Language barriers can be issue with police departments. For example, when a police officer does routine violation stop, and the drive can comprehend and speak English. It will be difficult for the officer to request for license and vehicle registration. In this situation, it can become violent or deadly because the driver will probably do things that are not ask of him or her and this will give the office probable cause to use deadly force. Many police departments are implement training program or the program called Limited English Proficient to train their officers to learn how to speak different languages or the police department is recruiting people that speak multiple languages. In 2005, the Limited English Proficient program and Vera Institute of Justice Training program encourages police department to analyze …show more content…
their polices on how they handle language barriers situations in multicultural community.
Some of the factors that need to be consider when trying to find the best method to overcome language barriers while policing are as following; to evaluate the organization’s resources, agency’s responsibilities, to evaluate the size of the multicultural community, how many languages are spoken, how many employees that are bilingual, and how many interpreters organization. It is important for police departments to have polices and procedure to overcome language barriers in order for police officers to police limited English proficiency communities (Breaking Through the Language Barriers: Promises Practices from the Field, 2010).
In my opinion, it is important for private and public organizations to adopt and implement programs and laws to overcome the challenges in a diverse work environment. One of the laws that organizations follow are Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972. Equal Employment Act of 1972 prohibits discrimination of employment on the basis of race, color, nation, origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political , beliefs , and marital status. Another law that
public and private organizations adopted to implement into their company’s policies is Affirmative Action Act of 1964. This act prohibits employment discrimination based of race, sex, and gender. Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibits organizations compensate employees different base on gender. Age Discrimination Act of 1967 protects employees who age 40 years or older from getting fire. Organizations should also implement diversity training and diversity educations to assist employees with adapting to diverse workplace. According to the article entitled “Diversity Training: 10 Benefits of Workplace Training”, it stated diversity can have several benefits such as it assist managers with developing skills on how to adapt and manage different cultures in the workplace. The outcome of this is it builds stronger relationships between managers and employees. Another advantage of diversity training and education is it builds a trust among employees. Employees are able to feel comfortable with sharing ideas and perspective. This will assist the organizations with increasing productivity. Organizations can also benefit for designing programs that help employees with advancing within the corporation. These programs will also eliminate lawsuit for discriminating against minorities and females for obtaining higher level positions. For an example, AT&T designed several programs to assist minorities and females to develop management skills to advance in the company ( some of the programs are Management Development and Emerging Leaders programs). Public and private organizations have overcome many barriers when trying to manage diverse organizations. Some of the barriers organizations have to overcome in diverse work environment are language barriers, gerontology discrimination, advanced technology, and gender. Several organizations implemented laws into company’s policies to protect from any discrimination lawsuits. Equal Employment Opportunity Act prohibits employment discrimination basis of race, gender, color, or religion. Another act public and private organizations is Equal Act Pay ( prohibits organizations for paying genders differently). It is also important for public and private organizations to have diversity training programs to assist employees with adjusting to diverse work environment. Most public and private organizations have management in trainee programs to assist employees with advancing within the company. By organizations overcome barriers , it can assist them with conduction business internationally. Organizations are able to embrace the diversity in the workplace because the employees are well rounded and they can utilize their talents and experiences to increase productivity and revenue for their company.
...re is a need for laws to protect employees from discrimination based on skin color or race.
How are Hispanics getting help with English and what obstacles or barriers are they facing? That is an extremely good question. Everyday, more and more Hispanics are making a move to the United States in hopes of a better life. The only problem is that many of them can not speak any English at all. Since the United States is basically an English speaking nation, it is important that Hispanics learn English to be able to adjust to life within the United States. But, that is easier said than done because it is not easy to get Hispanics the help that they need in learning English. There have to be people who are willing to tutor and fund programs. Of course, there are always obstacles or barriers that stands in the way of progress.
In today’s world, the American still has barriers to overcome in the matter of racial equality. Whether it is being passed over for a promotion at the job or being underpaid, some people have to deal with unfair practice that would prevent someone of color or the opposite sex from having equal opportunity at the job. In 2004, Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores Incorporation was a civil rights class-action suite that ruled in favor of the women who worked and did not received promotions, pay and certain job assignments. This proves that some corporations ignore the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects workers from discrimination based on sex, race, religion or national origin.
Right now, imagine a person in a future job. More than likely that person will encounter somebody speaking a language besides their native tongue. If someone would find themselves in that position, would they be prepared? There is a growing need for translators and other jobs that require a different language other than English. Demands for bilingual workers have doubled in the past five years, and employers say that job is now one of the highest requests by employers when applying for a job opportunity in the US. The Army, NYPD, and the State Department all can’t get enough workers with this important job skill (Kurtz). A second language should be mandatory in American schools because it makes employees more marketable, creates social interaction with different cultures, and increases cognitive skills.
Equal Employment Opportunity means freedom from discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, color, national origin, disability and age. Affirmative Action plans define an employer’s standard for proactively, recruiting, hiring, and promoting women, minorities, disabled individuals and veterans (SHRM, 2012). EEO, Affirmative Action: Equal Employment Opportunity is to ensure employee’s performance is high and the overall goals of the organization are being met. Affirmative Action and EEO are regulations that help ensure fair actions and opportunities are given in the workplace. Employees who receive equal employment opportunities are much more focused in the workplace, which is geared toward achieving the goals of the organization. Embracing
From my experience, bilingual education was a disadvantage during my childhood. At the age of twelve, I was introduced into a bilingual classroom for the first time. The crowded classroom was a combination of seventh and eighth grade Spanish-speaking students, who ranged from the ages of twelve to fifteen. The idea of bilingual education was to help students who weren’t fluent in the English language. The main focus of bilingual education was to teach English and, at the same time, teach a very basic knowledge of the core curriculum subjects: Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, bilingual education had academic, psychological, and social disadvantages for me.
