not necessarily offended by the obvious stereotyping, but the guy from India was very upset.  Because we all had similar backgrounds, we were closer in our thinking that what you may have thought by just looking at the surface.  The facilitators tried to relate the deep-level diversity as being a core company value, however looking back it was not articulated well.  If I had this course prior to being in that group I would have had the insight to explain different levels of diversity and how one may affect the other.

The facilitators may have unintentionally missed the mark on diversity during this particular training session, as those areas that define a well-rounded diversity training program: cross-cultural communication, cultural self-awareness, culturally appropriate conflict resolution, developing cross-cultural skills were lacking.  Morgan, Abramson, and Moran (2014)

 

References:

Morgan, R. T., Abramson, N. R., and Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (p. 190) Routledge

Harris, Ken, Surface Level vs. Deep Level Diversity, Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QsF8_IwmXs

This essay is derived from our online and text reading assignments. Let me say that even though we are a diverse world of independent people and nations, we are also stitched together with common cultural interdependencies and cross-relationships. These cultural relationships can also have similar characteristics that blend different people together. The study of global leaders and how they must be aware of the many cultural distinctions that separate, and at the same time join all of us together in a global economy, must be understood completely for world convergence. The merging of global cultural perspectives will enhance our ability to join forces to increase our capability to become more efficient and effective with working as a world economy. (PSU WC OLEAD 410 L1)

What is so extremely important to remember is we must recognize and develop a global relationship between countries, by breaking down the individual parts of differences and build on the unity to communicate within and between various countries, cultures and groups.  It’s going to be a bumpy road with some much prejudice, and what is called xenophobia that circles around us daily. As Andrew Solomon exclaims in his book called, “Far from the Tree”, he writes that most children share traits with their parents and caregivers. So, with this understanding of the development of learned cultural identities, comes the need to understand the convergence of these ideologies into a global system.

Diversity and culture are perceived to be closely related, and they share some similarities, but they are different. Diversity is a range of differences within an organization. This can include the physical differences of the employees, or their specific beliefs in a religion or their personality traits. So, to define in my personal viewpoint, “it’s the specific characteristics of one person from another.” Culture (learned identities) can be one of the listed characteristics, but in a combining social construct shaping how people view the world. (PSU WC OLEAD 410 L1) So to break it down, culture happens at the society level, and diversity occurs at the individual level, which is defined as the problem called “levels of analysis.” Levels of analysis deals with behavior from different sources.

Culture can be defined based on a person’s background, but it cannot define a person’s behavior. This is the separation of the two terms, culture and diversity. So, culture is best at predicting large group behavior like if a state county comes together to vote on a local ordinance, and diversity would be how the individuals behave personally about the ordinance. So, differences within (groups) are the feelings of the different individuals within groups (influenced by culture and are always greater than differences between groups), and between would involve the feelings of people of different groups (influenced by trends). Diversity is how people within a group are different. Using an example would be to define culture as a trend (learned behavior), and diversity as occurrences influencing the behavior of a person within a culture. They both predict behavior but in different ways. Northouse explains learned behaviors as, “learned behaviors represent those ingrained things we have learned throughout our life experiences.” (Northouse, 2015)

It’s important to remember that individual characteristics can be different than the characteristics of a group is important to remember. (PSU WC OLEAD 410 L1) The reason is numerous and one in particular is that the changing of a management style may need to be adjected to “fit” the diverse people involved in the situation. As much as we have been talking about similarities vs. differences, and the diversity of culture, or the culture of diversity, leading to the emergence of a global cultural diffusion of different people who are in fact very “different” more than they are similar. I’m not saying this is better or worse, what is important is that we identify the sources of global diversity and capitalize on integrating it into a well-formed society where everyone is bring something unique to the table. It comes down to a paragraph in our class text that puts diversity and culture into perspective for me. It is all about taking advantage of the different cultures and creating a human-capital diversity that will yield the most benefit, as Abramson, Moran & Moran explains, “In the field of knowledge management, it has been widely acknowledged that having greater relevant problem-solving and decision-making differentiation, or diversity, is a competitive advantage. This is especially being the case for highly complex and uncertain international business competitive environments. Diversity in the form of culture, age, gender, racio-ethnicity, nationality, personality, values, and attitudes provide greater awareness of, and openness to, potentially relevant information. This additional information generally produces better decisions in complex environments than those achieved by more homogeneous decision-makers (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014, p. 171).”

