Diversity and Values of diversity

Diversity

Diversity refers to difference or variation. In human interaction, it refers to individuals with different ideas, cultural backgrounds or ways of living. Diversity is present in the work place because globalization makes it possible to work across borders and interact with people from different races, cultural orientations and lifestyles. It is essential that individuals learn to embrace it, for the overall benefit of an organization. This work looks at diversity in business and explains the sensitive areas affected by diversity.

The work summarizes the effects of diversity and uses critical thinking to arrive at reasonable conclusions concerning diversity in business. It also analyzes the challenges that diversity brings to the workforce, and their effect on business. It also looks at how diversity influences economic growth through innovations and entrepreneurship.

Value of diversity

This section discusses the value of diversity to show its importance and essence in business. Diversity helps individuals realize that people are different in a good way. This makes them interact without prejudice or discrimination and ensures cooperation in achieving the set goals and objectives. It also shows that there are other ways of going about activities geared towards achieving set objectives. Diversity provides room for contribution of various ideas. This eventually makes it possible to settle on effective and efficient methods of doing things. Different cultural backgrounds also allow individuals to get rid of their stereotype attitudes and work in unique teams for effective delivery and production. When appreciated, diversity instills respect for others, and this is very important in the work place. It allows all members to feel comfortable and welcome. This builds cooperation and teamwork, which are essential attributes for the success of any venture.

Challenges of diversity to business

Diversity presents a platform for successful interaction but also creates challenges in the business world. Business organizations often have values and guiding policies and principles. In embracing diversity, the business may employ personnel whose values differ from those of the business. This creates a major challenge because employees will lack commitment and motivation. They will often feel that they are going against their beliefs and this tends to affect their performance at work.

Jones et al (2013) point out that diversity in demography leads to diversity in language. People from different regions speak different languages and thus diversity creates a communication problem in business. Individuals who cannot communicate cannot work together. The business must either incur the cost of language and communication training or forfeit embracing diversity. This is because the business cannot achieve its objectives without communication. This is regardless of the skill, expertise and experience of potential employees in question (Jones et al, 2013).

According to Paludi, diversity management is a major challenge in the business world (Paludi, 2013). Diversity managers have the task of eliminating discrimination at work. This is a challenge because diversity is in itself a difference and cause for different treatment. The diversity manager has to learn different cultures and in the process is susceptible to forming his own prejudiced opinion (Mor-Barak, 2011). The pursuit to embrace diversity may lead to discrimination from the individuals tasked to eliminate it. This may either be for or against the diverse groups and this makes it difficult to tap the full potential of the diverse people. The business stands to lose because this requires investment of time, resources and manpower that may be more productive elsewhere.

Influence of diversity on business

Diversity directly influences business in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship (Tisdell, 2013). Innovation and entrepreneurship play an essential role to economic growth of business. Tapping into diverse populations allows room for specialization that gives a business the competitive edge. This is because diversity makes it possible to tap into unique and variant ideas from individuals from diverse backgrounds. The business only needs to identify the most cost-effective and beneficial ideas to invest in.

It allows for creation of diversity work programs (Paludi, 2013). This ensures that a business provides a healthy working environment for its diverse employees. This reduces employee turnover and increases motivation in business. The effect is that the business has committed workers who are willing and ready to make sacrifices for the growth of the business. Satisfied employees are essential in providing high quality goods and services to customers.

Conclusion

This work defines diversity as the difference based on cultural background, gender, race, beliefs and attitudes. Diversity is important because it fosters unity among different people and productive exchange of ideas. Embracing it creates a sense of belonging that ensures employee satisfaction, which reflects as business growth. The concept of diversity creates the challenge of diversity management. This is where the diversity manager struggles to eliminate discrimination while simultaneously exposed to prejudicial thoughts and influences. It also hinders effective communication and this breakdown leads to frustration and inhibits achievement of a business’s goals and objectives. Despite these challenges, diversity makes it possible to expand to new markets because of great innovations that fuel entrepreneurship. It is a beneficial concept to business, especially when understood properly.

