Research Paper on Culture Expectations and Identity

Introduction

Organizations today have promoted diversity as a result of the regulations of the government and the need to ensure that they build a positive reputation that can be supported by the community. It is as a result of this that most organizations have different cultures. However, cultural identity and expectations have created conflict in the organizations. Cultural identity refers to the feeling of belonging such as in the case of employees in an organization. The employees tend to live lives of their own and have a different style of fashions and makeups in the organizations. These varied lifestyles have resulted in conflicts in the workplaces due to the different understandings of the people (Racine, 2016). This paper presents the conflicts that have risen from the desperation of the employees who have dreadlocks as their hairstyle and are considered negative by the other employees in the organization. The dreadlocks are a result of the culture from which an individual comes from that intuits their fundamental understanding of the issues.

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Culture Identities

Cultural identity and expectations cause collisions among employees in an organization. This hairstyle that an individual has is viewed of social identity theory. This theory states that individuals feel the need to belong to a group at all times (Chrobot-Mason et al., 2007). In the organization, individuals who have dreadlocks have comfort in rearing such styles in their heads and recognize their satisfaction while they have such styles. Otherwise, dreadlocks reviewed as being non-official in the workplace. This, therefore, poses a lot of conflicts of interest between the employees who have the dreadlocks and those that do not and at times even with the administrations. This forms social groups that are based on different cultures resulting in a complete misunderstanding. The conflict arises as a result of the existence of different social groups who have different perceptions about dreadlocks within the organization (Chrobot-Mason et al., 2007). Each group develops its identity and uses it as a benchmark for defining other groups. This definition creates conflict among groups or individuals.

The cultural identity that is created in organizations leads to expectations that cause conflict. Those who have dreadlocks are associated with celebrity which a may not be necessary to the services needed from the employees by the organization. The dreadlocks are mostly associated with the black people. This results into conflict since the significant part of the world are seeking to imitate the western countries and the countries in the Middle East because of the trademarks of development that most of them have recorded in the world's history. (Racine, 2016). Majority of the employees in the organization will stick to cultural identities that are positively valued. This is true because some of the people do not like dreadlocks of the stories that have been related to dreadlocks in the past which they have refused to refute in their minds but hold to. Such practices of dreadlocks being associated with the people who abuse drug and those that used to be lazy as in the past mentions. This makes the other people who do not accept it to still stick to such opinions even if the stylists have a different perception of the same as being just a hairstyle like any other than the others have. This creates a conflict since there is a point of misunderstanding and disagreement about an opinion that concerns the hairstyle.

Resolution Methods

Different resolution methods are available to those involved in this type of conflict. The first resolution option is competing. This is a conflict resolution method in which an individual's needs come before the needs of others (Prause & Mujtaba, 2015). This implies that an employee can stick to his or her own cultural identity and avoid creating conflict when other employees choose their personalities. The individuals who do not have dreadlock garbage, therefore, mind the styles they consider official and reputable to them and to mindless about others hence concentrating on building their styles and accommodation those with dreadlocks with respect which they deserve.

Accommodation is another method that can be used to solve the conflicts that are related tocultural differences. Accommodation refers to the act of neglecting one's personal needs to satisfy other people (Chrobot-Mason et al., 2007). This is a conflict resolution method that can apply in cultural expectations. To prevent conflict, an employee can choose to meet the expectations of the dominant culture even if it negatively affects his or her own beliefs. This will help the employees who do not have the dreadlocks and the administrations to concentrate on the services offered by these individuals with dreadlocks rather than considering their hairstyles. Accommodation comes with acceptance and showing of love and respect among the individuals.

Individuals can as well use avoidance to solve the cultural differences. Avoidance is a conflict resolution method that involves not caring about personal needs or the needs of others (Chrobot-Mason et al, 2007). This is one of the most effective ways of conflict resolution. Each social identity group is it those who are for the dreadlocks or against it sticks to their identity and do not require any expectations to be met by the other groups.

Collaboration is another method that can be applied to solve the problems of cultural differences. It uses when individuals decide to work together to find solutions to the conflict they are undergoing (Chrobot-Mason et al., 2007). Employees can choose to work together and create one social identity that brings them all together. In this, the management can come up with the standards or the specific hairstyles that are to be put by any employee. This, however, will infringe the freedom of the employees but when positively taken as a work condition then the employees can adapt to it and attain a level of uniformity.

The other method of conflict resolution is compromising. This is a type of decision that gives partial satisfaction to the parties involved (Chrobot-Mason et al., 2007). This is not an effective method of conflict resolution as it only solves the conflict temporarily. For example, employees can decide to stick to an identity but will create conflict again if the identity creates dissatisfaction.

Resolution Tools

Apart from the conflict resolution methods, there are also conflict resolution tools that can be applied in solving conflicts related to cultural identity and expectations which in this case is the negative perception towards dreadlock. The first tool is meditation. The primary characteristic of mediation is that it involves a third party who has the primary duty of helping the involved parties to agree (Harvard Law School, 2018). The purpose of the mediator is not to provide a solution but instead analyze the perspectives of both parties and find out their interests. In the case of an organization, a mediator can be a human resource manager or team leaders and in the case of dreadlocks a spiritually founded specialist and a general from the labor department can be involved too is there is any need for the bone of contention about the hairstyles basing on the biblical facts and the regulations that govern employees behavior in a state.

The other tool of conflict resolution is arbitration which also involves a third party who serves as a judge on the dispute between the involved parties (Harvard Law School, 2018). The third party, in this case, has the duty of coming up with a solution to the cultural identity problem. The purpose of the arbitrator is to listen to both sides of the argument and come up with a solution that he or she sees fit. The case of cultural identity and expectations in the organization can be resolved using this tool if the conflict is affecting the productivity of the employees. In most cases, managers act as judges.

The other type of conflict resolution is arbitration. It involves the following legal processes as implemented by the laws of different countries (Harvard Law School, 2018). If an employee feels that his or her cultural identity has created a conflict that cannot be resolved in the organization, he or she may opt to file a civil lawsuit in the court of law. In this case, the cultural identity conflict becomes a matter of the public (Harvard Law School, 2018). An employee can decide to sue a section of the members of the organization or the whole organization. The judge has the duty of weighing the evidence presented before him or her and making a decision which must be implemented by the organization.

Conclusion

Conflicts that arise from the individual perceptions on the dreadlocks are frequent in the organizations that have people of varied backgrounds and beliefs. This has majorly been as a result of diversity in organizations. This conflict arises as a result of developing social identity groups within the organization and expecting all the employees to stick to a given kind of hair treatment. Different resolution methods and tools can be applied in dealing with the conflict. However, it is the role of the organization to ensure that the battle does not affect productivity or ruin its reputation of the organization by maintaining the excellent corporation among the employees.

References

Chrobot-Mason, D., Ruderman, M. N., Weber, T. J., Ohlott, P. J., & Dalton, M. A. (2007). Illuminating a cross-cultural leadership challenge: When identity groups collide. Leadership Institute Faculty Publications. Paper 2.

Harvard Law School (2018). What are the three basic types of dispute resolution? What to know about mediation, arbitration, and litigation.

Prause, D., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2015). Conflict management practices for diverse workplaces. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly

Racine, A. A. (2016). Bicultural identity integration at work: Effects of identity conflict on role conflicts perceptions and exhaustion. University of Waterloo.