 

Citation:

 

(PSU WC OLEAD410 L2)

(Abramson, Moran & Moran, 2014)

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences. London: Routledge.

Northouse, Peter. Leadership: Theory and Practice (Introduction). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Boston. SAGE. 2015

For this blog would like to discuss how diversity is in our everyday life, and how this topic has affected me as a person. Before reading about this topic in the textbook and the lesson commentary I really didn’t pay any attention to diversity and how important it really is. Today is currently work two jobs and one of them is far more demanding then the other. In the job I work with a lot of different people from many different backgrounds, however we all speak English and have the same job functions. But when we are dealing with the general public is a whole new world. Since I work in an airport we work with passengers from all over the world and learning about diversity helps me understand how to work with people who are different from us.

In addition to this we work in a world that is interconnected in more ways then ever. In my other job we work with people from the other side of the world in order to help our customers. So we have to be sensitive to the backgrounds of our employees. In my current location I work with people from the Caribbean, India and Mexico and some from Europe. This is a really good environment to be in because we are all very diversified. According to the lesson commentary the definition being used is the differences between people in the group. At the company I work for since we are working with people different backgrounds diversity is something that is well embraced and this course is definitely helping me in understanding diversity more.

One interesting topic from the reading from the commentary that I liked reading about was cultural diversity because in all our work environment this is the one that we deal with all the time. A persons culture can define how they act with other people and how they view things as a whole. What I might not find offensive the other person might fine offensive. We truly live in a melting pot of people from all walks of life. Diversity training is something that we done regularly at my workplace, because of the size for the company and all of our offices from around the world we need make sure that we are all treating each other with respect.

The textbook on Managing Cultural Differences mentions how well rounded training are really important to leveraging an employees true potential. This is done through  a company wide training programs that cover all of areas. One that stuck out for me was the cross-communication emphasis because communication is key to the success of any business, especially today were we are in a global market place.

 

 

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences. London: Routledge.

 

Canvaslearning management system. (n.d.). Retrieved January 28, 2017, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1826457/modules/items/21654094

 

Lynch, E. M. (n.d.). Promoting Respect for Cultural Diversity in the Classroom. Retrieved January 28, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/promoting-respect-for-cul_b_1187683.html

Donald Trump winning the U.S. Presidency after what many have described as the most divisive primary and general election process in history has brought us a great example of the complex makeup of diversity.

President Trump’s first week in office was filled with actions taken by the President that had both sides of a very divided United States reacting with equal passion. Those among the 62 million plus Americans who supported the President are pleased with his quick actions to keep some of his many campaign promises, while the over 65 million Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton are fearful our republic is coming to an end. The popular vote victory of Mrs. Clinton has many on the left side of the political spectrum screaming that Trump is illegitimate, along with the potential that Russia worked to get him elected. A simple, second level analysis of popular vote data shows that Clinton’s popular vote victory was driven by her victory in the state of California where she defeated Trump by over 4 million votes. (Wasserman, D. 2017) One last consideration on the election, for many on the left side of the political spectrum they describe President Trump as a he has variously been called a psychopath, sociopath, and narcissist, or viewed as having an anti-social personality disorder, by his detractors. However, for his supporters, the same behaviors make him a charismatic, straight-talking representative of the people. (Ashcroft, A. 2017) The United States has seen political upheaval before and will likely see it in the future. Our great diversity will drive strong opinions and manifestation of those opinions can result in great examples of how our varying points of view as a people can be represented.

A recent example of where surface and deep level diversity can be seen is in the Women’s March on Washington and the March for Life 2017. Surface level diversity is defined as the characteristics that we can notice about each other that distinguish us. (PSU, 2017) In both the Women’s March and March for Life surface level diversity was easily seen whether you attended in person or watched the coverage of both events on television. Deep level diversity by definition are the differences in beliefs, values, attitudes, etc., that do affect much more directly how a person behaves. (PSU, 2017) Both of these important marches, one, The Women’s March was the first of its kind, a reaction to the election of Donald Trump, the other, The March for Life has been occurring every year, since the Rowe vs. Wade decision in 1973.

The media coverage of these two events suggests a differing level of appreciation of the deep level diversity that makes up the marchers who came out to support two equally important causes and have their voices heard. Many estimates on coverage have the media positioning of the Women’s March getting 100x more coverage. (Richardson, B. 2017) Many fear that in our current state we are missing significant opportunities to hear one another’s points of view. Both sides now take to demonizing one another, comparing their leaders to some of history’s most vile characters, like Adolf Hitler. Many who cringed when this was done to Barack Obama, react the same way as it’s now done to Donald Trump.

