Harnessing respect for developing an effective organizational culture.

A growth in multinational organisations in the 21st Century has brought with it a need for further cross-cultural interactions with businesses and foreign investors, from all sectors of industry and from different societies across the globe. This coupled with the movements of people from all over the world, has led to an increase in the number of employees of cultural difference in the workplace. Evidence suggests that it is not cultural differences per se, but the lack of unification and understanding of them that leads to discrimination; Hence, the nurturing of a culture that is deemed institutionally racist. Such practices can render the organisation in breach of government legislation on equal rights and fairness towards the treatment of all employees irrespective of culture or for instance, race, disability, age, marital status or gender. As such, this state of affairs would create an untenable situation for the organisation thus making it difficult for it to maintain its credibility and in turn, its sustainability in an economic world climate that is fraught with financial challenges. Businesses in the millennium also have to contend with the on-going threat of competitors. These occurrences render an imminent need to forge harmonious working relationships between those of difference in the workplace. But what are the implications for Human Resource Management policy makers locally, nationally, and globally?