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Managing Workplace Diversity Essay

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Diversity is a term used most often to describe the different types of race, religion, and nationalities but in today’s business world, it is used to describe the different individual behaviors of employees. Diversity is about characteristics and demographics that differ from person to person and how they affect human behavior. To understand how diversity affects the work place let us look at four types of diversity--Differences in skill and abilities, Values and attitudes, Occupation differences, and Age.

Differences in skills and abilities
“Aptitudes are potential abilities, whereas abilities are the knowledge and skills that an individual currently possesses.” (Schermerhorn 2003) Professionals such as Doctors, Lawyers, and even …show more content…

Traditional or older workers with traditional values believe in the company over the person, quantity over quality and uniformity over diversity. New or baby boomers value economic results and social responsibility. The Hybrid or mixture of traditional and new is the young entry level workers who are more concerned with making money than they are about their futures the welfare of the society. As more and more baby boomers take over the corporate positions of retired traditionalists we are seeing a shift in the over all North American values from economic to social/personal. The impact of changing values continues to shape the way companies conduct business, treat their employees, and has resulted in the emergence of a new social conscience.

Occupation
"Another type of diversity is occupation, with this having an impact on individual behavior. For example, an individual in a professional occupation is more likely to make her own decisions and is more likely to reject being managed too strongly. The case of a medical doctor is one example. A medical doctor considers themselves an expert in their area and is likely to consider that nobody else has the same expertise. Based on this, the individual is likely to make her own decisions and to act independently. The

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