...The Value of Diversity in the Workplace MGMT 512 August 6, 2015 “One of the signs of a truly educated people, and a broadly educated nation, is lack of prejudice.” - Dr. Charles H. Mayo As the world grows smaller and more connected through increases in technology such as the internet, accessibility to international travel, and opening of global markets, companies are tasked with creating diversity and inclusion policies. Diversity and inclusion policies are necessary because people/customers, employees, organizations and companies all want to draw upon this vast array of people to conduct and enhance their businesses. It is important for companies to reflect the “look” of the populations they serve through business due to the many advantages that will positively affect their companies. A diversity policy can improve a company’s quality of employees, increase comfort level from the consumers it serves, improve cost reductions through fewer employee issues, augment creativity, problem solving and decision making; and boost goodwill with stakeholders (Collins, 2009). In regard to developing a diversity and/or inclusion statement there are many frameworks to study before crafting a policy for an organization. One example from a biblical perspective is from the Book of Genesis, the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors (Leadership Bible, 2013) which correlates to Dr. Martin Luther King’s letter from Birmingham Jail, on April 16, 1963 regarding the image of...
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...Diversity in the Workplace Diversity in the workplace means celebrating the differences between us and everyone else we work with in our place of employment. Diversity is represented in a number of characteristics such as ethnicity, sexual preference, age, religious affiliation, learning styles, education and life experiences. It's important to understand how these differences affect motivation, performance, our interactions with others, and professional achievements. (Scott, n.d.) Diversity not only affects how people perceive themselves, but also in large part how they perceive others. Those perceptions affect all the interactions they will have with one another. Human resource personnel need to affectively deal with multiple types of issues such as communication, adaptability and change in order for a diverse group of employees to function as an organization. Over the next several years, diversity within organizations will continue to increase. Successful organizations currently recognize the need to immediately respond to this need and are willing to put their money where their mouth is. These organizations are ahead of the game and are ready and willing to invest what is required of them to manage diversity in the workplace now. Communicating Diversity Diversity training and education is an imperative part of supporting the customer service efforts of an organization. Organizations who implement diversity training will have a better understanding of what barriers...
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...before. This scenario is known as diversity in workplace. Organization needs diversity to become more creative and open to change. Maximizing and capitalizing on workplace diversity has become an important issue for management today. Besides that, diversity has the potential of yielding greater productivity and competitive advantages as long as organizations need to focus on diversity and look for ways to become totally inclusive organizations. Managing diversity means more than simply observing legal and policy requirements. Diversity is not something that will go away or diminish over time. Rather, the increasing diversity within our workforce population is emerging as a major resource upon which managers and organizations can seek solutions to various aspects of their businesses. 1.1 Definition of Diversity Frequently, diversity is viewed in a narrow perspective which includes differences in terms of race, ethnic or gender differences, and quite often linked to discriminate and enforcing laws to protect certain groups. Diversity includes all characteristics and experiences that define each of us as individuals. It can be further defined as primary dimensions of an individual, including race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, disability, and sexual orientation. Secondary dimensions include communication style, work style, unique contribution of individual in organizational role/level, economic status, and geographic origin. Once diversity is defined, it must be acknowledging...
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...------------------------------------------------- WORKPLACE DIVERSITY ------------------------------------------------- (CULTURAL DIVERSITY) SAZIA KHAN SANJA GM410: FOUNDATION OF PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION. INSTRUCTION: ROBERT WOODS Keller Graduate School of Management Introduction: The social composition of the world is changing. And the increasing of the globalization demands more interaction with people from diverse cultures religion and background ever before. As a result of that the demography of the world is changing. The word becomes a single market place. Anyone with a cell phone or access to the internet is a potential customer. In today’s global economy traditional barrier are disappear. So being increasing the opportunity as well as competition if the company wants to compete effectively and globally, Todays Companies need to realize that they longer have choice.it is now essential to be knowledgeable about and be able to communicate with people of different nationalities cultures and religions. Corporation realizes that they must embrace that diversity in the workplace brings. What is Work place Diversity Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between people in an organization. That means diversity encompasses race, gender, culture, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, education, background and more. Diversity not only involves how people perceive themselves, but how they perceive others...
