While it might simplify life at the office if we could all just make assumptions about people based on their obvious physical characteristics, that kind of thinking just doesn`t fit the bill anymore (not that it ever really did in the first place). "Diversity goes well beyond what one can visually see," Gamlem says. "It can be hidden." Gamlem remembers the time she was on a business trip and dining alone in a restaurant. After her meal, the waiter brought her a check and told her to have a nice Mother`s Day. "He categorized me in a certain way. Because of my gender and age group, he assumed I was a mother."
Making assumptions based on a person`s race can be an even dicier proposition. The fact is that, census categories notwithstanding, the United States is a vastly diverse population, and growing more so all the time. And in the end, a person`s cultural identity is at least as important as his ethnic identity. For instance, the guy from Jamaica with an office next door to an African American may actually have more in common culturally with the light-skinned Cuban person down the hall.
So what`s a person supposed to do? The answer, says Gamlem, is both incredibly simple and enormously difficult: "Appreciate people for who they are as individuals, not for what class of people they are assumed to be associated with." That means checking your biases and automatic stereotypes -- we`ve all got them -- at the door and taking some time to understand your coworkers` cultural backgrounds and values. Gamlem is the first to admit that this fundamental and necessary change in the way we view our fellow human beings won`t happen overnight. "It`s a process," she says. "It needs to be nurtured over time."
本新闻共2页,当前在第1页 1 2