Myplace:
The plalce for Diversity
Antonio Sigala
COMM/315
Mr. Brian Lempke

Diversity is generally defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status (Esty, et al., 1995). There are the obvious characteristics such as gender, race, religious beliefs, social class, etc.; and of course there are those characteristics that are not so obvious such as mental ability, religious beliefs, physical ability among others. It is tough to decipher those hidden qualities on an individual without knowing much about that person. For my first example I have chosen Jenna, this was very tough for me as I let my personal bias get in the way of a rational choice when I came across the decision to match a picture to the description. I was wrong! Her Drive is eminent; her commitment to succeed is unprecedented. She was able to survive drug dependency (demonstrates drive and the will to succeed) and established herself as she once had after she graduated college. Mental toughness was very important as she went through hard times after losing her mother, these hidden characteristics cannot be detected by the naked eye and most of us base our judgment on our own personal bias and stereotypes.

Kim was my second choice, She too has the drive to succeed, and she was the first one of her family to attend college. Her humble origins and the opinion of others as well as their stereotypes did not stop her from pursuing her dreams. Her social status was an big hurdle she had to overcome, being one of many to come from humble beginnings it was hard to break the pattern that follows most of us.

Kyle is my third and final choice; he has broken the stereotype of becoming a professional with blue-collar origins. His attitude and approach has defined him and his future.

This multimedia exercise was extremely hard for me as I let my individual biases and stereotypes take over my judgment and made completely wrong choices. During my first selection I was 100% sure that the drug addiction and lows in life were directly related to the only male of the three choices. I am most likely to assume that a male has a higher risk to develop a drug addiction than a female, which turned out to be mistake number one. Second I jumped to conclusions and assumed that a male was most likely to recover from an addiction than a female.

The second conclusion I made was completely based in appearance, I completely assumed that a person from low income beginnings would maintain his/her appearance closer to a blue collar as possible to relate to his/her origins, I was wrong again! My second assumption was that a male is more likely to come from humble beginnings and strive to find his way out into a much better world and into financial stability than a female.

Kyle was my firs scenario, once again I made a judgment based on appearance, he looked much to “clean” for someone who had worked in construction. I based this assumption once gain on appearance and superficial characteristics as well as my own personal biases. Kyle’s profile in my opinion was supposed to be just a bit tougher, Kyle looks like a clean cut all American kid who most likely had his parents pay for his college education. Once again I let myself be lead by my own personal biases.

I am a firm believer that people relate to one another in order to draw motivation, for example: We all love an underdog regardless of where he/she comes from as long as that individual is a come from behind to win it all! Why? Because it’s wishful thinking and we’d love to encounter the same situation. This influences our personal opinion as we relate to other people and rush into conclusions that may be irrational and erroneous. It fills our wishful thinking but it may not be correct most of the time. We have the need to relate tot hose who have similar origins, social status, profession, racial or gender, etc. This is how we judge people they look like me, and they must be like me; then, its ok because am not such a bad person. This clouds our judgment and makes us make irrational decisions not only with individuals but projects, schoolwork, entertainment, etc. It’s all around us.

I am not very comfortable with most of the stereotypes that I hold personally, for years I have used the common knowledge drilled into me by the military and for the most part it has worked, not so much for my personal biases. Am usually wrong as I consider myself honest, when I make a judgment call on a civilian I can never be sure if he/she is truly what I expect. As many others I try to relate those to my own personal experience and way of life, I have been working on those judgment calls that I make on individuals. It can lead to many situations where conflict could become an issue and situations can turn bad for all parties. It is an ongoing process; and I have been trying to apply those rules that I use in the military to the civilian sector, but my instincts make me a bit more lenient.

Diversity includes the ways every individual is different from others in any given environment. It includes every single difference from the next individual and includes all characteristics that make a person individual. It includes ideas, education, religion, age, gender, physical appearance, and many others.

Reference:

Esty, Katharine, Richard Griffin, and Marcie Schorr-Hirsh (1995). Workplace diversity. A managers guide to solving problems and turning diversity into a competitive advantage. Avon, MA: Adams Media Corporation. Retrieved from: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu