Diversity, small business, and technology in modern organizations

Management Technology

Principles of Management and Technology

Multiculturalism and Diversity

"Diversity is desirable for innovation, flexibility, and organizational success."

Diversity can be a valuable asset for any organization. Having people from different backgrounds and cultures offers a broader range of different perspectives and different opinions. Having this as an asset can spawn higher levels of innovation and flexibility because of the depth of perspective -- more people with different ideas can collaborate in a way that ultimately leads to organizational success. Today's most successful organizations embrace diversity however the results of diversity are not always successful. While many organizations have sought to increase the diversity of their workforces, researchers have found both positive and negative effects of demographic diversity on organizational outcomes (Olsen & Martins, 2012).

New Business Ventures

Discuss the reasons why small businesses are so important to the U.S. economy.

Small business accounts for the bulk of the U.S. economy and is critical to the overall economic success of the country as well as the world in general. Small businesses comprise what share of the U.S. economy (SBA, 2012)?

Small businesses make up:

99.7% of U.S. employer firms,

64% of net new private-sector jobs,

49.2% of private-sector employment,

42.9% of private-sector payroll,

46% of private-sector output,

43% of high-tech employment,

98% of firms exporting goods, and 33% of exporting value.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, SUSB, CPS; International Trade Administration; Bureau of Labor Statistics, BED; Advocacy-funded research, Small Business GDP: Update 2002-2010, www.sba.gov/advocacy/7540/42371.

3. Technology and Modern Culture

Winner says, "It is clear that in decades to come a great many things like telephone answer machines and automatic bank tellers will become, in effect, members of our society." More recent technologies that could be included in Winner's list include the smart phone, online banking, and online shopping. Winner suggests that we surrogate our responsibility to these technologies.

b.What makes them potentially dangerous?

They are potentially dangerous because they have the ability to spin out of control and disrupt the natural habitat. For example, various types of crops used for farming could potentially disrupt and overtake the traditional farming varieties of crops.

c.What should we consider natural and what is artificial?

There is a lot of grey area between what is natural and what is artificial. However, when humans intervene on a genetic level then this could easily be considered artificial.