Diversity is about the differences between people, whereas inclusion is the process of incorporating all of those differences. (PSU, 2017) Considering the electoral process, outcome and subsequent behaviors from each side of the political spectrum during this Presidential election many are left wondering if we can be an inclusive society. The Women’s March on Washington and the March for Life are equally important to those who took part in them. An inclusive society by definition would appreciate the goals of each of these marches and while we may not completely appreciate the methods and language used during each march we should honor the rights of those involved having their individual and collective voices heard.

Pennsylvania State University (2017). Leadership in a Global Context-OLEAD 410. Online course lesson, Penn State World Campus, The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved January 19, 2017 from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/canvas/sp17/21711–28692/content/03_lesson/printlesson.html

Ashcroft, A. (2016). Donald Trump: Narcissist, Psychopath or Representative of the People?. Psychotherapy and Politics International, 14: 217–222. doi: 10.1002/ppi.1395.

Wasserman, D (2017). 2016 Popular Vote Tracker. Retrieved January 29th, 2017 from http://cookpolitical.com/story/10174

Richardson, B. (2017). Media cover Women’s March 129 times more than March for Life: Study. Retrieved January 29th, 2017 from http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/25/media-cover-womensmarch-129-times-more-march-life/

I work on a team of 6 people; 5 women and myself; a middle aged white male. Is this diverse enough? My boss is a woman, my protégé is a young Indian woman working on a student visa, my other direct report is a German National on delegation and my two other colleagues are millennia’s. Is this diverse enough? My bosses boss is Egyptian who recently transferred back to the U.S. from Shanghai and our division President is a woman. Is this diverse enough? My workplace has a transparent diversity goal of 30% in the workplace which has been achieved. Is this diverse enough? One might argue that these metrics are benign when the reality of the business environment is measured by winning (aka, profitability), and is far more dependent on competency than diversity. According to economist Milton Friedman, “the main purpose of a business is to maximize profits for its owners.” (Boundless 2016).

If Greenberg’s premise (Greenberg, 2003) that; Global leadership is “an extraordinary capacity to unify a global workforce around a single purposeful vision, through demonstration of personal mastery, thinking globally, anticipating opportunity and using shared leadership networks”, does this not speak directly to a person’s competency to bring people together in a common cause regardless of diversity? You know what all of the people I work with have in common? We are all highly qualified and skilled in our roles and know how to get the job done. We deliver results. So I ask; is diversity a prerequisite for success or an enhancement to success based on individual competency and contribution?

News reports and popular opinion seem to suggest that the negative effects and lack of diversity in the workplace is nearly epidemic however; there is hope for job seekers. Diversity Inc. conducts an annual survey to rank diversity in the workplace. The survey; “tracks human capital outcomes and connects them with best practices utilized to promote the advancement of underrepresented groups in the workplace. And results are highly regarded by media, corporations, government agencies, academia and the public at large thanks to the exhaustive vetting of data tracking real diversity on the ground”. To be eligible for the list, participants must:

• Have at least 1,000 U.S. employees
• Submit a notarized form signed by either the CEO, the chief human resources officer (CHRO) or a corporate officer affirming that all data submitted is accurate. All data considered for DiversityInc Top 50 rankings is U.S.-based (except the Top Companies for Global Diversity list).
• Complete NOD’s Disability Employment Tracker

Furthermore; according to David A. Kravitz, professor of management at George Mason’s School of Business; “diversity in the workplace is far more complex than applying good and bad labels and often has both positive and negative effects. A potential benefit is an increase in creativity but potential challenges include an increase in conflicts and a breakdown in communication.”

I fully comprehend diversity is a significant issue in society and realize many workplaces face challenges in this area; however, I propose not only does diversity exists in the workplace, it is thriving.

Exhibit A: My boss, top of her class at Villanova, multiple positions in the company, subject matter expert in my field;

Exhibit B; My protégé, a Masters from Columbia, wicked smart and simply an awesome person;

Exhibit C; My millennia’s, highly educated, incredibly competent in their area of expertise and never treat me different, nor do I of them.

In my role, I predominately interface with; Women, Asian, Black, etc. counterparts who are in leadership positions with Top 500 Fortune companies. These people are highly skilled and competent. Most have global experience having been in roles within their organizations over time.