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...Running head: MANAGED DIVERSITY MANAGED DIVERSITY AND ITS IMPACT IN A MULTI-CULTURAL WORKFORCE WITHIN THE UNITED STATES A MASTER’S CAPSTONE RESEARCH PAPER Presented to Professor Robert B. Donaldson Division of Public Administration Problems in Applied Public Management In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Public Administration College of Business and Public Administration Governors State University By Shari Denise Holloway Winter 2007 Approved: ____________________________________________ Dr. Robert B. Donaldson Date: TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………….....4 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………...….5 WHAT IS DIVERSITY ……………………………………..........................................6 WHAT IS WORKPLACE DIVERSITY ………………….………………….….…….7 Corporate Culture and Diversity ………………………………….……………9 DIVERSITY POLICIES AND PRACTICES IN THE WORKPLACE………………14 Workplace Discrimination ……………………………………………………14 Glass Ceiling ………………………………………………………………….15 Affirmative Action…………………………………………………………….16 Equal Employment ……………………………………………………………17 FROM VALUING DIVERSITY TO MANAGING DIVERSITY …………………...18 MANGING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE: A Multicultural Approach ………………18 DIVERSITY FACTOR (THE ISSUES)………………………………………………21 Cultural Collision ……………………………………………………………...
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...Diversity in the Workplace We live in a society today that is culturally diverse. With this diversity of the population, comes the need for a diverse and culturally competent nursing workforce to care appropriately for patients. The purpose of this paper is to examine diversity in the workplace, its importance to nursing as a profession and its impact on the delivery of culturally competent nursing care. Importance of Diversity in the Workplace Huston (2014) reveals that age, gender, customs, religion, physical size, physical and mental capabilities, beliefs, culture, ethnicity, and skin color are all forms of diversity. Despite the shift in demography of today’s society, which reflects an increasingly culturally diverse population (Phillips and Malone, 2014), the majority of nurses in the workforce are white, middle-aged females (Mattson, 2009). Making the nursing workplace more heterogeneous, diverse and representative of the population (Phillips and Malone, 2014), helps to promote quality of care and decrease disparities in healthcare (Huston, 2014). Maier-Lorentz (2008) adds that diversity in the workplace fosters cultural competency, which is vital to the provision of holistic and optimal care to this diverse patient population. Summary of One Aspect of Diversity One aspect of Diversity in the workplace is Generational diversity. With the current aging nursing population averaging forty-years of age (Mason, Leavitt and Chaffee, 2014), the current nursing...
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...MERU UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PROJECT AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN WORKPLACE TO ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS IN MERU MUNICIPALITY KENNEDY MUTWIRI MUKARIA MUC-SBS-555-0056/2009 A RESEARCH PROPOSAL A research proposal submitted to the department of business in partial fulfilment of requirements of degree of Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) of Meru University College of Science and Technology DECLARATION This is my original work and has not been presented for the degree or any other award to any other University Signature ___________________________ Name __________________________ Date Approval This proposal has been submitted for examination with my approval as the University supervisor Signature ___________________________ (Name of supervisor of department; Meru University) __________________________ Date TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE 1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background to the study............................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the problem.............................................................................................. 4 1.3 Objectives of the study................................................................................................. 1.4 Research questions...................................................
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...Managing diversity in the workplace means bringing together people of different ethnic backgrounds, religions and age groups into a cohesive and productive unit. Advances in communication technology, such as the Internet and cellular phones, have made the marketplace a more global concept. In order to survive, a company needs to be able to manage and utilize its diverse workplace effectively. Managing diversity in the workplace should be a part of the culture of the entire organization (Root, 2015). Businesses that fail to successfully manage diversity will suffer economic and social consequences. A workplace culture that allows low morale, employee turnover, harassment, discrimination, absenteeism, and disruption to work teams results in a loss of productivity. When individuals are marginalized or isolated by their co-workers and/or managers because of cultural differences, the outcome is a loss of productivity, business opportunities and the potential for charges of harassment and discrimination (McArthur, 2010). To surpass these risks and effectively manage diversity, George and Jones (2014) believe that managers (and other organizational members) must possess or develop certain attitudes and values and the skills needed to change other people’s attitudes and values. These two authors go on to describe the steps that managers can take to change attitudes and values and promote the effective management of diversity. Step one is to secure top management commitment. Top management...
