The Impact of Diversity on Individual Behavior The concept of diversity has broadened in scope in the recent past, evolving from the concept of mandated quotas and affirmative action, to the reality of a diverse workforce being capable of providing quantifiable business value. A variety of external factors have influenced the conceptual evolution of diversity within the workplace. For example, globalization of markets has provided the concept of diversity with an opportunity to demonstrate a clear competitive advantage. A native understanding of the cultural values, norms and business practices of a foreign market can give an organization a clear advantage over their competition. Another area where diversity offers advantages is in the …show more content…
An organization that can successfully cultivate an environment that rises above these differences and dashes these perceptions may also be able to leverage the very diverse perspectives of these groups. Different socioeconomic levels are subject to factors, environments, and experiences that other levels may not experience. Those that understand the value of these differing perspectives, particularly in organizations dependent on broadening their customer base, can leverage this knowledge for the good of the organization. Perceptions surrounding the occupation of an individual can have a limiting or broadening affect on the effectiveness of an individualdepending on the perspective an organization takes regarding the value of their resources. For example, a resource that has spent his career as an engineer or technician may not be recognized for management skills or leadership talent that he possesses. This could be directly attributable to a corporate perception that technical people are typically capable of filling technical roles. Conversely, a leader that recognizes these talents in this individual has the opportunity to develop a leader that also possesses in-depth technical knowledge of the team he is leading. As Americans, we tend to be
The closest definition to individual behavior is personality which is "the totality of an individual's behavioral and emotional characteristics. Personality embraces a person's moods, attitudes, opinions, motivations, and style of thinking, perceiving, speaking and acting. It is part of what makes each individual distinct" (Answers, 2007). Diversity within organizations can positively or negatively impact individual behavior. Diversity includes all the ways in which individuals differ including race, gender, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and child/elder care responsibilities (Census bureau, 2007). Organizations can create opportunities to draw upon people with different
Diversity is very important on a workplace because it create a respectful environment, reduce conflict, help business reputations, and avoid legal issues. This accepting and managing of these cultural differences has over the years become an important factor of organizational success.
The purpose of this paper is designed to introduce, educate, and promote diversity within your company. Your company will be shown the merits of diversity and how diversity within your organization can be a benefit. This paper will be broken down into three main areas: Benefits of Diversity, Challenges of Diversity, and Recommendations for an effective diversity within your organization..
Diversity must be created and maintained with in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of diversity onto an organization in addition to explaining the legally mandated and stakeholder driven explanations for mandatory diversity.
In recent years, diversity and inclusion have emerged as an essential business practice. Why are diversity and inclusion so critical to organizations nowadays? Do they really help organizations achieve better results? Why is it a unique issue in the 21st century workplace? To answer these questions, organizations should look into factors such as globalization. Globalization increases interactions around the world and diversifies the profile of the workforce, which also contributes to the changing composition of the current workforce. While globalization offers extensive opportunities for organizations, it also imposes many challenges that require new responses. Organizations are not only looking for ways to effectively manage a diverse workforce but also to leverage it to achieve better outcomes.
Diversity is a popular topic in today’s business world, but the definition of the word varies vastly between organizations. Some definitions are one sentence where others are a paragraph long. To add to the confusion, employees have their own ideas about diversity when entering the workforce that may collaborate with or contradict the organization’s explanation. This paper will compare and contrast four definitions concerning diversity to highlight the similarities and differences of the word according to national and international organizations. Also, the author will explore diversity categories in regard to her own experiences in life.
In this era of economic globalization, many companies are making efforts to achieve workforce diversity, which aims to employ workers from different backgrounds to provide tangible and intangible benefits to the organization. Understanding the advantages of workforce diversity helps an organization to establish with a competitive edge. This can include employing workers with cultural and language skills that can lead to greater reach for the business.
In contemporary society, the idea of diversity has come to the forefront of workplace culture. Diversity by definition is the existence of multiple different and complex social identities and issues in society or a space (Woodson). In simple terms, people self-identify or are identified as belonging to a specific group based on background, experience, or even appearance -- the incorporation of these groups into specific space or environment is diversity. Through globalization and modernization of society, the social interaction between these social identities and groups have become inevitable -- especially for the workplace. Thus, for an organization to be successful, they must be able to market to and serve the social groups within the global population. Diversity allows a combination of people to create a unique social space or team that combines their different backgrounds and associations for increased knowledge, efficiency, and understanding.
Behavior refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. Behavior can be conscious or unconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary. Behavior is controlled by the nervous system; the complexity of the behavior is related to the complexity of the nervous system. Generally, organisms with complex nervous systems have a greater capacity to learn new responses and thus adjust their behavior. Human behavior is the collection of activities by human beings and influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, ethnicity, gender, ethics, religion, authority, persuasion, and/or coercion. The behavior of people falls within a range with some
In this paper we will uncover the disadvantages of introducing diversity in the workforce. I will also look at how diversity can cause a business to become less profitable. The reason I chose this topic is because I do not know the negative effects diversity could have on a business and it intrigues me. There has been much publicity in the media about the benefits of introducing diversity in the workforce. Yet, there has not been as much about the consequences of introducing diversity. I want to understand the potential causes and reasons diversity can have a harmful effect on a business. I do know there are many benefits in having a diverse workforce, and that no one should be overlooked for a job. I just believe it is important to
The article authored by Cox, bearing the recent trends in business globally, together with gender and ethnic diversity, which is on the rise, and forcing the managers to the value of cultural differences. The article provides the essence of an organization to enhance the effectiveness of an organization by valuing diversity. Similarly, the article presents research data and arguments on the manner in which the management of diversity is able to generate competitive advantage. In addition, the article presents organizational flexibility and problem solving skills that
In America, many immigrants do not lose their culture identify like language, religions, and foods. People can identify other people who is Korean-American, Mexican-American, and Italian-American. It shows that many different cultures of people who live in United States, combine like a salad bowl. “Diversity describes race, gender, age, and other individual differences.” (Schermerhorn, 2013) Diversity is not only involves how people recognize themselves. It is how they realize others. (Diversity will increase a lot in few years. – go to conclusion?) This diversity in workplace considers benefit and challenge of diversity for leaders and organizations by responding to the following sentences:
With the changing demographics of the U.S. workforce (Ng & Burke, 2005) and the need for organizations to continually innovate their products and services to remain competitive, embracing diversity and the benefits its brings is going to be key to driving a successful organization
Diversity in workforce “include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience”(Thomas 1992). Diversity in the workforce is initially perceived as a response toward the increasing diversity of the consumers in the market (Agocs & Burr, 1996). From there, it has been observed that capitalizing on existing differences among the employees provide benefits to the organization. Diversity in workforce fosters and encourages