Authentic Leadership and Diversity in Organizational Culture

Ideal Work Environment

Introduction

A great working environment for me is one in which I have freedom to do the job I was hired to do and am trusted by management to get the job done without question. In terms of specific policies and practices that create a cohesive organizational culture, I find that the more defined and clear policies are the better the workplace situation is. Everyone knows what to do and what not to do—and when everyone is held to a certain standard it helps to bring out the best in people. In workplaces where policy is muddled or always changing, there is a lot of discontent because people want consistency and they want good reasons for change. People also like to know that management respects them enough not to hover over them or micro-manage everything they do.

Helpful Policies

One specific policy that helped to create a cohesive organizational culture was the introduction of fun into the workplace that the CEO implemented. He wanted everyone to relax and get more creative with their work, so he started company weekends and silly contests during the week to get everyone to develop a shared sense of humor about life and work. The policy was good because it really lightened up the atmosphere and utilized the laughter advantage that Carder (2019) recommends leaders take advantage of to develop the workplace culture. Other researchers have also highlighted the power of humor in the workplace, particularly Greatbatch and Clark (2003), and they point out that it is a good way for leaders to develop group cohesiveness. I find that in my workplace, the introduction of humor as a policy of management has done a great job of keeping people relaxed and joyous, and that has led to a more engaged workplace and one wherein everyone is more respectful of one another and committed to their tasks. Without humor, stress and tension can build up, and our CEO was definitely looking to address that issue with this policy.

Another policy that has helped to create a cohesive organizational culture has been the policy of transparency. During 2020, a lot of us were working remotely, and in order to keep everyone together in a spirit of integrity, the policy was that we all had to be open and honest about what we were doing, where we were working, how the work was going, what our task load was and what priorities we were setting for ourselves. This policy helped to create a culture of accountability even though no one was in the office and no one was having face-to-face meetings with management. We were all linked in together on the Internet at times, but without this policy it would have been easy to let things slip through the cracks. By promoting transparency, we were able to stay informed and help one another in various ways over a difficult period.

Managerial Behaviors

Managerial behaviors that should be common in a great working environment, for me, include demonstrations of authentic leadership, the use of social and emotional intelligence, and openness to what workers have to say. I have had some managers in the past who have said that they wanted to hear from employees about different issues going on in the office but it is always lip service and they never really care or act on any of the feedback that is given them. But our managers now actually do care and are authentic in their leadership approach. This means they operate from a very good ethical standpoint; they practice what they preach, and this is an inspiration to us. We get a good example from them, and in turn our feedback is usually positive and helpful and they appreciate it and even act upon it when it makes good sense. Managers who use social and emotional intelligence are also great to have in the working environment, because inevitably things can become stressful; people have lives that do not always go according to plan, and external issues can be brought into the workplace. When managers know how to read their employees and understand when some trouble is brewing, they are better at managing what needs to be done in a way that is sensitive to the feelings of others. Ultimately, this approach to human interaction is most helpful and supportive in the workplace because it helps to bolster human relations and make people feel that they are genuinely appreciated.

Ethics and Diversity

Ethics/morality and diversity issues impact an organization in a big way. First of all, ethics are what serve as the guideline for all behavior. Without a code of ethics, an organization is like a ship out at sea, buffeted by the winds and the waves. There is no anchor to drop and there is no dock in sight. An ethical code is more than just a safety net, however; it is also a standard that is set to let everyone know what is expected of them. Some of the worst organizations that have crumbled have been because there was a lack of ethics. One can point to a company like Enron, for example, where leaders were focusing more on get-rich-quick schemes than they were on ethical accounting. In the end, Enron suffered a catastrophic collapse that could have been prevented had there been more focus by its leaders on ethical stewardship.

Morality is the extent to which a person’s actions conform to an ethical standard. So even though there can be an ethical code of conduct in an organization it is still imperative that people conform to it. I have worked in places in the past where there was an open disregard for the code of ethics. The workplace was a very toxic one, and no one trusted anybody, and nothing ever got done to any degree of sufficiency. This is especially true when the leaders themselves dismiss ethics as though they did not matter. In my organization today, the leaders hold themselves accountable to the organization’s code of ethics and this sets a good example for the rest of us.

When it comes to diversity, I feel that if the organization is taking care of having an ethical code and making sure everyone is abiding by it, diversity issues will not be a problem. One of the issues I have noticed in the past is that leaders will pay lip service to “diversity” by always giving an employee of the month award to a minority. This ends up rubbing a lot of workers the wrong way because instead of awards being based on merit they are based on this politically correct notion that the organization has to honor minorities to prove it embraces diversity. To me this is a false embrace. True welcoming of diversity is about being open to all people and their ideas and not shooting anyone down or denying anyone the floor or a place on a committee if that person doesn’t check off a pre-set list of boxes, i.e., being the right color, gender, worldview, or so on. True welcoming of diversity is about realizing that there is more to people than their skin color, their sex, their age, their ethnicity, or their education level. I like that in my organization today our managers place more attention on ideas and output than on whether they are filling “diversity” quotas. This to me feels more honest.

That said, it is important that a workplace realize we live in a globalized world, as Daya (2014) points out. So it is necessary, especially when hiring new workers, that the organization be willing to look outside the box and not try to exclude someone from getting a new position because of some pre-determined view of who should have that position. There is a lot of talent the world over, and when managers are looking to fill a spot by only examining one set of criteria it is really restrictive. Management should engage in blind hiring so as to not limit searches to whether a candidate is of the “right” gender or ethnicity or age or experience level. What should matter is whether the person can do the job, has good ideas, communicates well, and is on board with the organization’s vision. Catering to diversity quotas can impair an organization rather than help it; but at the same time, an organization that refuses to hire outside the box for fear of bringing in different points of view is one that will be stagnant, static and ultimately left behind.