company at best. In comparison to the functionalist theory, this company has many interconnected duties that create a balanced company when performed by a diverse amount of workers.
The Interconnection
“The dynamics of diversity in a Japanese factory are intimately linked with the nature of interpersonal relations in teams” (Lepadatu and Janoski, 2011, pg. 9). After reading the book, I grasped the concept that at Kaizen Motors there are both challenges and opportunities within the companies system. Being a Japanese company the managing of gender based roles became an experience that managers had to get used to. Because Kaizen Motors is located in the United States, the gender differences were heavily recognized as opposed to how gender roles
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In many Japanese companies women are the minority where as men are the majority. It was alarming to me that the “Japanese managers had little sympathy for the sometimes conflicting demands of job and family because men did not have a role in managing day-to-day family affairs in japan” (Lepadatu and Janoski, 2011, pg.13). Unlike American management, the Japanese lacked an understanding when it came to family roles in the United States. As a concept learning in this course, individuals who hold management roles must have a concern for not only what is happening within their own organization and company, but also with the relationships between their company and other organizations. According to data analysis and research found on pg. 115 in the Diversity at Kaizen Motors book, the greatest source of dissatisfaction at the auto transplant was the balancing of work and family. However, as the company grew there became an understanding about gender roles within the plant resulting in a cohesive company. In regards to gender, something that I found really interesting about this transplant was that both sexes enjoyed working together. Today it is not uncommon …show more content…
4). Companies today depend heavily on skills and technologies when it comes to performance. Individuals who have worked at a company longer most likely perform skills better than those who have recently been hired. Although Kaizen Motors relies heavily on teamwork, it is evident that employees perform based on skills. In the book, we learn that ageism plays a prominent factor at the transplant. As older workers in any company are, they hold a role almost like a sense of commitment to the company. Those who have been with a company for many years tend to be older and display a mentor persona. Individuals of a younger age are typically the newer employed individuals who hold position that are considered temporary (because of transitioning through a company). Although younger employees have not been in a company as long, there is still a sense of commitment with them as well. Younger employees can be encouraging to older employees, they can provide new ideas, and can work predominantly faster than those of an older age. At Kaizen Motors we see the combination of both working on teams, because Kaizen Motors is all about teamwork. There seems to be a sense of reliability between both the older and younger employees. There is no “discouragement” because they all considered themselves of equal capability to what they can bring to their job.
In the article “Sex Segregation at Work: Persistence and Change” by Anastasia Prokos explores ideas around the challenges and reasons of sex segregation in the work place. She argues that even though the United States has made several steps in the right direction throughout our history, there is still “… women and men in the contemporary United States continue to be concentrated in different occupations, jobs, and industries” (Prokos 564). She is presenting this as a social problem that leads to stereotypes, discrimination, and unequal pay.
First, our company should understand the importance of gender diversity. In the first article “Why Workplace Gender Diversity Matters”, Anne Marsan pointed out directly that most tech companies lack of gender diversity. Then she explained several reasons why gender diversity matters to companies. Using logos, she mentioned that women in U.S. purchased 50 percent of computers, 50 percent of cars and 80 percent of consumer goods. In other words, organizations with gender diversity are better to connect with
In attempts to comply with federal laws and in relation to fairness, organizations and business in the United States started increasing women’s representation and employment of people of color. These efforts resulted in a trend where women representation across all types of jobs increased while the workplace was characterized with people from different cultural backgrounds. Organizations and businesses sported multicultural and multilingual hues that resulted in a paradigm shift in the concept of workplace diversity (Srikrishna,
A very interesting and important study shows that by writing “Help” Aibileen and Skeeter contributed to something much bigger that they could have imagined and the future would benefit greatly for both black and white women, overall for the greater good. In their study, Kevin Stainback and Soyoung Kwon wanted to determine if women in the workforce could make a difference regarding sex-segregation and inequality between men and women. They were able to come to a conclusion to their study by using the 2005 Korean Workplace Panel Survey which is a collection of establishment samples in the Republic of Korea. Their study concluded that the rate of sex segregation decreased in organizations where a higher number of females had manager positions rather than supervisory positions. Therefore it was concluded that women can be important “agents of change” for the improvement of sex-segregation in the workplace.
News, S. "Japan's Gender Roles." Teacher Bien. FourHalf Inc, 12 July 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2013
Gender, racial, and ethnic diversity means different things to different people. Some believe that diversity is about quotas, and affirmative action. Others believe that diversity is something that will happen on its own with out intervention. Some experts who study diversity, however, believe that diversity is not something that should be left up to chance. It is important, therefore, for organizations to take action to encourage and foster diversity in the workplace (Clarke, 1995, p. 13).
Today’s management in the workforce is composed of all types of people verses thirty years ago when white males held a majority of upper-management positions in companies. These positions are now held by a mixture of ethnic back grounds and women who hold just as many if not more management positions then men. Just by looking at the changes in management demographics shows how important it is for people to understand cultural competency in the workplace. Dr. Roosevelt Thomas Jr. (1999) stated, “Diversity is the collective mixture of whomever we have in our workforce characterized by their differences and similarities” (p.11). Managers and supervisors must understand the characteristics of a diversity mature individual; they also need to be able to articulate the differences between affirmative action, managing diversity, understanding and valuing diversity to build skills that transforms awareness into productive and supportive workplace behaviors.