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...ijcrb.webs.com APRIL 2013 INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS VOL 4, NO 12 EXAMINING FACTORS AFFECTING DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE Arslan Ayub1, Muhammad Salman Aslam2, Adeel Razzaq3, Hanan Iftekhar4, Sabiha Hafeez5 1234 MS Scholar, Iqra University Islamabad, Pakistan National College of Business Administration & Economics Bahawalpur, Pakistan 5 Abstract The purpose of the study is to examine various organizational factors that influence diversity in the workplace. The factors incorporate organizational policies, management practices, and perceived inequity. The current paper is a conceptual paper solely based on literature review. The findings are reliable with consideration view of these organizational variables to be the factual obstacles in employing and heading workplace diversity issue on. The current study throws light on the significance of managing workplace diversity. Keywords: Organizational Policies, Workforce Diversity, Management, Management Practices, Staffing INTRODUCTION The "business case for diversity" curtails from the development of the replica of diversity within the workplace since 1960's. The inventive model for diversity was positioned around affirmative action drawing strength from the law and a need to act in accordance with equal employment opportunity objectives. This observance based model conferred to the thought that tokenism was the reason; an individual was hired into a company when...
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...Throughout the many issues in the workplace, diversity is an issue that needs immediate attention. Our culture is continuously evolving and with that being said diversity in our work environment should be evolving as well. It has been said, “Top performing companies have long recognized that diversity is good for business. But a just released report from The Economist Intelligence Unit finds that a new definition of workforce diversity is emerging. It’s no longer just about avoiding race, ethnicity, and gender discrimination, or even compliance with legal regulations. Diversity now encompasses values, meaning what motivates someone to join a company, embody organizational passions, and be productive for a long time.” (Galer, 2014) It is crucial for an organization to be diverse, lack of diversity can cause several issues in the workplace such as miscommunication, unproductivity, and creates a hostile work environment. By managing the problems with diversity the organization would benefit greatly in many ways. There are many reasons for why the issue of diversity needs to be addressed in the workplace. Specifically in the organization I work in there are many problems with diversity, many of the workers in my organization have brought up the fact that the race is predominantly white, it is also made aware that the engineers for the company are males and the females in the office are usually the subject of jokes and labeled as ‘non workers’. Since the site I currently work in...
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...Individual differences and diversity in workplace The research of individual differences is a true fact since human existence. With increasing competition in the world workplace, it is clear that the businesses with various resources still at the level of demand (Marquardt & Reynolds, 1993). As companies face multiple of difficulties in order to keep successful in the marketplace, workforce give the company most valuable benefits. Therefore, respecting employee in the organization is the key for successful company and that can be achieve by understanding individual differences. Behaviours, values, personalities, and attitudes are different for each person. Considering these diverse traits lead the employees to the most appropriate in achieving organization. Since individuals are different, it is accepted that each employee behave in different ways. The key for companies is meeting individual diversity as a real opportunity and moving it into an advantage. There are three main important individual differences that organisations should focus on, values, personality and attitudes. Values: According to Howard (1988), values are the basic structures of culture. However, values can be applied in management to develop relationships with people. Values can be defined as the beliefs of individual or a group which they have an emotional investment (clegg S. et.al, 2011). Schwartz (1992) describes some values as ‘trans-situational’. These values in one’s life without considering...
