Recognizing Cultural Differences Essay Example for Free

Recognizing Cultural Differences Essay I have worked for Pizza Hut for a total of nine years. This company claims that they are considered an equal opportunity employer. They claim that they follow the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This means that they cannot and do not discriminate against their employees (current and potential) based on several things: race, gender, religion, or national origin. This commission was set into place on July 2, 1965. Several other protected classes were added later on. These include, age (if the person is over 40), disability, family history, military history, and most recently, sexual orientation (Wikipedia, 2012). Although Pizza Hut does recognize cultural differences amongst their employees as well as their customers, I have seen times where Pizza Hut has faltered. Recognizing Culturally Different Employees Pizza Hut does several things that recognize the cultural differences amongst their employees. The first is that we are closed on Christmas and Thanksgiving days. This not only allows us to spend time with our families, but it also allows us to celebrate the true meaning of these holidays. Our company does not have a Christmas party because we do not want to exclude anyone that does not celebrate these holidays. We do have a couple people who do not. We also have a couple of employees who have had to alter their uniform due to the beliefs that their culture believes in. There are some religions that believe that women should always be in an ankle length skirt. We do have one or two employees that are able to continue to honor this belief, even though our uniform includes black pants. My company also has a variety of different cultures working for us. We have African Americans, Hispanics, Pakistanis, Bulgarians, and whites. To be a part of a crew like this has made for a great educational experience for me and my other co-workers. I learn something new from these cultures almost every day. This company also recognizes the cultural differences amongst our customers. During the religious period, Lent, we offer specials on Fridays for those customers that do not eat meat on Fridays, per Lent. We do have customers that are vegetarian by choice or due to their culture. The way that we accommodate and recognize this is that we make sure that when these types of pizzas are ordered, we cut the pizzas with a clean knife and we change our gloves to make sure there is no cross-contamination. The best way that I have seen our company recognize the differences amongst our employees and our customers is that we take extra special care concerning people with disabilities. We have an employee that has severe attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. As a co-worker as well as a mentor to the new employees, I have set up different types of training modules in order to accommodate for different learning disabilities. This is one thing that I am really proud of. For our district, we have a binder that has different modules of training to help accommodate the employees that have certain learning disabilities. I have had to experience using the general training methods on people who have a hard time learning unless it is done a certain way. I used to get frustrated when they just did not seem to get it. By using the training kits and tools we have now, our company has helped to train employees of all types. Breach of Cultural Awareness As proud as I am to boast about all the good things that my company does to recognize cultural differences, there are some things that I have seen that make me ashamed to say that I work for them. It is not just Pizza Hut, but there are a lot of companies that say they do one thing but they actually do the complete opposite. For example, my store in particular states that we do not discriminate against anyone based on gender. The truth is my boss does to an extent. All members of management are male. Our entire dining room staff is women. To me, I feel like I am being discriminated against due to the fact that I am a woman. I have the qualifications as well as the knowledge to become a member of management. In fact, I have passed all the necessary tests and interviews, but my boss continues to make excuses as to why I have not been promoted yet. Another example of a breach in cultural awareness is one that makes me really ashamed to say I work for this boss. I have heard on several occasions that my boss does not like hiring African Americans. This is something that bothers me a lot because I think that prejudice and racism is completely uncalled for. Recently, we had an applicant come in for an interview and to take the assessment test. He passed the test better than most of our other employees. I was able to observe this interview and was complete appalled by what I saw. My boss did not really interview him like he did me when I got hired. He truly acted like he was not interested in anything that the applicant had to say. In fact, after the interview, my boss told me that he was not going to hire him. He said he was not qualified. I informed him that I thought he would have thought different had he actually listened to him during the interview. He finally told me what his reason was for not wanting to hire him. He said that he does not like to hire African Americans because they are lazy and he has had bad experiences with them as far as work is concerned. This comment angered me to a point where I almost quit because I did not want to work for a company that would allow this type of discrimination. I talked to my area coach about this. After this talk, the applicant was hired and has become an incredibly hard worker. He is actually one of our best. Both of these examples are inappropriate because not only are they against the law, but they are against any moral that I know or believe. It is wrong to discriminate against people for any reason. The classes the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission protect do not identify the type of worker you are. Just because I am a woman does not mean that I am not capable of running the store when my boss is not there. It does not mean that I do not know how to protect myself concerning my safety as well as my fellow employees. The skin color does not depict what type of worker that specific person is. My boss said he had a bad experience with that particular race. This does not mean that the entire race needs to be punished. Conclusion Just because a company says that they follow the law established by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission does not mean that they do. Of course, concerning rule book, they do. Just like case with Pizza Hut, there is always going to be some type of discrimination. Every company has the good things that they do to recognize the differences amongst their employees, but I also believe that there are going to be the blunders as well. Companies have been getting away with blunders for a long time. The blunders seem to be overshadowed by the recognition that the companies give.