Advantages and disadvantages of workplace diversity

Diversity Consciousness in The Workplace
Identify the advantages and disadvantages of having a more diverse workplace
A diverse workplace leads to better results for the company. There is increased creativity, better overall productivity, and better ideas shared amongst the employees. Employees from different backgrounds bring different perspectives when dealing with problems or facing creative opportunities, which enhances the quality and quantity of ideas being presented. According to Richard, Barnett, Dwyer, and Chadwick (2004) a diverse language and culture assists a company to populate its sales and service employees with a diverse group that can effectively interact with customers from different cultures. There are customers who are not fluent in English, therefore, having employees who are fluent in multiple languages and understand different cultures is a plus for the organization. Communication is improved as there is awareness and sensitivity training being conducted by the organization for all its employees. This assists in eliminating communication barriers within the organization and employees’ gel with one another in the performance of their work. There is an increase in the adaptability of the employees. The organization is forced to develop a variety of solutions in order to meet the needs of their diverse workforce.
The disadvantages are there is no freedom of speech. In diverse workplaces employees’ have to be sensitive to others' race, beliefs, or cultural backgrounds. This makes it hard for an employee to fully express them self for fear of being judged as discriminating. The increased cost of training is another disadvantage. The organization has to invest in seminars, lectures, and programs that promote diversity in the workplace. In order for the organization to achieve unity this training is essential as it teaches and trains employees how to accept ideas, thoughts, and personalities of others within the workplace. Training is a continuous thing, which increases the operating costs of the organization. Integration issues begin coming up. There are informal groups that are formed, which can impede social integration. The social groups can result in culturally diverse employees avoiding each other and this would hinder effective knowledge sharing. There is a chance that if not properly handled it results in decreases productivity.
The textbook identified 10 ways that companies can exclude diverse employees. Which two do you think are the most critical/important? Explain why.
Glass ceiling barriers are one of the ways that a company can use to exclude diverse employees, especially in upper management positions. It has been noted that most men at the top are more comfortable with their own kind and they tend to make it harder for a woman to join upper management. Therefore, promotion up the ladder is made hard by having less culturally diverse employees being promoted in other departments and they are left to always work under other managers. This, in turn, means that it is less likely that diverse employees can rise to the top since they have to rise step by step. Limiting the number of managers who are from different backgrounds will, in essence, ensure that there is no diversity at the upper management levels (Bucher Richard D., 2015). The reason most upper level managers give is that they prefer to have someone whom they can predict and understand their behavior. Having a diverse culture at the upper levels of management means that it becomes difficult to predict the behaviors of people. While this is wrong it is one of the reasons that most directors and top-level managers do give.
An organization's screening practices can be used to exclude diverse employees. Aptitude and intelligence tests are used to measure how a certain culture will perceive things, which might not be accurate for assessing the aptitude of minorities (Lambert, 2016). This ensures that only the required culture will pass the tests and excludes the organization from having a diverse culture. Another method that can be employed is the requirement for degrees, certificates, and experience that have no bearing on job performance. Diverse candidates do not have these credentials and this results in them being overlooked for the position. While the person is able to perform the job and they have demonstrated they can, the lack of credentials means they are not hired (Bucher Richard D., 2015).
Identify what your personal values are relating to diversity, and explain why each is important to you.
Personal values are caring, calm, reliable, trustful, hardworking, and honest. Caring is vital because it allows one to be understanding of others and to always care about other people's feelings and desires. By caring about others, a person is better placed to know how to interact with others from different backgrounds. Calmness allows one to always stay focused and not be troubled by what other people say or do even when it is directly impacting them. Being calm in difficult situations allows one to see beyond the situation and come up with solutions for the problem at hand (Ely & Padavic, 2007). If a person is not calm they are likely to miss vital information that would assist them to solve a problem. Reliability means that people can always depend on the individual to deliver on what they want. It does not matter who has made the request, if the person is able to do it, they will definitely assist the individual. This makes it easy for one to interact with people from different backgrounds and cultures and to deliver the same results without any kind of discrimination or favor. Trust is built over time and it takes time for someone to trust another person. Many people discover that a person can be trustful in the performance of their responsibilities and to also be certain that they will not share information that should not be shared.
Having been taught and growing up in an area where it was frowned upon to be lazy. This makes one to become a hard worker and to always endeavor to complete their tasks at the appropriate and scheduled time. Honesty means that a person can interact with others and to call out a person who is being rude or arrogant to others without being afraid. This is vital because people will know that the individual does not entertain it when others are talking or discriminating against a particular culture.
What do you feel are the advantages and disadvantage of working with females in the workplace? Explain why.
The advantages of working with females in the workplace are that they bring flexibility to the workplace, effective communication, and a well-rounded workforce. Flexibility at the workplace has been promoted in order for employers to be accommodative to women who have children or families (Ely & Padavic, 2007). This has not only been beneficial to females, but it has trickled down to men as well. There has been an introduction of facilities like child care, work from home, and flexible work hours, which are great benefits for all employees. Before this, the idea of flexible hours was unheard of and people had to report to work at a specified time and leave at a given time. It has been established that women are great communicators as they tend to respond effectively to verbal, visual, and emotional factors than men. This is beneficial to the workplace as women can express something much better than the way their male counterparts would. A well-rounded workforce means that there is a balance of genders in the workplace. Women are effective problem solvers and they can be relied upon to give solutions that people had not thought about (Guillaume, Dawson, Otaye?Ebede, Woods, & West, 2017).
The disadvantages are that women tend to be chatty and this is a distraction for most employees. While most women are skilled in the art of multitasking and they can chat and work at the same time. This cannot be the same for all the women, it has been established that people tend to make mistakes when they attempt to perform two tasks at the same time. Efficiency is reduced when a person is doing two tasks. Therefore, productivity of the workplace reduces and simple tasks take longer to complete. Chattiness is distracting to others especially when the chatting is too much, which can lead to reduced productivity. Women are not able to focus on work when they have an underlying issue that is not work-related. When there is a family crisis or an emotional issue affecting a woman, it is hard for her to separate herself from the issue when she is at work, which will negatively impact her work productivity.
What two items did you find the most attractive about the Euro-American culture (or the African American culture, or American Indian culture)? Explain why. What two items did you find the least attractive? Explain why.
Competition and independence are the two items that were most attractive about the Euro-American culture.