Positions Paper: Multiculturalism (Essay Sample)

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Position Paper
Multiculturalism is the existence of different types of cultures and ethnicity in a particular area or place. In many case, the government designs policies to respond to the diversity in the interest of the individuals of the society as a whole. This is a policy for managing consequences of cultural diversity.
The paper focuses on whether programs and services should be designed in relation to the culture of the beneficiary. The aspect of culture is briefly mentioned in service delivery yet it influences the successes of a service delivery process. Different communities respond differently to community resources and also government agencies. In communities where there is a pattern in settlement, their response to service delivery differs from a community with random pattern of living.
Communities can be divided according to religion, sexism, race, ethnicity or origin, age and social economic class. Each must be recognized and accounted for if one is to understand human behavioral differences of that community.
The issue of program design and specifying services to suit different cultures are however accepted by some people and rejected by others. Below are some reasons to support the fact that programs and service delivery should be culture designed.
Various services may appear important and useful to certain communities and may be accepted willingly and easily as compared to other services. This may be because of different history and the meaning it carries along. It is important to learn the history of a certain service or program in relation to the community to which it is intended for.
Service level can be defined as the number of customers that are willing to take the product. Different customers will take the product is it fits them and therefore considered tailored to their advantage. As it applies to business, for a successful design of program or service, the service should be made to suit the final client in relation to their race, age, sexuality or other cultural difference.
Considering a uniform service for the community regardless of culture may affect its acceptance because a certain group may require attention and therefore may believe that they will not be understood culturally or their needs will not be properly addressed in a helpful manner. This is because different class of people has different priorities that if not followed will affect the influence of the service offered to the client. For example a slum may choose to have water instead of network fibre optics. If the government is extending the fibre optic, the community will not acknowledge the service as an important service to them like other well off communities. This calls for service delivery to be tailored to suit the client.
Language and communication, is another reason service delivery programs should be designed according to culture. Language and communication may promote or even render service delivery useless to a certain community. Different communities have different nativities and may feel comfortable seeing their own people attend to them in their own native way. The best way a person will understand a message is when it’s put it their native language. To reach out to a large audience one has to print booklets or even bibles in a native language. Here people will receive it with a perception that it is intended for them and therefore they will embrace it and act positively. This is opposed to passing the same message across the whole country, this will be hindered by the language barrier and therefore only a few who understand the language will take action and the little who are concerned will ask. This therefore means that service delivery should be designed for a particular client.
Community facilities and other services are underutilized by cultural diverse clients; this is mainly witnessed in those cultural groups of color. This is because service providers in most cases although not knowingly discriminate against race. This discourages the people of the community to accept the service affecting its delivery. However if the service is made to suit them which includes proper management and staffing, such issues of discrimination due to color will be minimized and therefore the community will embrace the service as made to suit them.
Some authors suggest that for a successful service delivery, one has to adapt to the techniques of the natives such as mode of verbal intervention and also tone of voice in relation to the cultural back ground of the client, respect the client in terms of their cultural back ground. This therefore means that for a service to be readily acceptable the interests of the people in relation to their culture must be considered important. Evidence has it that teaching the local curriculum and incorporation of various cultures into the curricular material reduces tension and also improves integration, (Marc, 2010).
However there are various reasons which are against designing programs to suit specific cultures. They include;
Programs and service ...