Diversity in The Workplace Essay

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Dear Student,
Hello. Since I am not familiar with your experience of a working environment and personal history, I am providing a general solution below plus an example based on the diversity experience of a popular logistics company. I hope this suits and that you will be able to use this as a useful guide. Good luck and thank you for using Brainmass.

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OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
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Diversity in the Workplace

Diversity refers in its simplest terms refers to the differences that are many and varied. In a social setting, this refers to the following: Race, Culture, National origin, Region, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Age, Marital Status, Politics, Religion, Ethnicity, Disability, economic differences, Family structure, Health, Values, etc. In most cases, diversity is seen to connote multiculturalism, referring to racial, cultural and ethnic diversity within the population/membership of a specific place or group, whether primary, secondary or referential like in a university, a corporation or business, a town, city or a country. Nowadays, nations the world over recognize that while differences can cause conflict, it is also a rich ground for improvement and source of new ideas for the purpose of development. Cities like New York for example find that its diverse population presents a good sampling of a global populace. As a financial center, New York Banks, firms, and agencies has an employee list of varied ethnicities, races and cultures allowing said firms a good understanding of said ethnicities, their unique global markets. Nowadays, the issue about workplace diversity centres on equal and fair employment. The goal is to treat people equally without discrimination whatever their race, ethnicity, gender, age, or religion maybe. Since the Civil Rights movement mid-20th Century in the US, the nation has come to center their efforts for equality against discrimination putting up The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that is still as relevant as it is today. The EEOC encourages diversity in the workplace by putting together policies as well as projects known as 'Diversity Training'. According to Vaughn (2007), diversity training is training for the purpose of increasing participants' cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills, which is based on the assumption that the training will benefit an organization by protecting against civil rights violations, increasing the inclusion of different identity groups, and promoting better teamwork. Many management practitioners find it difficult leading individuals whose differences are so pronounced - religion, culture, beliefs, socialization.

This difficulty leads to barriers in completion of projects leading to inefficiency and at worst, failure. Management professor Michael Bird (2007) proposed the following applicable approaches to increase workplace diversity:
? Recognize that diversity will bring a greater skills base when managed properly.
? Improve the overall climate on diverse project teams in order to improve satisfaction, reduce conflicts, and improve team member retention.
? Encourage creativity, flexibility, and innovation among the team members which will allow the injection of new ideas and challenge the normal organizational mindsets.

Bird Concludes:
"....managing diversity provides greater opportunities ...