In my opinion, competency is the operative term to associate with diversity. Both must exist in balance in order for success in business. Should not merit and contribution be equally considered when considering ethnicity and gender? How do you solve the dilemma of cultivating the contribution without simultaneously cultivating diversity?

Ah, the predicament of reality.

I argue that diversity is alive and well in the workplace, is vital to long term success and sustainability although; while it may be that diversity gets you in the door, competency is what keeps you there.

 

Anzaldi, J., The School of Business at George Mason University, (2014), The Good and Bad of Workplace Diversity, http://business.gmu.edu/news/862-the-good-and-bad-of-workplace-diversity/

Boundless. “The Goals of a Business.” Boundless Business Boundless, 26 May. 2016. Retrieved 28 Jan. 2017 from https://www.boundless.com/business/textbooks/boundless-business-textbook/introduction-to-business-1/what-is-a-business-22/the-goals-of-a-business-129-10246/

DiversityInc. (2017), DiversityInc’s 2017 Top 50 Announcement Dinner & Learning Sessions, http://www.diversityinc.com/diversityinc-top-50-methodology/

Goldsmith, M., Greenberg, C.L., Robertson, A., & Hu-Chan, M. (2003). Global leadership: The NEXT GENERATION. New York: Prentice Hall.

 

 

I never gave much thought to the idea that large parts of America, were not diverse.  Since I grew up in New Jersey and New York City diversity has always been part of my every day.

It wasn’t until this election season that I realized that even though I grew up in diversity, that diversity broke itself into sub-communities that I often just floated through, but was never really a part of. Not because I didn’t want to, but that is what just naturally ends up happening.

I never really thought too deeply about diversity, past gender, race, and maybe at times sexual orientation.  It is important to note that the Managing Cultural Differences textbook, gave an overwhelming list on what makes up Diversity. (Smokers/non (smokers? interesting.)

As a business student and perhaps a future business person, this does present a challenge in managing so many different ways in which your workforce can be diverse.

And if you really think about it, we’ve only been wrestling with these issues from a legal standard point for a relatively short time, it was only in 1965, that Executive Order 11246 was signed, which prohibited discrimination “based on  race, sex, creed, religion, color, or national origin.” (United States Department of Labor, 2017)

While globalization may have hit a stumbling block in 2016; it is inevitable that globalization will continue, and perhaps even pick up speed.  Essentially that means that as leaders we are going to have to manage even more diversity than ever before.

How do we go about this in a way that speeds up progress rather than halt it?

One of the ways in which businesses and organizations are doing this is by Diversity Training Programs.

I never really thought about this for myself, because I am a Latino Woman, I’m the one others get trained to deal with. However, I have become acutely aware that I could probably be a candidate for Diversity Training.  And I’ve seen how in companies I’ve worked in the past, Diversity Training hasn’t really worked. And I often asked myself why.

According to Managing Diversity in the Workplace by Bayonne Z. Grant and Brian H. Kliener, The cornerstones of diversity in the workplace are the following six values:

“Self-Awareness, Clear Headedness, Openness, Candor, Adaptability and Egalitarianism.” (Grant & Kleiner, 1997)

And while those sound high-minded and possible for everyone, ultimately the only thing that can actually make a different is “Authenticity,” (Lipman, 2016) this means that you have to authentically want to work in a diverse atmosphere…  Most people and companies give good lip service to diversity, but unless there is an authentic desire to actually grow more diverse, then the same issues keep coming back-up, often time by the time Diversity training is brought to a company, is because there is already some sort of tension.  Diversity training occurs, but within a short time, it goes back to being the same, because the people undergoing that training didn’t feel an authentic need to change, they were just doing what is required of them.

I think for me, the reason why I give myself good odds, is because I have a value that is important to embrace diversity. That is curiosity, I want to explore the world and I want to meet as many different people.

The story of your life will be the many journeys you take, and the people you allow into your life. Why would anyone choose the same over a variety of experiences?

References

Grant, B. Z., & Kleiner, B. H. (1997). Managing diversity in the workplace. Equal Opportunities International, 26-32.

Lipman, V. (2016, August 1). Why Doesn’t Diversity Training Work? Retrieved from Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2016/08/01/why-doesnt-diversity-training-work/#44093a7d5cd6

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences. London: Routldege.

