Self-Assessment on Diversity in the Workplace - Essay Example

 Self-assessment: Diversity Before going into actual issue of diversity, I would like to do some self-reflection, which helps in better understanding others. I understand that diversity exists everywhere and it is natural Law. All five fingers of the hand are not equal; but all put together make a fist-the symbol of strength in unity. The values I cherish are friendship, freedom, democracy, loyalty and openness. I possess the attitudes like increasing wealth, abiding to law, respecting social obligations & religion. Groups can develop attitudes like these and we call it as culture. Understanding can bring in Attitudinal changes. Beliefs and opinions are individualistic. I believe in God and opine that unnatural sex-ways are taboo and unethical. Behavior is observable reflex action; and discrimination is a kind of behavior involving unequal treatment of a person based on his birth, race etc. I dislike associating with a person whose integrity is doubtful. I had a feeling of stereotyping/ labeling that women can’t perform effectively in a business, because they had another role to perform at home. Once a friend of mine told me that one of our common friend is a gay, and with out checking further, prejudiced I kept him at distance as I had read in a journal that it is a kind of mental illness. When my father was transferred to a place, I was joined in a school that had a policy against discrimination in all its forms. But, to my surprise I faced discrimination/ridicule from my peer groups and teachers, because of my difficulty in picking up their local language. I used to sympathize with disabled people. My cousin had defective vision in the left eye, and when I tried to hold her hand to help, she used to decline politely. This made me to understand that the disabled requires to be enabled to stand on their own feet. I also strongly believe that doing nothing to others that hurts me is my greatest strength and believing any thing on the face of it is my weakness. In the school, I had African students; and I used to feel proud of them as they came all the way from their native land to learn about new cultures that are alien to theirs and gave us an opportunity to me to know about theirs. Here I would like to share an incident. Freed Zakaria is the International Editor of & TV Expert of Newsweek. He came to lime light after 9/11 incidents for his ability to interpret Muslim world. Now I am proceeding to ponder over certain issues related to Diversity related to an individual and the world around us. Definition & meaning of Diversity: Diversity is "otherness," or those human qualities that are different from our own and outside the groups to which we belong, yet are present in other individuals and groups. It is important to distinguish between the primary and secondary dimensions of diversity. Primary dimensions are the following: age, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race and sexual orientation. Secondary dimensions of diversity are those that can be changed, and include, but are not limited to: educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, parental status, religious beliefs, and work experiences.1 Thus, in general, diversity refers to the ways that people in organizations differ- race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, and more.2 There is also the fact that diversity not only involves how people think of others and how this affects their interaction but how they conceive of themselves. Diverse work teams often have problems resulting from what psychologists call in-group/out-group dynamics. In-group/out-group dynamics can result in stereotyping, inter-group competition, distrust, and prejudice, all of which can inhibit effective group functioning. A longstanding belief from group theory is that contact, or increased exposure to others, promotes harmony and minimizes differences. From this came the idea that the intervention of recruiting a diverse workforce can reduce prejudice. In reality, many desires of different group members are not as opposing as they might initially appear. It revealed that the language and strategies of negotiation could be useful in helping team members turn differences into win-win strategies. It is suggested that the common goal of the group as a whole rather than the goals of the individual subgroups would bring this change as individuals were able to suppress self-interest for the sake of the collective. In a multifunctional team, it is likely that gender and role are correlated. For example, in a team comprised of singers and orchestra, it is likely that the singers are female and members in orchestra are male. How diversity affects the dynamics of work teams and thus influences effectiveness is a complex question. To date, research suggests that diverse groups tend to be more creative and perform better on problem-solving tasks than homogeneous groups. Discrimination in the workplace: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal to discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability. Simply stated, this says that an employer may not discriminate against individuals when it comes to hiring, firing, promotions, pay, training, or other workplace conditions. The Civil Rights Act of 1992 broadened the law. If workers can prove that a particular employment practice tends to exclude women or minorities, for example, then the employer must show that the practice is job-related.3 The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) handles discrimination claims. Opponents believe that assertive action is misguided social engineering that uses quotas and preferences to replace qualified white males with unqualified Ethnic minorities and women.   In reality, affirmative action is a tool to promote diversity and remedy inequities in the workplace, higher education, and government contracting.  