In order for organizations to compete in a global economy, they must be able to attract and retain the best employees. For most organizations, this means recruiting and hiring a more diverse workforce for roles that they have less typically held. In a diverse marketplace, organizations are increasingly seeking to reflect in their workforce the diversity found in their customers. As more organizations become globally integrated, the HRD and learning efforts taking place must keep pace.

Organizational culture can be defined as a set of shared values, beliefs, and norms, that are used to guide employee behavior. Organizational culture is used as a frame of reference for the way one looks at, attempts to understand, and works within an organization. Organizations are subsets of larger sociopolitical cultures. Artifacts are objects and patterns that communicate information about the organization’s technology, values, and ways of doing things.

Material artifacts include documents, physical layout, furnishings, patterns of dress, and so on. Nonmaterial artifacts include organizational stories, ceremonies, and leadership styles. Patterns of behavior help to reinforce an organization’s assumptions, beliefs, and ways of doing things through staff meetings, training programs, filing forms, and other normal organizational practices. For example, if an organization initiates a sexual harassment policy by scheduling a mandatory training program for all employees, it is communicating a high level of importance and value to this responsibility.

If an organization employs individuals who make similar assumptions about people and have similar values and beliefs, then there is greater likelihood that they will demonstrate loyalty and commitment to organizational goals. Conversely, organizations that employ people from diverse cultures or subcultures, where there may be divergent assumptions, values, and beliefs, may have different experiences. Cultural diversity can have many positive outcomes. This diversity, among other things, can bring a richness of perspectives to an organization.

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