Diversity In The Workplace

Diversity at the work place has over the years become a matter of serious discussion. This is because there is a need to stop the common stereotyping that has been in existence over the years. There has been a need to guarantee that there is diversity at the areas of work to ensure that each individual is given an opportunity to work. This is only possible if there is an end in discrimination, this is because discrimination is the major factor that affects diversity in organizations.

What is diversity and what does it entail? Luther College defines diversity as “complex differences and similarities in perspectives, identities, and points of view among members of an institution as well as among individuals who make up the wider community.” Diversity has been a hot topic in today’s news and social networking arenas with the ever-changing race relations that are prevalent in our country and around the world. The changes in perception towards minorities and women hasn’t just affected these groups socially, but has brought forth different questions about the benefits that a truly diverse would place would have on companies. What this work will attempt to do is elaborate on the treatment of

Job’s face many struggles and challenges each and every day. Workplace diversity is something which is being talked about the most here lately. Out breaks of minimum wage, sexualities, gender, and even your skin color affects what diversity a business would want. Within the business, the professional level is set pretty high due to the superior designers making us able to dress well fashioned. When people step into a business they do not want someone that is going to walk in with a t-shirt and gym shorts, they would rather them be in dress pants and a nice dress shirt with fashionable shoe wear. It does not have to be the top notch designer clothing, just something which doesn’t scream “I just woke up from bed.” The thing which is being most talked about these days is diversity. People who are African American, white, Hispanic, gay, lesbian, bisexual, male, or even female could feel unwanted at a higher end business. The more people are expanding their personalities and how much they want to be shown that anyone could do anything just as much as the next man is outrageous. Workplace diversity is becoming more intense as the years continue on and it is important to employers and employees for a number of reasons, a few of them being that it would gain mutual respect with everyone, conflict resolution would not be as much of an issue, and lastly the increased exposure due to all of the workplace diversity.

"Research generated from a variety of fields predicts that important benefits will accrue from demographic heterogeneity in organizations by increasing the variance in perspectives and approaches to work that members of different identity groups can bring" (e.g., Thomas and Ely, 1996).

Google, one of the largest American multinational technology companies, is one of the many Silicon Valley tech industries accused by friends and colleagues to lack gender and racial diversity (Swartz 1). Companies are required to report to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which aims to ensure non-discrimination in the workplace (Coldewey 5). These reports are usually private however Google’s senior vice president, Laszlo Bock, publicly released the reported stats revealing that a diversity problem is indeed present at Google. Charts showed that “70 percent of Google's employees are men, 61 percent of its total workforce is white, another 30 percent are Asian, three percent are Hispanic and two percent are African American” (McGregor

Planning, initiating and maintain a diversified workforce and environment allows for the development of a well-equipped workforce that is poised to meet current and future challenges. In the public sector, these issues, including addressing skills shortages, recruitment and retention, succession planning and knowledge management for an aging workforce.

I find it interesting that diversity is such an issue in technology companies. According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, the estimated size of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce is expected to increase by 18% in the next ten years, (non-STEM increasing by 12%), reaching to 8.7 million by 2018 alone. Forbes hypothesizes that if current hiring trends continue, STEM jobs will be "largely unavailable" to women and minorities, who combine to make up over half of the U.S. population (Newlands, 2016).

Franz Boas said, “If we were to select the most intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and emotionally stable third of mankind, all races would be present.” Your parents’ prosperity and fortune does not determine the level of opulence that you are able to achieve in your life, neither does the color of your skin. The meaning of equality is that two or more things are the same or identical. Even if they have one or two characteristics that are equal they will not have equivalent qualities. People think that others have the advantage when they really do not. If one thinks another has an unfair advantage and that they should be blessed with the same advantage, they need to realize that an advantage isn’t really an advantage. When one person is