Diversity can be differences in age, gender, ethnicity, and religion. Having such a diverse workforce can be very challenging. (1) Today’s workforce is very diverse in respect to age. Before, corporate America consisted of workers ranging from twenty one up to late thirties to early forties. Now, we see people in their mid to late fifties going back to work. This trend has both advantages and disadvantages. One advantage of an older employee over a younger employee is his ability to use his years of experience in situations where a younger employee lacks experience. Another advantage for an older employee is his built relationship with existing customers. The disadvantage of an older employee over a younger employee is his inability to quickly adapt to his changing environment. Younger employees are more “hungry” compared to their older counter parts. Their hunger is fired by their goal to quickly move up the corporate ladder.
Women face an unofficial barrier called the glass ceiling, which limits how high a women can advance in a profession. “Women holding the titles of chairman, CEO, COO (chief operating officer), and executive vice president remain at about 7 percent of the population of executives in the United States” (Hoobler, Wayne, & Lemmon, 2009). Women seem to have more of a family-work conflict then men, so bosses don’t seem to have as much desire, to promote females compared to men (Hoobler, Wayne, & Lemmon 939-940). Men still view women as having a social role, examples are cooking, childcare, and household chores. Men feel threatened, and scared when females are able to handle both work and their personal life. Excuses are created by men, where they believe females should focus on one role, because they won’t be able to accomplish family roles and work roles efficiently. Women can help themselves with this issue of family-work conflict, by, improving communication with their employers. Women can communicate to their employer, by explaining and clarifying their expectations on how much workload they can
In past experience, through travels outside of the country for business relations it was discovered very early on that most cultures will respect fairness and tolerance, but each to a different degree. American women in managerial positions have had to struggle to find ways to be effective in cultures where their authority and credibility are not traditionally the norm. Perhaps it was the value of fairness that clashed with tolerance or respect for diversity on this particular business trip to Japan over 10 years ago. However, even if there was an underlying agreement on such values, in this particular scenario these values were prioritized differently among the two different cultures and might have been expressed different for that reason.
These traditional roles and consequently women’s identities have been formed and maintained by the workplace, therefore understanding any gender differences in labor requires an examination in this light. Grant and Porter remind the researcher that the concepts of male and female are not independent relationships of the workplace, but have been strongly influenced and determined by the relationships of male and female in society at large.
For many decades, women have faced inequalities in the workforce. At one point, they were not allowed to work at all. Although women's rights have improved and are now able to work alongside men, they are still treated unfairly. According to the 2012 U.S. Census, women’s earnings were “76.5 percent of men’s” (1). In 2012, men, on average, earned $47,398 and women earned only $35,791. This is when comparing employees where both gender spend the same amount of time working. Not only do women encounter unfairness in work pay, they also face a “glass ceiling” on a promotional basis. This glass ceiling is a “promotion barrier that prevents woman’s upward ability” (2). For example, if a woman is able to enter a job traditionally for men, she will still not receive the same pay or experience the same increase in occupational ability. Gender typing plays a huge role in the workplace. It is the idea that women tend to hold jobs that are low paid with low status. Women are not highly considered in leadership positions because of social construction of gender. Society has given women the role of “caretakers” and sensitive individuals. Therefore, women are not depicted as authoritative figures, which is apparent with the absence of women in leadership roles in companies. Furthermore, sex segregation leads to occupations with either the emphasis of women in a certain job or men in a certain job. In 2009, occupations with the highest proportion of women included “secretary, child care worker, hair dresser, cashier, bookkeeper, etc.” (3). Male workers typically held job positions as construction workers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, etc. (3). Sex segregation represents inequality because the gender composition for these jobs depends on what ...
Diversity is a highly important issue in today’s business, especially in a globalized company. Workplace diversity helps to get better solutions to business problems (Schawbel, 2012). When you have a group of individ...
Diversity in business today is unavoidable. Due to labor markets, immigration, and the increase in women in the workforce, managers must develop new strategies and behaviors to effectively manage these diverse workers. As culturally different people enter the workforce, organizations need to take advantage of this labor pool. Not only does this resource solve declining labor growth, but it also gives the organization a different perspective in the industry and will potentially bring new diverse customers. Managers who change their interpersonal behavior towards diverse employees and learn to understand the cultural differences between them will undoubtedly increase productivity and gain a competitive edge in the market place.
This dedication of Japanese employees to their work contributes greatly to the strength of the economy of Japan. They feel like they are part of a big family (the company). Employees work together for the benefit of the company as a whole. They truly feel that their hard work and success contribute to the company's success and growth. Companies also have special programs and classes for the employees, who are the children, to make them feel at home. There are company athletic clubs and cultural classes, such as flower arrangement and the tea ceremony. Since everyone is a member of the "family" in Japan, decisions that the company must make are circulated among the lower echelons of the work force for their opinio...