The Influence of Diversity Factors on Individual Behavior There are numerous influences that affect individual and group behavior in the workplace. A great many of these are external to the workplace, and include the influences of pervasive social forces that shape an individual's behavior from early childhood, such as religion, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status; physiological influences that impose both opportunities and constraints, such as age and gender; and the influences from life choices that individuals make, such as occupation and geographic location. The general question of "how does influence X affect behavior?" is too broad to address. This paper will examine four specific examples of the impact of gender, religion, age, and sexual orientation on behavior in the workplace, with the objective of illustrating the profound scope and influence of the elements of diversity. Gender Forming teams to solve specific problems inside of a company is common practice. What impact does the gender-diversity of the team have on its performance? Socialization of gender roles begins at very early ages, with men and women experiencing different socialization processes that result in different patterns of behavior. Girls are commonly taught to respect male authority, to act in a communal fashion, and to resist expressing aggressive or assertive behaviors. Conversely, boys are socialized to be aggressive and competitive. There are certainly modern trends away from these stereotypes, but there is still a common level of perception that the socialized behaviors from childhood persist in the workplace for adults (Karakowsky, McBey & Chuang, 2004). These early patterns of socialization and expectation setting have long-lasting impacts on the behaviors of adult team members.
When the diversity in CSE is high in the team, the performance is perceived as higher. The opposite pattern of results emerged for those who belonged to teams with low levels of CSE diversity. Here, there is a negative relationship between individual CSE and peer-rated performance for those who belong to teams with low diversity of CSE. When a person believes that he or she can complete tasks successfully, but is in a team with low levels of team diversity in CSE, then their performance is perceived by others as
Diversity has many definitions but only one true meaning. This concept Analysis is dedicated to exploring the broadened sense of diversity through active concepts with respect to term usage, and current literature research to support the understanding and relevance of the term itself.
ment, another form of gender prejudice is most seen in the work place because of the constant interactions between males and females on a frequent basis. The sex role spill-over theory makes some very curious predictions . According to this framework, women working in certain environments-ones which most employees are male-will be more likely to experience sexual harassment than ones working in more traditional environments(ch.6Pp.245). Yet people will tend to view such harassment, when it occurs as less threatening or coercive than it would be in traditional environments. This is because they are perceived as role deviates-people who depart from traditional roles.
While diversity is often a term used to refer specifically to cultural differences, diversity applies to all the qualities that make people different. From a management perspective, the key to diversity is to understand how different types of diversity and different demographic characteristics can impact human behavior. The four types of diversity that will be examined are: occupation, differences in skills and abilities, personality traits, and value and attitudes. For each type of diversity, the impact on individual behavior will be described.
Dahlin, K. B., Weingart, L. R., & Hinds, P. J. (2005). Team Diversity and Information Use. The Academy of Management Journal , 48 (6), 1107-1123.
A diverse union is one that values the differences in all people; Diversity can be defined as people coming together from different race, ethnicity, political beliefs, religion beliefs, and social status. Living in America, gives one the opportunity to live in a diverse neighborhood, moreover, with all the diverse opportunities we have; Do we take full advantage and live in diversity in our communities? David Brook’s say’s in People like us, “Maybe it’s time to admit the obvious. We don’t really care about diversity all that much in America…” (357) Brook’s statement is bold, however, it does state a fact American’s cannot deny; talking about diversity and actually practicing in one’s life are very different from one another. Walter Benn Michael’s
Berdahl (2007) states that, “[the results found that] men are considerably less threatened than women. sexual coercion the most threatening form of harassment. the results also showed signs of backlash among men against organizational measures that address sexual harassment and discrimination against women” (p. 657-8). In addition to work-related gender discrimination, Diploye & Colella (2005) published writings in The Organizational Frontier Series which give data on the issues of discrimination at work and its effects. Throughout the book, they touch on multiple aspects of discrimination which include: individual and group levels, age, and gender.