The controversial issue of diversity within the workforce is more complex than most realize because public organizations versus federal agencies deal with a greater level of diversity. This is due to public policy focus on enforcing upon public organizations a need to increase their representation of minorities while they struggle to manage efficiency as well as oftentimes conflicting and multiple organizational goals. According to Choi and Rainey (2010), more scholars believe additional research is require on this topic of organizational outcomes as it pertains to public agencies and diversity (e.g. gender, race). The assumption and problem researched in this study is whether diversity improves creativity, innovation, and decision-making in

As we go into another century, the workforce is becoming more diverse than it has ever been. Women, people of color, and other minority cultural groups are now expanding in the rankings and demanding change. Through a variety of studies, experiments, and ideas, leaders across the nation are looking for solutions to find ways to manage such a diverse group of employees when dealing with conflict and communication. Since employees are now coming from different ethnicities, organizations are experiencing an increase of workers from all across the globe. Employees must be able to feel comfortable in their workplace environment in order to keep the level of job satisfaction high. It is impossible for managers to understand everything about all

An important element that was presented in the Top Ten Economic Facts of Diversity in the workplace is that diversity down the line would provide a better result for a company in the long term and short term. Diversity might be seen as something a company can address whenever it likes, but through social trends it shows a company should change before they are even more behind the trend. The benefits are great for the personnel and the company. The company receives economic growth, more qualified workforce, added competitiveness and a greater share of the market. The benefits of a diverse workforce for the employees is that the workforce is not homogenous, a diverse workforce fosters creativity, employees would not turnover to another company,

I personally enjoy learning and collaborating with others. Its important to be able to work with others and make it work. It can be frustrating working with someone with no initiative and doesn't care about the task at hand. Learning how to deal with others is an important skill to have. I once had to work in a group with four other people. One of my classmates Brain was in charge of putting everything together and creating a power point. The power point was suppose to be emailed to everyone three days before it was due and no one received it. After several attempts to receive the power point I created it. I could have been upset and complained about doing extra work but that doesn't solve anything. My grade was way more important and

It is often said that the success of a Business has to do with how well its backbone team manages it. In today’s world, most of a company’s management and backbone team is one that is composed of up of a diverse group of employees. Strong, diverse teams play a vital role, on the success of a business. Diversity is understood to be the ways people can be similar or different from each other. Some examples of diversity in the workplace include culture, race, age, and gender. A good diverse workforce group is made of distinct employees from diverse backgrounds, different age groups, and distinct gender. Cultural Diversity in the workplace is one business component that has extreme importance in an organization. More and more organizations

America is a salad bowl, and in the salad bowl concept every fruit or vegetable holds its identity. The United States is built on the shoulders of men and women of every race, creed and color. Therefore businesses should represent and look like society. Unfortunately organizations do not see the need for diversity; hence, no systems are put into place to harbor its rich culture. Diversity “refers to the variation in the important human characteristic that distinguish people from one another.” (Lawrence & Weber, p. 379) Many leaders publicly announce that their organizations are not diverse enough because when people think about diversity, race and color are at its center. Nevertheless, diversity is made up of primary and secondary dimension,

Many outstanding articles, books, journals and papers have been written regarding the topic of workforce diversity. Some are relatively short papers such as Diversity in the Workplace published by the University of Florida, and seek to provide the reader with a basic understanding of what is meant by workplace diversity, as well as the potential benefits to both employers and employees alike. Other resources can be significantly more in-depth and explore subtopics of workplace diversity including the effects of marriage on work place attitudes, or how to effectively manage the cultural and demographic differences within a firm’s labor pool. Information regarding generalities in different cultures around the globe is also available as a resource for those seeking to understand customs in mannerisms and body language across varying cultures. In addition to the many websites and literature available to employers, there are also companies such as Big World Inc., whose does business under the name of Diversity Resources, offers training tools and services geared towards providing customized solutions for firms wishing to outsource training programs for employees including harassment, conflict resolution, international team building, gender bias or any one of a number of other topics related to diversity.