Unit 8_CM410_Discussion response

13676Respond or elaborate on the discussion response below:

I volunteer with the American Red Cross (ARC) while I am deployed. The ARC works to provide many different morale boosts to everyone in the deployed environment, including American service members, civilian contractors, coalition service members and host nation individuals as well. The ARC staff where I am (for security purposes, we will call my location “Paradise”) do their best to appeal to every member of their audience. The staff demonstrate a desire to have cultural competence for everyone they interact with in Paradise, understanding that what may perceived as ‘normal’ in one culture, could be atypical or even offensive in another. This is one effective way that the ARC attempts to manage diversity. The staff also understand that their language barrier creates a power imbalance against non-English speakers. This power imbalance could lead to conflict if the power tips too far to one side without taking into account those on the other side. And finally the ARC attempts to understand that the differences between the cultures they serve are not unique differences. The “intersectional differences” between cultures are based on connections between the different cultures, and are impacted by how the cultures are alike and how they are different (Mumby & Kuhn, 2019). It is difficult to determine how effectively the ARC staff does at creating an inclusive environment, especially because I do not get a chance to interact with any coalition or host nation individuals, but from what I overhear, others are pleased at how the ARC works to address everyone. I definitely think that the ARC does a successful job of creating an inclusive environment for everyone, especially in the method of communicating with others. Mumby and Kuhn explain that some cultures experienced “marginalization” or treatment other than the norm based on their “otherness”, and the ARC works to remove these barriers by creating inclusivity and creating activities that celebrate differences, rather than hiding them (Mumby & Kuhn, 2019).