Workforce Language Services

Myelita Melton’s article reads a bit like Hispanic Culture for Dummies, and may not be useful to managers who have already given some thought to how to manage a diverse group of employees.  But her points about Latino culture serve as a useful reminder and could be the starting point of a discussion about managing in a multicultural environment for those who have just begun to think about it.

 Her mention of nationalism among Latinos should be highlighted:

Nationalism: Nationalism is deeply ingrained in Hispanics. This is a fact that most Americans don’t realize fully. When we see a person speaking Spanish, many automatically assume that the person is Mexican. Often that just isn’t true. Spanish is spoken over a wide geographic area that includes many very different countries.

All of us are deeply proud of our roots. Latin Americans have deep attachments to their homelands and the unique culture that comes with that. Because you speak English, would you like to be mistaken for a Canadian instead of an American? Probably not!

I’ve often seen instances in which people assume that Spanish-speaking countries’ populations all behave and think the same way.  Managers would do well to keep in mind that the cultural and linguistic differences between people from the Dominican Republic and Argentina are just as profound as those between the U.S. and Australia.