Once the basics were set up, the procedures came into play. The small groups throughout the semester worked together on several presentations and written analyses, as well as a final group project, all of which had been set up as tasks considered to be gender neutral (Kent, Moss 1339). As to avoid any issues with any one task being too feminine or masculine. At the end of the semester students were asked to take the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, used to determine an individuals gender role category (which categorizes one’s personality as being masculine, feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated) as well as to respond to three questions designed to measure their perceptions of their own leader behaviors along with those of their group members (Kent, Moss 1339). Again, researchers were trying to assess the relationship between gender role and leader emergence. So, the three item scale used to assess leader emergence included to the extent an individual student and each member of their group assumed a leadership role, led the conversation, and influenced group goals and decisions (Kent, Moss 1340). Due to the leader emergence scale, this study allowed for students to select more than one individual they thought to have been a key
As the processes and systems used in business have become more complex, teams, not individuals, have become popular in many organizations. Teams are made up of individuals from an organization brought together to solve a problem, improve a process or implement a new process. “A major advantage that a team has over an individual is its diversity of resources and ideas” (Burns, 1995, p. 52). However, this diversity can cause conflict within the team. The success of the team is strongly influenced by the team’s ability to recognize the causes of, manage and resolve conflict.
The purpose of creating teams is to solve a problem or issue through the use of diverse ideas and solutions. There are many times in life, whether at work or at school that one will encounter a diverse mix of personalities. Workplace diversity is everywhere, from the small corner business to the fortune 500 company, and is one of the most important challenges facing companies today. This mix of diverse personalities, gender, race, experience, and culture is what makes a team successful. This is an example of a heterogeneous team. On the other hand, a team with the same make-up, or homogeneous, has limitations on creativity, viewpoints and ideas. This paper will look at cultural diversity and demographic characteristics, specifically age, gender, expertise/ experience and how each plays an integral part in the construction of a high performance team.
The impact of diversity in the workplace is contingent upon several factors. Across companies diversified workforces are becoming increasingly common. To successfully manage a diverse workforce, organizations are ensuring that employees understand how their values and stereotypes influence their behavior toward others of different gender, ethnic, racial, or religious backgrounds; are gaining an appreciation of cultural differences among themselves; and behaviors that isolate or intimidate minorities are being improved (Noe et al., 2010, pg. 302).
In the early research by Gassman (1467), he illustrated that although diversity in the team result language barriers and cultural differences are occurred frequently, some benefits can still be found, for example, open up opportunities. Another experiment in problem solving creativity found that, the team which composed of people have different attitudes and perspectives were much better than the team which composed of people with similar attitudes (Triandis). Although diversity in team members has been shown some advantages for creativity and innovation, there still some research and experiment demonstrated that there are no relationships between team member diversity and team performance or the diversity in team members have negative impact on creativity and innovation. Ochse (1990) illustrated that creativity may be impeded if the team member is quite knowledgeable at their own area. Another study from Diehl (1992), demonstrated that, although team member diversity did increase the team ability of creative ideas, it not mean that diversity teams are outperform homogeneous teams. As these researchers explored, diversity in team members, not only bring positive influence but also the negative
Managing diverse groups to achieve a cohesive philosophy and consistency of performance is what is required of today’s corporate leader. Evidence shows that women and men are as adept, or as bad, as each other at responding to this challenge.
Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structures have on behavior within an organization for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organization’s effectiveness. Organizational behavior is dependent upon many variables. It incorporates many areas of study such as psychology, sociology and anthropology. These disciplines are important in trying to manage new and existing challenges in the workplace. Two examples of current workplace challenges are workplace diversity and the constant struggle to balance work life and home life.
What exactly is workplace discrimination? (Statistic) It can be defined as a less favorable treatment towards an individual or a group of individuals at work, usually based on their nationality, skin color, sex, marital status, age, sexual orientation, or other defining attributes. It can appear as a denial of certain rights, negligent treatment, deliberate harassment or work results and achievements, and so on. A person can be discriminated by their coworkers or by the employer. Thesis: Gender inequality in the workplace is an ethically historic and significant issue which requires adequate solutions because it leads to unethical discrimination of women, minorities, and those who are members of the LGBT community. As a rule, discrimination