United States Department of Labor. (2017, January 27). Executive Order 11246, As Amended. Retrieved from United States Department of Labor: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/statutes/eo11246.htm

 

Gender inequality has been and is still creating challenges for women in the workplace. Although gender inequality is deeply ingrained in our society, oftentimes going unnoticed, there is a great disparity in the status and power of men and women in the workplace (Yi, 2017). In today’s competitive world, globalization is increasing and so is the desire for women to enter into global leadership positions. Despite the many strides women have made in recent years, numerous barriers still exist, limiting the number of women leaders permitted to represent globally (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). Corporations need to not only create opportunities for women to represent globally, but they need to rid themselves of stereotypes that hinder the promotion of women in leadership (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). Benevolent sexism and hostile sexism are two stereotypic views about the roles and behavior of women, significantly contributing to the unequal treatment and underrepresentation of women in the global workplace (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014).

To this day, women remain significantly under-represented in higher-level, executive professions in corporations and government office (Yi, 2017). More than 75 percent of CEOs include gender equality in their top ten business priorities, yet gender outcomes across the largest companies are not changing (Women in the Workplace, 2016). Women are less likely to receive the first critical promotion to manager and are less likely to be hired into more senior positions (Women in the Workplace, 2016). Women negotiate for promotions and raises as often as men but face much more pushback (Women in the Workplace, 2016). Women receive informal feedback less frequently than men, despite asking for it as often, and have less access to senior-level sponsors (Women in the Workplace, 2016). Also, women have considerably lower income than men on average when performing the same work (Yi, 2017).

Although men and women are equal in their managerial abilities and overall ability to succeed, benevolent sexism and hostile sexism are continuously hindering the promotion of women to leadership positions (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). Benevolent sexism is rooted in the belief that the gender differences are complementary and that women should be protected and taken care of (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). Benevolent sexism is evident in the interpersonal relationships between men and women (Yi, 2017). This occurs when men perceive women as incompetent outside of domestic roles, seeing themselves as superior to women and treating them in a patronizing manner (Yi, 2017). Benevolent sexism is so deeply ingrained in our society that women do not interpret these condescending behaviors as acts of prejudice, but as protective and caring actions (Yi, 2017). Men fail to recognize their benevolent sexist acts as oppressive, fixating on fulfilling their traditional and superior gender roles (Yi, 2017).

Hostile sexism is rooted in each culture’s stereotypical views about how women should behave (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014). It is any antagonism toward women who challenge male power (Yi, 2017). Hostile sexism involves beliefs that women are incompetent, overly emotional, and sexually manipulative (Stamarski & Hing, 2015). Hostile sexism also involves beliefs that men should be more powerful than women and fears that women will try to take power from men (Stamarski & Hing, 2015). A woman competing against a man for a high-ranking position in one of these institutions may face hostile sexism because she is viewed as a threat to the status quo of male authority (Yi, 2017).

Benevolent sexism and hostile sexism are two stereotypic views about the roles and behavior of women that have been and are still significantly contributing to the unequal treatment and underrepresentation of women in the global workplace. Corporations have been and are still dominated by men, so it will take time for these stereotypes to dissipate (Yi, 2017). Stereotypes are very persistent and need to be distinguished in order for our society to overcome gender discrimination in leadership positions globally.

References

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences. New York: Routledge.
Stamarski, C. S., & Hing, L. S. (2015). Gender inequalities in the workplace: the effects of organizational structures, processes, practices, and decision makers’ sexism. Retrieved from NCBI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4584998/
Women in the Workplace. (2016). Retrieved from McKinsey & Company: http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/women-in-the-workplace-2016
Yi, J. (2017). The Role of Benevolent Sexism in Gender Inequality. Retrieved from Steinhardt.

Women’s March on Washington 2017 was established to voice women’s rights to equality and diversity. “Women’s rights are human rights, regardless of a woman’s race, ethnicity, religion, immigration status, sexual identity, gender expression, economic status, age or disability. We practice empathy with the intent to learn about the intersecting identities of each other” (womensmarch.com, 2017). We have been discussing diversity and global leadership during the past few weeks and the Women’s March on Washington was established with diversity and equality in mind.

During the 2016 Presidential election a lot of discriminatory remarks were made against women, immigrants, minorities and the disabled causing an uproar in society. Immigrants of all status were “insulted, demonized, and threatened many Muslims and those of diverse religious faiths, people who identify as LGBTQIA, Native people, Black and Brown people, people with disabilities, survivors of sexual assault”(womensmarch.com, 2017).

