How Do You See Diversity?

As a manager, Tiffany is responsible forinterviewing applicants for some of the positions with her company. During oneinterview, she noticed that the candidate never made direct eye contact. Shewas puzzled and somewhat disappointed because she liked the individualotherwise.

He hada perfect resume and gave good responses to her questions, but the fact thathe never looked her in the eye said “untrustworthy,” so she decided to offerthe job to her second choice. （第一题答案出处）
“Itwasn’t until I attended a diversity workshop that I realized the person wepassed over was the perfect person,” Tiffany confesses. What she hadn’tknown at the time of the interview was that the candidate’s “different”behavior was simply a cultural misunderstanding.（第二题答案出处） He was an Asian-American raised in a household where respect forthose in authority was shown by averting(避开)your eyes.
“I was just thrown off by the lack of eyecontact; not realizing it was cultural,” Tiffany says. “I missed out, but willnot miss that opportunity again.”
Many of us have had similar encounters withbehaviors we perceive as different. As the world becomes smaller and ourworkplaces more diverse, it is becoming essential to expand our understandingof others and to reexamine some of our false assumptions.（第三题答案出处）
Hire Advantage
At a time when hiring qualified people isbecoming more difficult, employers who can eliminate invalid biases (偏见) from theprocess have a distinct advantage. My company, Mindsets LLC, helpsorganizations and individuals see their own blind spots.（第四题答案出处） A real estaterecruiter we worked with illustrates the positive difference such training canmake.
“During my Mindsets coaching session, I wastaught how to recruit a diversified workforce. I recruited people fromdifferent cultures and skill sets. The agents were able to utilize their fullpotential and experiences to build up the company. When the real estate marketbegan to change, it was because we had a diverse agent pool that we were ableto say in the real estate market much longer than others in the same profession.”
Blinded by Gender
Dale is an account executive who attended oneof my workshops on supervising a diverse workforce. “Through one of thesessions, I discovered my personal bias,” he recalls. “I learned I had not beenlooking at a person as a whole person, and being open to differences.” In hiscase, the blindness was not about culture but rather gender.
“I had a management position open in mydepartment; and the two finalists were a man and a woman. Had I not attendedthis workshop, I would have automatically assumed the man was the bestcandidate because the position required quite a bit of extensive travel. Myreasoning would have been that even though both candidates were great and couldhave been successful in the position, I assumed the woman would have wanted tohe home with her children and not travel.” Dale’s assumptions are anotherexample of the well-intentioned but incorrect thinking that limits anorganization’s ability to tap into the full potential of a diverse workforce.
“I learned from the class that instead ofimposing my gender biases into the situation, I needed to present the fullrange of duties, responsibilities and expectations to all candidates and allowthem to make an informed decision.”（第五题答案出处）Dale credits the workshop, “because it helped me makedecisions based on fairness.”（第六题答案出处）
Year of the Know-It-All
Doug is another supervisor who attended oneof my workshops. He recalls a major lesson learned from his own employee.
“One of my most embarrassing moments was whenI had a Chinese-American employee put in a request to take time off tocelebrate Chinese New Year. In my ignorance, I assumed he had his dates wrong,as the first of January had just passed. When I advised him of this, I gavehim a long talking-to about turning in requests early with the proper dates.（第七题答案出处）
“He patiently waited, then when I was done,he said he would like Chinese New Year off, not the Western New Year. Heexplained politely that in his culture the new year did not begin Januaryfirst, and that Chinese New Year, which is tied to the lunar cycle, is one ofthe most celebrated holidays on the Chinese calendar. Needless to say, Ifelt very embarrassed in assuming hehad his dates mixed up.（第八题答案出处） But I learned a great deal about assumptions, and that the timingof holidays varies considerably from culture to culture.
“Attending the diversity workshop helped merealize how much I could learn by simply asking questions and creatingdialogues with my employees, rather than making assumptions and trying to be aknow-it-all,” Doug admits. “The biggest thing I took away from the workshop islearning how to be more ‘inclusive’ to differences.”
A Better Bottom Line
An open mind about diversity not onlyimproves organizations internally, it is profitable as well. These commentsfrom a customer service representative show how an inclusive attitude canimprove sales. “Most of my customers speak English as a second language. One ofthe best things my company has done is to contract with a language service thatoffers translations over the phone. It wasn’t until my boss received Mindsets’training that she was able to understand how important inclusiveness was to customer service.（第九题） As a result, Oct customer basehas increased.”
Once we start to see people as individuals,and discard the stereotypes, we can move positively toward inclusiveness foreveryone. Diversity is about coming together and taking advantage of ourdifferences and similarities.（第十题） It is about building better communities and organizations thatenhance us as individuals and reinforce our shared humanity.
When we begin to question our assumptions andchallenge what we think we have learned from our past, from the media, peers,family, friends, etc., we begin to realize that some of our conclusions are flawed (有缺陷的) or contraryto our fundamental values. We need to train ourselves to think differently,shift our mindsets and realize that diversity opens doors for all of us,creating opportunities in organizations and communities that benefit everyone.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
1-8只给出答案，不做详细解析。因为1-8题只要找到阅读区间，答案便可知晓。
1. What bothered Tiffany during aninterview with her candidate?
A) He just wouldn’t look her in the eye.
B) He was slow in answering herquestions.
C) His resume didn’t provide thenecessary information.
D) His answers to some of her questionswere irrelevant.

2. Tiffany’s misjudgment about the candidate stemmed from.
A) racial stereotypes
B) invalid personal bias
C) cultural ignorance
D) emphasis on physical appearance

3. What is becoming essential in thecourse of economic globalization according to the author?
A) Hiring qualified technical andmanagement personnel.
B) Increasing understanding of people of other cultures.
C) Constantly updating knowledge andequipment.
D) Expanding domestic and internationalmarkets.

4. What kind of organization isMindsets LLC?
A) A real estate agency.
B) A personnel training company.
C) A cultural exchange organization.
D) A hi-tech company.

5. After one of the workshops,account executive Dale realized that .
A) he had hired the wrong person
B) he could have done more for hiscompany
C) he had not managed his workforce well
D) he must get rid of his gender bias

6. What did Dale think of MindsetsLLC’s workshop?
A) It was well-intentioned but poorlyconducted.
B) It tapped into the executives’ fullpotential.
C) It helped him make fair decisions.
D) It met participants’ diverse needs.

7. How did Doug, a supervisor,respond to a Chinese-American employee’s request for leave?
A) He told him to get the dates right.
B) He demanded an explanation.
C) He flatly turned it down.
D) He readily approved it.   
8. Doug felt embarrassed when he realized that his assumption was wrong.


9. After attending Mindsets’workshops, the participants came to know the importance of
inclusiveness to their business.
解析：原文是she was able to understand how important inclusiveness was to customer service。用的是how important, 这里只是把how important 改成了the importance of
10.
When we view people as individuals and get rid of stereotypes, wecan achieve diversity and benefit from the differences and similarities between us.
解析：原文 Diversity is about comingtogether and taking advantage of our differences and similarities。这里把 benefit from改成了 take advantage of.