The Impact of Workforce Diversity

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Diversity refers to the ways people differ from each other. These ways are significant and plentiful. Culturally, people vary in gender, age, ethnicity, race sexual orientation, educational background, religion, lifestyle, as well as veteran and/or immigrant status. Functionally, people vary in the ways we think, learn, process information, respond to authority, show respect and reach agreements (Pollar & Gonzalez, 2011.) Obviously, people differ in numerous ways, so what does that mean for businesses? Well, when work groups are comprised of people with different backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles, promoting teamwork and smooth interactions can be challenging. Finding new ways to work together will require thinking about people’s differences, not to divide, separate or exclude, but to take advantage of those differences. When people engage in divergent thinking, they put themselves in a highly exploratory mode, drawing from more of their total life experience to help solve a particularly difficult problem or to discover new and better alternatives to doing things. A diverse workforce more closely reflects the global marketplace that the organization competes in. With the growing number of Asian, Hispanic and other minority populations, it makes sense for companies to promote and strive for diversity in the workplace. By doing this, businesses create the very conditions needed to produce more creative outcomes to the problems and challenges they will be faced with. Diversity management initiatives are long term and strategic in focus. They strive not only to recruit, but to actively develop, promote and capitalize on the different skills and perspectives of minority employees (Marquis, 2007.) Every day, peopl... ... middle of paper ... ... cultural and personal differences among the people who work there and the customers who do business there (Williams, 2014.) This statement alone is representative of the majority of businesses operating today. With that in mind, organizations should welcome and encourage the benefits of diversity because not only is it the legal thing to do, it is also the ethical thing to do. Works Cited Jefferson P. Marquis, Nelson Lim, Lynn M. Scott, Margaret C. Harrell, Jennifer Kavanagh "Managing Diversity in Corporate America, An Exploratory Analysis" Rand Corporation. Web. 29 June 2015. http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2007/RAND_OP206.pdf Pollar, Odette & Gonzalez, Rafael. (2011). Dynamics of diversity: strategic programs for your organization. Boston, MA: Crisp Pub Inc. Williams, Chuck. (2014). Mgmt 2. South Western Publishing.

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