Diversity and the Need for Cross-Cultural Leadership and Collaboration

• In Event: Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: Multicultural Higher Education Theory and Practice

Abstract

This paper identifies current issues and methods for enhancing organizational climate through practices that embrace and promote cross-cultural collaboration. We identify ongoing areas of insensitivity and focus on practices that individuals and organizations need to develop in order to accommodate diversity, and to cultivate cross-cultural leadership development. Future leaders must possess skills that are respectful of increasing difference in organizations. We believe higher education is the logical site for developing these skills but before we can fully enjoy the benefits of diverse organizations and communities, we must develop and practice these skills at colleges and universities – organizations whose ongoing social relevance may very well depend on their efforts and abilities to prepare culturally-competent graduates for work in the globalizing workplace.

Authors

• Kenneth Robert Roth, California State University - Dominguez Hills

• Zachary Stephen Ritter, University of Redlands