Diversity in the workplace impacts performance of employees in various ways. It affects both the employees and the management. This essay will analyze why diversity in the work place is a significant aspect. First, the issue of diversity will be analyzed. This includes the definition of diversity at the work place. Specifically, the essay will deal with issues relating to gender, age, religion, culture, physical and mental ability and the issue of sexual orientation. The essay will point out that this is where most gender issues emanate from. Evidence for this will be provided.
Emphasis will be given on the negative effects of issues arising from diversity. These include; miscommunication, negative attitudes and even a negative work environment. Miscommunication is likely to result to problems in team work because it is impossible for people to work together if they cannot communicate effectively. A negative work environment will affect productivity of employees. It is also likely to lead to high turn- over in an organization.
Problems arising from diversity issues can also lead to legal issues. Examples of cases on issues related to diversity in the work place will be provided. A typical example in this case is Ashley Fisher versus the University of Texas. This is a race related case. Another case is that of Vance versus Ball State University. In both cases, there is an issue of problems arising from diversity in the work place. This will provide an insight into what the constitution and the law states on issues related to diversity in the work place. It will also provide information on how the management can deal with issues related to diversity in order to avoid legal problems.
Finally, the essay will give recommendations on how to deal or encourage employees to accept each other regardless of the background. Examples of recommendations given include the providence of rules to every employee and even encouraging open communication. This will go a long way in ensuring that every employee is satisfied with their work. The articles used in this research will give evidence for these recommendations being effective. The last part of the essay will provide evidence on the importance of having and encompassing employees from different backgrounds in an organization. Apparently, this improves the ideologies that people may have for or against specific cultures, ages or even genders.
Rough Draft
Diversity in the workplace is a vital aspect. Diversity in the workplace can be looked at in terms of the variety of perspectives arising from variations in age, physical ability, culture, heritage, religion, mental differences, sexual orientation and gender among others. Both employees and managers benefit from having this diversity. The employees are able to deal with people from a variety of backgrounds. On the other hand, the managers can learn how to effectively apply the knowledge on management. This is because they are dealing with individuals from different backgrounds.
The American workforce has been largely impacted by this diversity. As a result, there is need to address issues relating to diversity. Most of these issues negatively impact the workforce. Issues arising from diversity in the workplace include, equal pay, religious beliefs, negative attitudes and sexual harassment among others. This can lead to problems like miscommunication and wrong interpretation of messages.
References
Ashley Fisher versus the University of Texas at Austin, 2008, 11-345 (October 10, 2012), Supreme Court. http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/11-345
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Carr-Ruffino, N. (2007). Managing Diversity: People Skills for a Multicultural Workplace (7th Ed). Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing.
Drucker, P.F. (2002). They’re not employees. They’re people. Harvard Business Review, 80 (2), 70-77.
Greenhaus, J.H., Parasuraman, S. and Wormley, W.M. (2009). Effects of race on organizational experiences, job performance, and career outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 33(1), 64-68.
Harrison, D.A., Price, K.H. and Bell, M.P. (2008). Beyond relational demography: time and the effects of surface- and deep-level diversity on work group cohesion. Academy of Management Journal, 41(1), 96-107.
Harvey, C.P. and Allard, M.J. (2008). Understanding and Managing Diversity: Readings, Cases, and Exercises (4th Ed). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Joshi, A., Liao, H. and Jackson, S.E. (2006). Cross-level effects of workplace diversity on sales performance and pay. Academy of Management Journal, 49(3), 459-481.
Kotter, J.P. and Sathe, V. (2001). Problems of human resource management in rapidly growing companies. California Management Review, 21(2), 29-36.
Patrick, H., and Kumar. V. (2012). Managing workplace diversity: Issues and challenges. Workplace. 10, 1177-1219.
Vance versus Ball State University, (2012), 11-556 June 24, 2013, Supreme Court.
Warren, W., Kamalesh, K., and Larry, M. (2003). Cultural Diversity's Impact on Interaction Process and Performance: Comparing Homogeneous and Diverse Task Groups. Academy of Management Journal, 36(3), 590-602.
