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Cultural Diversity 2. Space. Personal space is the area that surrounds
Ms. V. is beginning orientation as a new staff nurse. a person’s body. The amount of personal space
She has been told that part of her orientation will be individuals prefer varies from person to person
a morning class on cultural diversity. She says to the and from situation to situation. Cultural beliefs
Human Resources person in charge of orientation, also influence a person’s personal space comfort
“I don’t think I need to attend that class. I treat all zone. In the workplace, an understanding of
people as equal. Besides, anyone living in the United coworkers’ comfort related to personal space is
States has an obligation to learn the language and important. Often, this comfort is relayed in
ways of those of us who were born here, not the other nonverbal rather than verbal communication.
way around.” 3. Social organization. In most cultures, the
Mr. M. is a staff nurse on a medical-surgical family is the most important social organiza-
unit. A young man with HIV infection has been tion. For some people, the importance of family
admitted. He is scheduled for surgery in the morn- supersedes that of other personal, work, or
ing and has requested that his significant other be national causes; for example, caring for a sick
present for the preoperative teaching. Mr. M. reluc- child overrides the importance of being on time
tantly agrees but mumbles under his breath to a or even coming to work, regardless of staffing
coworker, “It wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t throw needs or policies. Because the health-care
their homosexuality around and act like an old industry employs a large number of women, the
married couple. Why can’t he act like a man and get value of the family becomes an important issue
his own preop instructions?” in the workplace.
4. Time. Time orientation is often related to cul-
Diversity in health-care organizations includes ture, environment, and family experiences.
ethnicity, race, culture, gender, lifestyle, primary Some cultures are more past-oriented and focus
language, age, physical capabilities, and career on maintaining traditions, with little interest in
stages of employees. The composition of nurses in goals. People from cultures with more of a pres-
health care is changing to include more older ent and future orientation may be more likely
workers, minorities, and men.Working with people to engage in activities, such as returning to
who have different customs, traditions, communi- school or receiving certifications that will
cation styles, and beliefs can be exciting as well as enhance the future. Working with people who
challenging. An organization that fosters diversity have different time orientations may cause
encourages respect and understanding of human difficulty in planning schedules and setting
characteristics and acceptance of the similarities deadlines for the group.
and differences that make us human. 5. Environment control. Environmental control
Often,when stressful situations arise,gender,age, consists of those activities that an individual
and culture can contribute to misunderstandings. plans for controlling nature. Environmental
Davidhizer, Dowd, and Giger (1999) identified six control is best understood through the psycho-
important factors in their model for understanding logical terms internal and external locus of
cultural diversity: control. Individuals with an external locus of
control believe in fate or chance. People with an
1. Communication. Communication and culture internal locus of control believe in developing
are closely bound. Culture is transmitted plans and directing their environment. In the
through communication, and culture influences workplace, nurses are expected to operate from
how verbal and nonverbal communication is an internal locus of control. This approach may
expressed. Vocabulary, voice qualities, intona- be different from what a person has grown up
tion, rhythm, speed, silence, touch, body pos- with or how a patient deals with illness.
tures, eye movements, and pronunciation differ 6. Biological variations. More and more infor-
among cultural groups and vary among persons mation is available to health-care workers about
from similar cultures. Using respect as a central the variations among races in aspects such as
core to a relationship, everyone needs to assess body structure, skin color, genetic variations,
personal beliefs and communication variables of susceptibility to disease, and psychological
others in the workplace. differences. The Joint Commission states that