MGT/311 WEEK 5 Reflection

Diversity is a wonderful asset to an organization and brings with it many benefits. Employees bring in their own personal experiences and knowledge to the team (Burns & Kerby, 2012). Having diverse teams allows for the possibility to fix a problem or perfect a process by using different employee’s experiences and past knowledge to find solutions. A diverse workforce can drive economic growth and capture a greater share of the consumer market (Burns & Kerby, 2012). With diversity as a core value, the recruitment pool is widened to find the most qualified candidate and reduces employee turnover as a result. An organization can be highly competitive with a diversity initiative by adapting to a changing environment (Burns & Kerby, 2012).

“Maximizing and capitalizing on workplace diversity has become an important issue for management today.” [ (Kelli A. Green, 2002) ]

As Shen, Chanda, Netto, & Monga (2009) point out, "workforce diversity acknowledges the reality that people differ in many ways, visible or invisible, mainly age, gender, marital status, social status, disability, sexual orientation, religion, personality, ethnicity, and culture," (p. 235.). These differences will vary from place to place, and from organization to organization. Therefore, the human resources management must respond to the situational variables, not making generalizations about the needs of the organization to promote diversity and the strategies that can be implemented. The human resources manager risks wasting valuable resources on procedures, policies, and programs that are not fruitful in promoting genuine employee integration without understanding the specific variables impacting the organization at the moment. As the organization has already seen, hiring a diverse workforce is an insufficient action. Having an organizational culture that supports and promotes total team integration is a process requiring the support from every level of management. Management needs to play an active role in ensuring that diversity is represented in senior positions, if it hopes to see a productive and diverse workforce of subordinate personnel.

Diversity has been a hot-button topic for many of today’s companies. Diversity programming and initiatives are regularly implemented by organizations of all types and sizes. As it relates to an organization’s human resources operation, diversity will continue to be an ever-changing term as the work towards equitable treatment for all continues.

This paper is the first part of a training manual that will help employees to have a better understanding of diversity in the work place and how to act towards different diversity issues that may arise in the workplace. It will also give current statistics and recent trends of the demographics in the United States as well as the forecasted trends. Also included will be a rough outline of the entire contents of the manual and the table of contents for the manual.

The video resonated with me the most. Even though dissociative and hyperarousal was described in the video for children reaction to threats, this concept reminds me of my defensive mechanism from when I was in an abusive relationship. As I was listening, I began to have flashbacks that replayed in my head of the dissociative phase. I remember when I was put into uncomfortable situations where I would prepare my mind of the hurt that was soon to come from my boyfriend range and anger. Yes, I was older, but I felt like such a weak young girl due to not having the backbone to flee or fight. I was so afraid. I appreciate reading and listening to videos that are congruent to life itself. This helps me understand how individuals process fear from all aspects.

Year after year, the various departments and agencies of the United States Federal Government are becoming more diverse. The discussion of workplace diversity is not a discussion that is likely to disappear anytime soon in the future. To explain, the literature from Starks (2009) notes that by the year of 2050, minorities groups will account for fifty-percent of the population, in the United States of America. As a result, the discussion of diversity in the workplace is likely to still be a constant topic, for the various department and agencies of the United States Federal Government.

Diversity and inclusion are hot topics in today’s business world. While treating individuals fairly and equally is a social imperative, it is also extremely important to the success of a business. With the changing demographics of society and its affect on the American workforce, organizations must truly embrace diversity and inclusion. “For companies to succeed in the global marketplace, they must make the most of the full range of their people. Companies must attract and retain the right skills, the best minds, all the required resources – and that means diversity” (Royal Bank of Canada, n.d.). There are a number of compelling reasons companies should adopt the core values of diversity and inclusion. This paper sets out to

Diversity is what makes people different, not just culturally but in human differences. Having a multitude of differences in the workforce gives an organization the ability to use many ideas to reach a common goal. A person could say that a diverse group of people together in one room can accomplish greater achievements than a room filled with the same types of individuals. Managers understand the concept of diversity, and how important diversity is to the success of a company’s ability to implement programs that continue to develop a harmonious and diverse workplace. The recognition that diversity is a reality in the workforce has generated an enormous amount of activity over the years among leaders in business, government, and civil

One of the main advantages to having a diverse workplace is the synergy that occurs between people from different backgrounds, cultures and work values. Employees feel good about diversity that occurs naturally, instead of forcing diversity into the workplace. When diversity is the primary concern, members of nonminority groups sometimes feel excluded, and that minority groups are receiving preferential treatment. The opposition to diversity management manifests itself in many ways. The most detrimental is an employee who is resentful concerning diversity (Pros & Cons of Diversity). Drawing attention to a “problem” only makes it

The general line of reasoning is that if we learn to incorporate each other’s diverse traits and characteristics in the workplace, we can then use these differences to foster an innovative environment, which will give the company a competitive advantage over the competitors that do not accept workforce diversity. According to the Allied Academies International Conference, “Diversity is rapidly becoming a common practice among companies due to the increasing number of minorities entering the job market today. As these groups become more prevalent throughout companies, upper-level employees are facing numerous challenges when determining what changes must take place to create a positive working environment for everyone. Management is responsible for the development and implementation of effective policies directly relating to diversity to ensure the acceptance of minorities into the workplace and to aid in minorities’ success through equal opportunities and treatment.” (Marcia L. James, 2001, Academy for Studies in International Business Proceedings)

To successfully implement change, employees need to understand how this will benefit them and impact their daily work. One of the things is that something might look good on paper can have drawbacks that are not realized by the planners, but can be easily identified by the employees who must implement the change. Therefore as a manager you need to bring the idea to the employees and get their feedback and continue to empower the employees to make the change that will work for them. Since change doesn’t happen overnight a manager needs to continually in monitoring the

The first thing to acknowledge about diversity is that it can be difficult. In the U.S., where the dialogue of inclusion is relatively advanced, even the mention of the word “diversity” can lead to anxiety and conflict. Supreme Court justices disagree on the virtues of diversity and the means for achieving it. Corporations spend billions of dollars to attract and manage diversity both internally and externally, yet they still face discrimination lawsuits, and the leadership ranks of the business world remain predominantly white and male.

I believe that the change that is to occur has a large part on the strategies that a change leader must use to build employee commitment and buy-in. According to Palmer, Dunford and Akin (2009) “Getting people to buy-in may depend upon what it is that they are buying into: whether they perceive it as favorable to them and whether the change had been adequately justified to them” (p.302). If it was a small change, it doesn’t take much to get people to buy-in, but if it is a large change it will take some work. The first strategy that I would use as a change leader to communicate a change is to discuss the need for the change. I believe that if people can see why the process needs to changed, it will open them up to the possibility of a change. I have seen a lot of process done wrong or a slow way because it was how it has always been done in that organization. If someone would have come into that organization and told them that the amount of time they were wasting and showed them the new way, I think the organization would buy-in. The second strategy that I would use for communicating the change is to provide everyone with accurate information on the change, it would include how the change is going to happen and how it will affect everyone. I will only send out information that I feel they need to know so I do not overload them. Palmer, Dunford and Akin (2009) state “information overload is even more problematic in companies where participants are already in receipt of a

Effective change communication involves transparency and inclusiveness of all members of the organisation. It is timely, informative and detailed yet not resulting in information overload. Change communication needs to reduce employee uncertainty regarding the change. This can be done by ensuring communication answers questions regarding why the change is taking place, what the change is intending on doing, the time frame of the change and exactly how each group of employees will be kept up to date regarding the change (Nilakant, 2014).