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Cultural Sensitivity

In: Business and Management

Submitted By fishcatman01
Words 2126
Pages 9
Cultural sensitivity is accepting of the values and beliefs of others. It can also be defined as developing a sincere and deep understanding of the differences between various people and working past them by also seeing and appreciating the similarities between those same people. Cultural sensitivity is difficult to put into practice especially for national organizations of large size. Three factors that can affect an organization’s strategic plan are classes of employees working within the organization, regional variations that exist within the organization, and the impact of the changing family definitions in today’s world. Each of these three factors has an influence on the successful recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce. Southwest Airlines (Southwest) is an example of a national organization that demonstrates the impact of these three factors.
The organizational status of each employee would be achieved through personal effort in an open class system versus the social class to which each employee belongs (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2003). Guaranteed merit based upward mobility is a factor that can motivate top candidates to come to work for a given organization. Furthermore, merit base upward mobility will go on to motivate top candidates to stay and continue working with the organizations because he or she see that their efforts are being recognized and rewarded with upward mobility within the organization. Another motivational benefit of an open class system within an organization is that it will inspire individuals to work in a dedicated and efficient manner toward achieving organizational goals.
At Southwest, class differentiation between employees exists in the ranges of income. Southwest has reduced its potential negative effects through established human resources management policies that have succeeded in promoting equal respect for all employees

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