Affirmative action clearly helps African, Hispanic, and Asian Americans and the business. While Colleges and Universities in the United States are managing the diversity, in the 1990s several judicial decisions began to repeal affirmative action programs at state-controlled universities. These decisions also imposed legislation to prohibit race-based preferences in college admissions, aid, and employment. These decisions have far-reaching consequences and potentially impact the efforts of all colleges and universities to achieve racial diversity while complying with the law. The "glass ceiling" refers to the barriers that often confront Ethnic Americans and women in trying to reach the upper echelons of corporate America. This is occurring even 57% of the workforce is Ethnic minorities, woman, or both.  The study also found that these groups do not earn the same pay for comparable positions. But, women's wages have remained at about 60 percent of men's wages. (Gender in the Workplace: Book by Clair Brown, Joseph A. Pechman; Brookings Institution, 1987). The old way was to assimilate diversity - to expect people to hide or adapt their cultural differences so they fitted the mold of the company's dominant culture. The new way is to treat diversity as an asset that brings a broad range of viewpoints and problem-solving skills to the company.4 Cultural Diversity in the Workplace -Working together: Rosa Parks is remembered at the workplace by embracing diversity, treating others as you want to be treated, seeking truth and being open to learning about other cultures. By not developing a diverse workforce from the top down, African, Hispanic, and Asian Americans are unfairly relegated to lower-skilled, lower-pay positions and are not able to fulfill their true potential.  Many corporations have recognized that diversity contributes to the bottom line by:  making it easier to retain good employees, lowering costs by developing skills in-house, and developing a reputation that helps attract new employees/customers. As one article has observed, “ The clients continue to complain about the price and quality of the work but not about the race and gender of the people doing it.”5  In order to set the things right, prohibit derogatory comments about gays and lesbians and discipline those who make them; Decline to countenance refusals to work with gay and lesbian workers that are based on their sexual orientation; Encourage partners of gay and lesbian workers to attend firm and office functions. Workers with Disabilities: Grave psychological disturbances can result when individuals with disabilities who are able to work, are barred from participating in this most important societal activity. When individuals are unable to find or keep a job because of prejudices about their disabilities, physical disability becomes a handicap. People with disabilities add diversity to the workforce and show the company's commitment to the community. Foreign workers/Ethnic Minorities: ‘America is not a blanket oven from one thread, one color, one cloth’, says Jesse Jackson. Each ethnic group has enriched American culture with its own particular types of music, food, customs, and dress. There exist ethnic prejudices in neighborhoods, schools, and jobs as these are from culturally different backgrounds. Cultural diversity changes the workplace by providing new human resources and managerial challenges to employers- to find ways to optimally utilize multicultural workers. Action plan: Thing learn in this class: I learnt that diversity implementation is not just providing basic equal opportunities on legal requirements, but further developing understanding and emerging diversity focusing on differences. At basic diversity level, focus shall be on valuing individual differences and translating them into behaviors; and under mainstream diversity reaffirming new values & achieving cultural change. Endeavor should be focused to abreast with the hard reality of diversity and the need to get soft changes in the behaviors/ attitudes/ cultures in the implementation of diversity. New information: Diversity increases the customer base and profits of an organization, by employing the same ethnic groups in the region in which it works. Gay culture is not to be seen as a taboo, and the companies should be tolerant and there should not be any derogatory remarks or gestures at the work or learning places from co-workers or peers. Learnt about myself: My opinions on women workers and gay community changed. Learnt about others: Disabled/ HIV suspects are not to be looked down, but to be provided a job/ required facilities to sustain their right to live with self-respect. Reinforcement of things I already knew or have experienced: Values- freedom, friendship, democracy & openness. What I plan on doing differently in the future: Behaviors: My dislike towards GLBTs to go away. Actions: I shall manage diversity while working in multicultural organizations. Words/statements: Diversity is the very spice of life that gives it its entire flavor. Possible roadblocks I will encounter: I may have problem in managing with GLBTs. How I will overcome these roadblocks: I shall endeavor to bring the best out of them. REFERENCES Loden, Marilyn, Implementing Diversity, McGraw-Hill, 1996 Text: Sonnenschein, William, The Diversity Tool Kit, How you can Build and Benefit from a Diverse Workforce, Contemporary Books, 1997 John M. Conley & William M. O'Barr, Is this the Right Time to Come Out?, HARV. BUS. REV., July-August 1993, at 22-23 Article Title: The Challenge of Managing Diversity in the Workplace: Corporate America Is Responding to the Changing Demographics of the Work Force with a Variety of Diversity Management Programs. Magazine Title: Black Enterprise. Volume: 23. Issue: 12. Publication Date: July 1993 Discrimination, Harassment, and the Failure of Diversity Training: What to Do Now Book by Ray Haines, Hellen Hemphill; Quorum Books, 1997 Diversity At University of Maryland, College Park: Moving Toward Community Plan 1995. Read More