Meryl Streep and several other well known celebrities and women all over the world stood together in support of not only women but of human rights and diversity. The Women’s March showcased great global leader ships amongst the organizers of the March because everything the march stood for is what a global leader has to possess in order to properly lead a diverse group of people in a fair and just way.

Reference:

Mission & Vision. (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2017, from https://www.womensmarch.com/mission/

Image source: The Day (n.d.)

 

Namaste, Ce mai faci?, Guten Tag!, Ciao, Bonjour, nǐ hǎo and ¡Hola! are some of the beautiful ways people around the globe greet one another. Language is an expression of art, a means of communication, and an important asset to diversity. However, one would be hard-pressed to find a native speaker of Livonian for which to say Tēriņtš! This is because Livonian has recently become extinct (CharterBerlin, 2013). The loss of Livonian and other languages is concerning for many reasons, one of which is the narrowing of diversity.

Diversity within a group is the differences among the individual people (Pennsylvania State University, 2017). Additionally, diversity has two parts: surface level and deep level (Harrison, Price, and Bell, 1998 as cited in The Pennsylvania State University, 2017). Language is an asset to diversity as it presents value to both the surface and deep levels of diversity (Cisneros, 1997).

Moreover, diversity is important for organizations in a globalized world (Why is diversity so important, n.d.). Subsequently, endangered languages could pose a threat to the quality of diversity. The criteria for endangerment status of language is one that it is likely to lose any remaining speakers within the next century (Woodbury, n.d.). This brings me back to wonder: is a narrowing of diversity to blame for the endangerment of languages?

According to Woodbury (n.d.), the answer is yes, the increase in creating a globalized society does impact the decline of minority languages. For example, when the decline of native speakers of a minority language reaches vital lows, then the people who possess a deep-level diversity with the language will tend to experience a sense defeat. Moreover, the rise in popularity of mainstream regional language—such as English and Spanish—lead minority-language speakers to feel pressured to assimilate. Overtime, this leads to fewer native speakers of the minority-language and a disconnect with the heritage of the language.

The initiative of globalization is affecting diversity, including the variety of languages. Yet, 49% of respondents feel there should be a single, global language (Should there be one global language, n.d.). Although, per Woodbury (n.d.), if the world ever became mono-linguistic, it would take tens-of-thousands of years to recreate differences within and between groups that could ever resemble the kind of diversity we have right now. Subsequently, diversity—as an entity—could become endangered itself. This idea suggests that the importance of preserving language and diversity stretches far beyond organizational reasons. It seems that the overpowering of minority languages could eventually impact the entire global dynamic.

On the other hand, there is something that can be done about this rapid loss of language (The Day, n.d.). For instance, people could preserve endangered languages by studying and creating records of them. In addition, communities could establish support systems to instill the value of different languages in students (Woodbury, n.d.). Perhaps, through preserving language, one would be preserving diversity.

 

Reference

CharterBerlin, D. (2013, June 5). Death of a language: last ever speaker of Livonian passes away aged 103. Retrieved January 27, 2017, from http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article3782596.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2013_06_05

The Pennsylvania State University (2017). Retrieved January 26, 2017, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1826457/modules/items/21654095

Cisneros, H. G. (1997). Retrieved January 26, 2017, from http://www.pbs.org/ampu/cisneros.html

Why is diversity so important (n.d.). Retrieved January 26, 2017, from https://www.reference.com/world-view/diversity-important-32cd76d567ddff1c

Woodbury, A. C. (n.d.). Linguistic Society of America. What is an Endangered Language? Retrieved January 26, 2017, from http://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-endangered-language

Harrison, D. A., Price, K. H., & Bell, M. P. (1998). Beyond relational demography: Time and the effects of surface- and deep-level diversity on work group cohesion. Academy of Management Journal, 41, 96–107.

