Excerpts

Preface By now, most organizations are aware that changes in the general population profoundly affect the makeup of their workforce in the twenty-first century. This book is therefore designed to meet the needs of professionals who are expected to address the implications of cultural diversity through training, facilitating and other developmental programs. The underlying philosophy in The Diversity Training Activity Book is to train workshop participants to deal constructively with the changing workforce, and to do so in a nonthreatening environment. A new awareness, coupled with matching skills, can build bridges of understanding and cooperation which will influence daily performance. Individuals participating in the activities offered in this guide will first examine their own cultural backgrounds. They will then recognize how cultural differences may impact behavior. They will also learn skills to help them work effectively in a multicultural environment. Ultimately, their organizations will benefit through improved communication, reduced conflict and more productive relationships. The activities contained in this guide are equally useful in industrial, service, government and not-for-profit organizations, as well as health care, educational, financial and other institutions. Certain assumptions form the basis for the activities in this book: --Culture is not good or bad. It just "is." --Often what may be considered "just the way it is" is culturally influenced. --One's view of the world is shaped by values, perceptions, assumptions, and expectations. --The more people know about their own culture, and the more they know about other cultures, the better the communication will be. --The way one does or sees things, when coupled with the way others do and see things, can lead to new improved ways of doing and seeing things. --Being different is "OK" and differences can be recognized, acknowledged and cherished. --The responsibility for intellectual communication is not solely that of any one of the parties, but shared by all. Furthermore, the authors assume that those who are conducting this training have conducted training before. Therefore, this book does not include basic information on how to design needs assessments, lesson plans or the steps necessary for handling logistics. This book provides a series of activities which are carefully constructed to: --Introduce the topic of diversity --Increase awareness of the impact of culture in the workplace --Demonstrate skills for managing a culturally diverse workplace --Address the matter of gender in the workplace Each activity is presented in the following format: --NAME, to identify the exercise --Brief description of the PURPOSE of the exercise --Normal TIME allotment --EQUIPMENT required --Consumable MATERIALS needed --PROCEDURES suggesting how the exercise should be conducted --Short CONCLUSION section --Helpful TRAINER'S NOTES Our approach is to use participative exercises, lecturettes, mini-case studies and role-plays in which participants will become actively involved in situations that help them deal with diversity and gender-related issues in the workplace. Also included are many exercises in master form, available for use either as handouts or as material for transparencies. Jonamay Lambert Selma Myers Excerpted from THE DIVERSITY TRAINING ACTIVITY BOOK by Jonamay Lambert and Selma Myers. Copyright (c) 2009. Published by AMACOM Books, a division of American Management Association, New York, NY. Used with permission. All rights reserved. http://www.amacombooks.org. Excerpted from The Diversity Training Activity Book: 50 Activities for Promoting Communication and Understanding at Work by Jonamay Lambert, Selma Myers All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.