Cultural blindness takes place when individuals view others who belong to certain cultures or races in a way that is not defined by valid opinions or facts. Instead, they apply skewed perspectives that are devoid of accurate knowledge. Sometimes they might look at them and judge them wrongly. Culture blindness is usually complicated because those who exhibit it think that they are culturally competent. According to them, ethnicity, gender, and race do not matter and have no consequences. In many organizations, cultural diversity is something that cannot be avoided. It is therefore important for managers to learn how to handle individuals from different cultures and use their positive attributes. The truth is that cultural diversity is beneficial in that individuals from diverse cultures come with varied experiences that benefit organizations. However, not all managers embrace cultural diversity in the right way since some of them remain blind to the concept (Cultural Blindness, 2012).
Foley Products Company is one of the organizations whose managers have always remained blind to cultural diversity. The first factor that contributes towards cultural blindness is the belief by the managers that people from other cultures are inferior. They look down upon them as primitive and people who cannot make any positive contribution. To deal with this problem, managers should give people from other cultures a chance to show what they can do (Adler & Gundersen, 2008).
The second factor that causes managers to remain culture blind is fear of the unknown. Some of them harbor unjustified fears that accepting cultural diversity in an organization may create avenues for rebellion among workers. According to them, allowing cultural diversity gives workers the freedom to do what they like and this may eventually make them uncontrollable. For managers to overcome this problem, they should be open to the workers and communicate with them freely.
The third factor that causes managers at Foley Products Company to remain culture blind is the absence of clear and strict government policies regarding managers who do not encourage cultural diversity in their organizations. Most governments do not take the issue of cultural diversity in organizations seriously hence managers continue to discourage it. It is important for governments to ensure that managers embrace cultural diversity in their organizations. Follow-ups should be conducted to ensure that those who fail to adhere to the requirements are punished (Gavin, 2012).
The fourth factor that causes managers to remain culture blind is ignorance and fear on the part of workers. Most workers are ignorant of their rights hence they make it easy for managers to discriminate against them on the basis of culture. Others remain silent for fear of losing their only jobs. In the case of Foley Products Company, the managers remain culture blindly and oppress the black workers since the blacks are afraid of losing their jobs and do not know their rights. To solve this problem, it is important for workers in organizations to be educated on their rights for them to know that there is nothing wrong with being from a different culture. In any case, that should be used to offer them more opportunities.
The fifth factor that causes managers to remain culture blind is the lack of internal organizational policies that require them to embrace cultural diversity. Since they are not bound by tough regulations that require them to embrace cultural diversity, they simply work for personal gains. Organizations should put in place internal policies that require managers to remain culturally sensitive.
References
Adler, N., & Gundersen, A. (2008). International dimensions of organizational behavior, New York: Cengage Learning. Cultural Blindness. (2012). Web.
Gavin, K. (2012). Cultural Incapacity and Cultural Blindness. Web.