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...Thinking About Diversity and Inclusion Shantha Whitehurst SOC/315 Due Date 01/25/2014 Instructor What are the dimensions of cultural diversity? Identify and briefly explain the dimensions by referencing both textbooks. The world in which people call home is a composite of diversity. People interact with one another through culture beliefs. Since humans spread throughout the world, unions have separated from each other. Stories of humans emerging to the United States became different throughout many ethnic communities. According to Schaefer (2011), the of diversity features in the United States include, ethnicity, age, race, martial status, religious beliefs, gender, and even appearances(Chapter 1, Ethnic Groups). Racial groups socially set themselves apart because of physical differences, and each society defines what it finds obvious. In the United States skin color is one of the obvious differences. Communities today have a more elaborate system of classification, in the United States hostility between races became higher than expected. Ethnic groups set apart from others because of national origin or distinctive culture patterns. Hispanics, Puerto Rican, African American, and Cubans describe some ethnic groups in America. The culture traits which made diversity exclusive originated from lands of segregation(Harvey, "Section I," 2009). With what ethnic, cultural, or other groups do you identify? Describe what members of your social circle have in common The ethnic...
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...Introduction: Diversity in the workplace is natural to Canada with its multicultural population and more than 250,000 newcomers entering the country every year (Government of Canada). One of the distinguished features of Canada’s current workforce is its growing diversity. As a concept, diversity refers to a broader set of qualities than race and gender. Its dimensions include, but are not limited to, age, ethnicity, educational background, geographic location, income, marital and parental status, religious and moral beliefs, physical abilities, working experiences, and job classifications. For example, for the first time in history, today’s workplace accommodates four different generations — the Matures, the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Generation Y. Each age group brings different perspectives on life and work; all of them relate differently to the same working environment; all of them bring new ideas that benefit the workplace on different levels. It is a great challenge for both employers and employees to learn to value and to embrace differences and not get caught up in stereotyping those who look, think and act differently. It is a great need to start learning about diversity by talking to people, asking questions and listening. The more we know about differences, the more we understand them and the more we can appreciate and value their contributions to the workplace. Employers need to learn how to integrate and manage their diverse workforce; employees need...
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...MGMT6012 Management Perspectives Sydney Week 5 3/21/2016 Organisational Diversity 3/21/2016 Diversity What does “diversity” mean to you? How does it apply in the workplace? 3/21/2016 Introduction • Diversity is always a sensitive issue. • People who belong to a “minority” group often feel labelled, stereotyped, and marginalised in the workplace; • People who belong to the “majority” group are often unaware of the consequences of the collective action of the majority. 3/21/2016 Introduction • We all hold bias and prejudices simply because we notice difference and it is important not to try to obliterate difference and diversity in an attempt to redress prejudice. • Ignoring difference, for example, can be as damaging as highlighting it in a negative manner. 3/21/2016 Introduction • The literature around inclusiveness is the direction in which this field of study and practice is going. • The idea that we work towards an inclusive workplace for everyone, recognising everyone as a diverse member of the organisation is important, and leverages the strengths that differences bring in to the workplace rather than squashes them. 3/21/2016 What We Cover • The concepts of diversity, exclusion and inclusion • Different roots of diversity in the workplace • The experience of prejudice in the workplace and the limitations it places on organisational performance 3/21/2016 Objectives By the end of this module...
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...Managing Diversity in the Workplace One of the most important issues to emerge over the last 30 years has been the increasing diversity of the workforce. Diversity is dissimilarities-differences-among people due to age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, education, experience, physical appearance, capabilities/disabilities, and any other characteristic that is used to distinguish between people. (Hill. McGraw, 2006, p324). A main contributing factor in work place diversity is Immigration. Diversity in the workplace brought about through immigration can be a difficult subject for some companies’ managements to tackle. Continued use of diversity training and open communication with employees about companies’ reasons for hiring immigrants may help alleviate the problem. Managers are the key in learning and teaching those under them the importance of valuing different cultures in fellow employees and customers. The longevity of a business depends on being able to embrace different cultures and welcome the talent and ideas that could come from this diverse group of people. The primary issue that diversity must deal with is difficult for some to imagine and believe (i.e., showing diversity’s measurable impact on organizational strategy and the financial bottom line). The ability to utilize a diverse mixture of human and other resources to create a unique blend of strategy-focused solutions, by its very nature, creates an innovative...
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