Workforce diversity has become a reality in organizations. More organizations have written workforce diversity policies or programs. Although there is still no consensus on how to define workforce diversity, diversity policies and program are producing positive effects in organizations. Diversity in the workplace is a way of defining acceptable behaviors of employees. Diversity represents all the ways in which individuals are both similar and different. It involves a variation of characteristics such as: age, sex, color, religion, national origin, disability, or any other differences. Although diversity initiatives are common in the workplace today, this is due mainly to the federal government use of constitutional amendments, legislation, and executive orders, along with court decisions to interpret the laws for equal rights (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2010). The way an organization defines diversity and how it manages its diverse workforce may determine its effectiveness.
America is known as the land of the free where every immigrant wants to come to make a life for themselves and their family. An ethnically diverse workplace is very common due to equal rights and minorities are now given the same chance as white people. Since this country is made up of many diverse communities, it is impossible to walk down the street without seeing someone that has a different ethnicity than yourself. In the workplace it is very common to have co-workers that are of a different ethnic background than yourself as well. I believe that it is a huge benefit to work with people from a different ethnic background. I have been able to open my eyes and relate with people that are not white. I have learned many things about people with different ethnic background, such as their morals, work ethics, and personalities. Some people are still close minded about the idea of working with a person of a different race; I believe that is ridicules considering the amount of people of different races in America today. Sooner or later you will have to work with people of different races, so why not make it sooner? ?Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, originally passed in 1964, outlines the groups employers are prohibited from discriminating against. The law includes race, gender, age, national origin and disability status among the underrepresented classifications -- but it does not include sexual orientation? (Velez, 2004).
Throughout the years the United States has faced many challenges with equal employment opportunities for everyone. The United States has developed The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, also known as the EEOC, to enforce laws that help prevent everyone from being treated unfairly when it comes to employment options. The EEOC has established stipulations and overlooks all of the federal equal employment opportunity regulations, practices and policies (“Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination Questions and Answers”). Some laws that have been passed are the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. Although some discrimination is still a problem, all of these laws have helped the United States citizens become treated more equally in the work force.
Within the public safety field policy outcome is very important, because if the workers cannot abide by the policies that are set in place, then the organization will have no direction and it will not survive. But, what could cause this to happen? There are many things that can cause policies to fail (e.g., biases) or lack of understanding another person’s culture etc. Since we live in a world that is extremely diverse it is our job as leaders to make sure that this does not become an issue for us. Therefore, within this paper we will take a closer look at how other cultures or race might influence polices outcome, especially since it tends to always be in the spotlight since 9/11, and the public is scrutinizing our actions, so
This includes whether or not police departments feel that this type of training is necessary. Sometimes police departments will not offer this type of training until and unless they are convinced that it is actually needed. They are sometimes unwilling to make the commitment to spend money, time and personnel to accomplish this. In cases like this, cultural sensitivity training should be made mandatory for every police department that way there is no longer the factor of trying to convince administrators and supervisors of its importance. Another obstacle is gauging how well officers grasped the information and skills during training, and how that will convert into how effective they work out in the field. An easy way to explain this would be to compare it to a college course. Student A gets an A as his overall grade for the course, while student B receives a C as his overall grade for the course. Both students pass the course and seem to have some knowledge about what was taught. If these were officers, both would be allowed to work out in the field, but whether or not the officer that scored higher actually does better than the other officer how scored lower is yet to be found for two reasons. Firstly, being able to pass exams with high scores does not necessarily mean that they comprehend more, it may mean that they are better at memorization and test taking. On the other had
My experience with a language barrier was the most difficult, clear and present danger of my first year at an American high school. There was a huge difference between what I expected my experience would be and reality. At my American school, I understood a good amount of what was happening, but hardly everything, because I was not comfortable with the quick tempo that teachers spoke in. To be honest, sitting in my classroom for a lesson for the first time was also the first time I had heard so much English! Every day I found myself guessing my teacher’s meaning about the content or assignments, and when it came time for a group discussion, I was afraid to talk about my opinions because I thought that maybe I spoke weird English.
The language barrier is potentially high in situations where cultures are widely differing and languages may not even share a common alphabet, for example between the West and China, making it extremely difficult for expatriates to acquire a high degree of language ability (Selmer, 2006)
There are many strategies that Berardo (2007) suggests to help overcome language barriers. Although they
In conclusion, language barriers are problems currently faced by employers in today’s economic workforce. While the United States does not have a national language, it is generally expected for an employee to speak and understand English. Some ways to solve the problems that arise from this, such as tension between English speaking employees and non-English speaking Employees or non-English speaking employees and clientele, are incentive plans or workshops. It is imperative for an employer not to blur the line between doing what is necessary and violating the rights of the nation’s citizens. While it may take time to remedy these issues, in time I believe language issues shall be resolved.