Diversity is the piece that makes the modern workforce so amazingly unique and challenging at the same time. Valuing diversity means creating a work environment that respects and includes differences, recognizing the unique contributions these differences can bring, and maximizing the potential of all employees and the company. In The Loudest Duck, the author describes what often happens when diverse individuals enter the modern diverse workplace. Liswood gives great examples, analogies and shares simple insights into the hardships of bringing people from diverse backgrounds together to accomplish goals. The main emphasis is put on recognizing that diversity strictly by statistics of different races and/or genders present is insufficient. …show more content…
The first analogy used by the author is Noah's Ark, explaining that diversity is not just about the numbers. Having two of every type in the ark does not mean by default collaboration and cohesiveness. It just means that there are many different types all trying to be noticed, heard and understood.
Second analogy used is about the Elephant and the Mouse. The elephant is the predominant or homogenous group within the workplace and the mouse the small percentage of the diverse group. Often the diverse group feels insignificant and small, misunderstood and helpless.
Furthermore, the author uses the "Grandma" analogy. The "grandma's voice" is the unconscious voice therefore most people are unaware of how they act, just moving through with what's familiar behavior. The subconscious consists of what the culture, society, family and friends instill to be ok and acceptable. Then these values are brought and continued to be practiced within the
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They have to understand and practice the tools needed to manage a diverse workplace. As discussed in The Loudest Duck leaders can employ these methods to obtain a harmonious, all-inclusive environment: appreciate, promote, employ and celebrate diversity. Leaders must show appreciation and interest in the diversity of their workforce, not just look at percentages and how those are fulfilled but truly engage in understanding and developing the challenges and successes diversity brings. They need to understand how their subconscious is predisposed towards other's differences and develop a character and attitude that is not biased or predisposed to people and situations that are only similar to them. It's important for leaders to have an open-door policy that encourages sharing thoughts, rationale and feelings will help unify the diverse workforce. Leaders more than others need to understand that for a company to succeed everyone needs to feel valued and appreciated regardless of the
Cañas, K. A., & Sondak, H. (2014). Opportunities and challenges of workplace diversity: Theory, cases, and exercises (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
There are numerous leadership skills leaders utilize within a global organization to integrate inclusion. To create an inclusive organization the leader must consider methods that will influence employees that incorporates a diverse cultural organization. Per Bourke and Dillon (2016), inclusive leadership requires six C’s of success in a global organization. The Cs includes; commitment, curiosity, courage, cognizance, Collaboration and cultural intelligence. Commitment encompasses the leader is driven by fairness. The leader’s beliefs and values motivates them to put energy and time into change the work environment. The leader leads with experiences on how to change the organization into one that is inclusive due to the diverse population of employees. Curiosity provides the leader with determination to constantly strive to learn new things. Leaders that are filled with curiosity have an open-mind, a hunger for knowledge, and a passion for uncovering distinctive concepts (Bourke, 2016). A leader that has courage will ask others for help in the decision-making process. They are not afraid to acknowledge when they need others’ opinions and help. Courage permits the leader to challenge others and utilize their strengths to aid in developing an inclusive
Cañas, K. A. & Sondak, H. (2011). Opportunities and challenged for workplace diversity: Theory, cases, and exercises. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.
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.)
Diversity in the workplace is very important in today’s global workforce because workers in the economy all over the world are currently made up of many different ethnicities, varied cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds. People that are involved in management such as managers, and supervisors could greatly benefit from being accustomed to diversity in the workplace because their job entails dealing with a multicultural work environment on a daily basis. Knowing how to handle diversity in the workforce and having the necessary skills for supervisors would be beneficial not only to them but also to the success of the company and economy because a strong, diversified workforce will create a more “creative, innovative, and productive workforce.” (Kerby, 2012).
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...
Organizations should involve varied leadership abilities for an inclusive business culture. Fron-runners should have the know-how to head workers successfully. Leaders see the uniqueness of each worker and pay attention to their value. Employee’s morals and viewpoints should clearly add to achievable outcomes. Inclusive leadership entail workers that are uncomplaining and free to acquiring important information and willing to develop personal relationships (Hollander, n.d.).
Barak, M. E. (2005). Managing diversity: toward a globally inclusive workplace. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Schein in his book “Organizational Culture and Leadership” explains how different believes and behaviors start to be logical when we understand their cultures by stating “When we learn to see the world through cultural lenses, all kinds of things begin to make sense that initially were mysterious, frustrating, or seemingly stupid” (2010, p. 13). This kind of foresight should be the starting point in order to manage the tremendously growing diversity in the workforce nowadays. Leaders and administrators of both public and private organizations through their influence are responsible to promote and manage diversity in an ethical manner.
A basic problem regarding the implementation of diversity into the workplace is that its approach sometimes does not fit the interpretations of equity and equality according to the context in which it was meant.
Many have heard the simile comparing humans to snowflakes. Just as no two snowflakes are exactly the same, no two humans have the same appearance and personality; each is unique. This simile can be directly connected to the quote “different, not less”. No one would discriminate against snowflakes due to their different structures and shapes, but humans are attacked daily because of their race, gender, sexuality, or disability. We are all humans who experience the same emotions: love, sadness, anger, hate, happiness.
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.
The researcher believes, in this fast-changing era, any kind of company or organization should be able to improve the quality of workplace diversity by having some important main factor to boost the new paradigm of a diverse workplace, such as:
Diversity is all around us and how organizations deal with the notion of diversity can be complex and quite diverse. We know that being diverse in the workplace is important to the organization's success, should be recognized, accepted, and embraced. It’s how the organizations live up to what they believe in and must go above and beyond legal compliance and requirements to promoting diversity and inclusion. Otherwise, employees may view the organization's vision and policies as lip service and only be tolerant of diversity because the organization said so.
The importance of diversity in the workplace that it can aid in a competitive framework