Should there be one global language? (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2017, from http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-there-be-one-global-language

The Day (n.d.). Modern tech saves ancient tongues from extinction. Retrieved January 26, 2017, from http://theday.co.uk/health/modern-tech-saves-ancient-tongues-from-extinction

 

 

In December of 2015, just prior to the release of the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the long awaited next chapter in the Star Wars sci-fi saga, I came across an article from web magazine Vulture that analyzed the original Star Wars trilogy for lines of dialog that were spoken by a women other than Carrie Fisher’s character Princess Leia. The results were pretty shocking; of the combined 386 minute running time of all three movies, only 1.03 (63 seconds) of that time showed a female character other than Princess Leia speak (Vulture, 2015). I was not aware that my favorite movie trilogy was so one-sided when it came to representing both sexes, but this discrepancy is indicative of the true to life gender gap experienced in the workforce. We’re told by Moran, Abramson, and Moran (2014) that “historically and currently, there remains a significant gap in women representation, compensation in the upper echelons of the global workforce, as well as having the same rights as men in all aspects”, and if these three Star Wars films are of any representation of our culture at large, this gender gap also resides within our art and entertainment.

In 1985 cartoonist Alison Bechdel created what has come to be known as the Bechdel test. According to Noah Berlatsky of The Guardian (2015), “the Bechdel test has become a staple of feminist film criticism”, which asks the following three questions of a film: Does it “(a) have more than one woman, and (b) if those women talk to each other about (c) something other than a man”. Unfortunately the original three Star Wars films do not pass the Bechdel test, and while they were filmed prior to the test’s conception, they still portray a world (or rather galaxy) in which women are secondary players to men. Additional women characters were actually filmed for Return of the Jedi (the third film in the original Star Wars trilogy), as explained by Casey Cipriani of Bustle, “four women filmed scenes as fighter pilots during the Battle of Endor, but three of the women — Vivienne Chandler, Lynne Hazelden, and an unnamed actor — all had their shots cut from the final film. Just Poppy Hands’ fighter pilot appears in the film, but her voice is dubbed over with a man’s for the one line she delivers”. This may seem like a minor squabble, but I think that having one of the most popular film franchises portraying women in roles traditionally reserved for men would have been a big step forward for gender equality in cultural entertainment in the 1980’s.

Star Wars has come a long way in closing the gender gap of its case of characters (which means it’s also provided more job to women as well), as Berlatsky (The Guardian, 2015) writes “The Force Awakens has a much more realistic gender balance; not only does the universe contain more than one woman, but the film actually passes the Bechdel Test”. Still though, there are some lingering issues that many fans of the series would like addressed. One of those issues is the fact that only men have been given the opportunity to direct Star Wars films. According to Julia Alexander of the website Polygon, “the lack of female directors helming major feature films for studios isn’t a new problem. Less than 12 percent of the big movies released last year were directed by women”.

When Lucasfilm CEO and president Kathleen Kennedy (herself a woman that has risen to the title of CEO of a major film production company) was asked about a woman getting the opportunity to direct a Star Wars film, she said “we want to make sure that when we bring a female director in to do Star Wars they’re set up for success. They’re gigantic films, and you can’t come into them with essentially no experience” (Polygon, 2016). The problem is, women aren’t given as many opportunities as men to work their way up the ladder and prove themselves to be able to take on such a large endeavor. This idea is reflected by Moran, Abramson, and Moran (2014) when they write, “Although women have achieved significant advances since entering the workplace, much remains to be done for women to be considered as qualified and talented as men”.

References

Alexander, J. (2016) Star Wars will get a female director ‘when the time is right’. Polygon.com Retrieved on January 26, 2017 from http://www.polygon.com/2016/11/28/13769232/star-wars-female-director

Berlatsky, N. (2015). Star Wars passes the Bechdel test – but would the rule’s cartoon mascot watch? The Guardian. Retrieved on January 26, 2017 from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/22/star-wars-the-force-awakens-feminism-bechdel-test-lesbian-culture

Cipriani, C. (2016). The Female Fighter Pilots In ‘Rogue One’ Are A Welcome Addition to the Star Wars Universe. Bustle.com. Retrieved on January 26, 2017 from https://www.bustle.com/articles/200587-the-female-fighter-pilots-in-rogue-one-are-a-welcome-addition-to-the-star-wars-universe

Wade, C. and Riesman, A. (2015). See Every Line Spoken by a Woman Not Named Leia in the Original Star Wars Trilogy. Vulture.com. Retrieved on January 26, 2017 from http://www.vulture.com/2015/12/star-wars-all-female-lines-excluding-leia.html

Moran, R., Abramson, N., and Moran, S. (2014). Managing cultural differences. (9th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Wade, C. and Riesman, A. (2015). See Every Line Spoken by a Woman Not Named Leia in the Original Star Wars Trilogy. Vulture.com. Retrieved on January 26, 2017 from http://www.vulture.com/2015/12/star-wars-all-female-lines-excluding-leia.html