English-only Policy & Alternatives
- joshlyns
- Jul 25, 2018
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 7, 2018
A Look Into First English-only Policy on Tribal Land
In the case of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission "EEOC" v. Richard Kidman & Doretta Benally dba RD’s Dive In/Exxon, (2002) the suit is the first English-only policy case on the Navajo Reservation. The business is a partnership between a non-member and a member belonging to the Navajo tribe. The company had 56 turnovers within 3 months; the non-member owner found out that the turnovers were due to employees insulting each other in Navajo in front of customers and the Navajo owner was insulting native employees in front of non-member employees creating an unfriendly workplace. The non-member owner put up an English-only policy and made employees sign a contract enforcing the new policy, however; 4 Navajo employees did not sign in adherence to discrimination claims in workplace under the 1972 Equal Opportunity Act. The non-member owner concludes that the English- only policy was beneficial to the life of the business. The judgment shows all parties came to an equal agreement (EEOC v. RD's Exxon, 2002).
The major reason for an increase in language conflicts is the greater presence of employees who primary language is not English; businesses need to treat language with the highest degree of sensitivity: it is imperative for all ethnicities to feel value, respect, and equality in the workplace.
The key to using an English-only policy is to use without antagonistic disapproval: use visuals that focus on the emotional spectrums of the problematics that arise with miscommunication. The focus is deterring from abstract wording in policies to using visuals that are concrete, memorable, and relatable to represent current state of mind. The reasoning is to help increase memory retention, the types of visuals tools businesses need to incorporate consist of the following: infographics, models, graphs, charts, photos, videos, manual scripts, drawings, illustrations, comics, and even emojis to support the delivery of; policies, goals, guidelines, norms, rules, and outcomes.
The dilemma is bridging the gap in language diversity in the workplace.
The take away: not everyone in the workplace speaks the same language but everyone in the workplace can see eye-to-eye; visuals make the highest universal impact within bridging the language diversity gap in the workplace.
13 Management Strategies- Alternatives To Help Address Language Barriers
1) Implement a multilingual handbook for all ethnicities in the workplace to
understand laws, policy, regulations, complaints, and procedures that govern
language policy; including all times of the day.
2) Apply heavy visual extremities emphasizing emotions.
3) Increase language policy acknowledgment during recruit.
4) Provide yearly EEOC trainings either through video, exam, or workshops.
5) Enforce ongoing cross-culture trainings.
6) Increase emotional intelligence in workplace.
7) Offer language programs.
8) Provide language incentives.
9) Promote daily culture awareness.
10) Set-up language mentorships within community.
11) Increase public relationships by promoting cultural and language events.
12) Provide support services to boost self-esteem.
13) Utilize employee language and have he or she create videos in his or her
language for reference tool data base.
Supporting Strategies- When To Use And Enforce English-Only Policy
The important variables of when to use and enforce the English-only policy Majtaba et al., (2012) reports on language diversity in America; execution methods: “use to satisfy customers who cannot understand languages other than English; use to facilitate communication at work, especially when English; use to facilitate communication at work, especially when company materials are only available in English; use to effectuate communication for team or group work where English is necessary for efficiency; use to improve English- speaking skills of bilingual employees; use to promote racial, ethnic and cultural harmony to improve morale; use to ensure workplace is free of discriminatory remarks; and use to promote worker safety with multilingual employees and to enhance product quality.”
References
Majtiaba, B., Cavico, F. & Muffler S. (Nathan, M., Ed.) (2012). Human Resource
Management: Language Diversity in America Challenges and
Opportunities for Management. Las Vegas, NM: NMHU Press, 90-98.
Zachary, M. (2005). More Than the Law: Perspectives on an English Only Case
in Navajo Country. Labor Law Journal, v56n1, 5-29. Retrieved April 12,
2018, from New Mexico Highlands University LIBROS database.
"The art of communication is the language of leadership." -James Humes, 2012
#TalkingBS on issues that matter. Please share my BS with others.
Management Strategies Alternatives To Help Address Language Barriers is to help businesses deter from abstract wording in policies, such as "English-only" replacing text with positive visuals concrete, memorable, and attention links to connect capturing the current state of mind in regards to changing behavior and attitudes towards maximizing productivity.
Comments