Culture gap looms as Hispanic workforce grows

The Anglo manager details a career path for his Hispanic worker the classes he'll need to take, the skills he'll need to develop, the promotions and other rewards that await him.

The Hispanic worker nods."Dios mediante," he says "God willing." Those two words, a seeming throwaway in the conversation, are fraught with the potential for big problems for Nevada companies and may weaken the competitive position of companies in food-processing and other industries in the state.

All that from "Dios mediante"? Look at it this way, says Marcel Fernando Schaerer,whose Reno-based International Professional Development Services helps companies deal with language and cultural issues: The Anglo manager grew up in a culture in which individuals believe they control their destiny.He believes he'll be rewarded as he develops his skills and knowledge.

The Hispanic worker,meanwhile, grew up in a culture in which fate, faith and the hand of God control individuals' destiny."Dios mediante" is at the core of his values, and it influences the success of everything from corporate safety programs to company policies on advancement, Schaerer says.

"This has nothing to do with intelligence," he says."It has nothing to do with motivation."

The gap in cultural understanding also challenges the competitive position of manufacturers who rely heavily on a Hispanic workforce industries such as food-processing, where about half the workforce in Nevada is Hispanic.

And the issue worries the Management Assistance Partnership run by Nevada's universities and community colleges.

Bob Blank,MAP's operations manager, notes that the program in recent years has found good success teaching lean manufacturing techniques to companies throughout the state.

Essentially,MAP's consultants help manufacturers wring out every possible inefficiency from their operations, boosting profitability in the process.

The food-processing industry, which faces fierce competition from less-regulated foreign competitors, has been slower to embrace lean manufacturing techniques, and the U.S.

Department of Labor thinks that language and cultural issues on the shop floor may be a major contributor.

Simply put, Blank says,managers and workers who speak different languages and see the world from the viewpoint of different cultures will have a heck of a time working together on the continuous improvement processes required for lean manufacturing.

Federal officials think the issue is serious enough, in fact, that they've allocated about $700,000 for training at 12 food-processing companies in Nevada during the next couple of years.

The training, which will be overseen by MAP, includes what Blank calls "Lean ESL" teaching managers and workers the language they need to communicate about manufacturing issues.

And that's a little tricky, says Schaerer, because at least a third of

the Hispanic workers in Nevada who recently immigrated from impoverished rural areas of Mexico have only elementary-school educations.

"It compounds the language barrier," he says.

The program also includes four hours of seminars to help managers identify cultural issues that may hamper communications.

While the training funds have been available for four months, Blank says MAP has yet to sign up a participating company in Nevada.

"Getting people to buy into this is not simple," he says.

Some companies don't want to lose production time to undertake training, he says.

MAP says operational and cultural change takes at least six months.

Some companies, Blank says,may balk at the cost.

The Department of Labor pays for 75 percent of the training.

MAP requires that participating companies document their return on investment.