References

Jones, J. M., Dovidio, J. F., &Vietze, D. L. (2013).The Psychology of Diversity: Beyond Prejudice and Racism. Hoboken: Wiley.

Lounsbury, M., &Boxenbaum, E. (2013).Institutional Logics in Action. Bradford: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Mor-Barak, M. E. (2011). Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Paludi, M. A. (2013). Psychology for business success.

Tisdell, C. A. (2013). Competition, diversity and economic performance: Processes, complexities and ecological similarities. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub.

Appendix A: Critical Thinking – Six Steps Used to Draft Your Paper

Each course assignment is a problem to solve that requires critical thinking. Our Unit 5 assignment is to compose your drafted research paper. When finished with the draft, reflect on the critical thinking six-steps you used to complete this assignment. Refer to the Critical Thinking Process in Unit 3 studies as needed. Note that your critical thinking six steps are grading criteria for this assignment. Elaborate your compositions to show clearly that you have applied the six steps.

Because the ability to think critical is so important to college-level learning, you will complete similar assignments in each learning unit of this course. As you continue through each learning unit, notice how your critical thinking process has changed over time. This type of observation can assist you to more effectively solve problems as you complete coursework.

Compose your reflections below.

Step 1. Demonstrate a positive attitude toward solving a problem. (In this step, explain how you kept a positive attitude as you completed the assignment.)

Initially, grasping the scope of the topic was difficult. I realized I needed to change my attitude and look at the assignment as a chance to learn new things. This made me change my attitude from looking at the work as stress full and start looking at it as a welcome challenge.

Step 2. Focus on the accuracy of the assumptions and conclusions. (In this step, explain how you kept a focus on the assignment to be clear about the requirements. For example, describe how you verified the assignment instructions and scoring guide to make sure everything required is included.)

In doing this assignment, I constantly had to remind myself that the focus of the research was on the business world. This helped in coming up with valid assumptions about diversity in the business world. This constant referencing made it possible to include all that was required in the assignment.

Step 3. Break the problems into workable parts. (In this step, explain how you broke the assignment into smaller more easily tackled parts and provide a reason for each part.)

I decided to break the work into research portions. This made it easy to find relevant research materials on the various issues in the paper. The first potion was introduction and I was able to show the existence of diversity in the business world. I also had a section on the contributions of diversity to business as well as the challenges in these contributions.

Step 4. Do not guess or jump to conclusions. (In this step, describe how you found if you have the necessary information to proceed. For example, explain how you identified what information is provided and what information must be determined.)

I had to conduct an extensive research on the topic as well as read some of the previous research work on the topic. This helped me identify what has been done and focus my research paper on the information that was not fully available.

Step 5. Employ meaningful self-dialogue throughout the process, including written or drawn prompts as well as spoken words. (In this step, explain how you organized the assignment using notes, tables, diagrams, and drawings.)

I organized this work using notes and statistical figures. This is because business deals with numbers and using notes helped me remember the relevance of making comparisons using percentages. This was helpful in helping me maintain the flow of my work.

Step 6. Briefly describe what it felt like to go through the process. 

It felt challenging to go through this process. It was also exciting and interesting to learn new concepts and ideas concerning diversity. It was a very helpful process in building a positive attitude to challenges.

Appendix B: Critical Thinking – Six Steps Used to Revise Your Paper (Unit 6)

Each course assignment is a problem to solve that requires critical thinking. Our Unit 6 assignment is to revise your research paper. When finished with the revision, reflect on the critical thinking six-steps you used to complete this assignment. Refer to the Critical Thinking Process in Unit 3 studies as needed. Note that your critical thinking six steps are grading criteria for this assignment. Elaborate your compositions to show clearly that you have applied the six steps.

Because the ability to think critical is so important to college-level learning, you will complete similar assignments in each learning unit of this course. As you continue through each learning unit, notice how your critical thinking process has changed over time. This type of observation can assist you to more effectively solve problems as you complete coursework.

Compose your reflections below.

Step 1. Demonstrate a positive attitude toward solving a problem. (In this step, explain how you kept a positive attitude as you completed the assignment.)

The assignment was on diversity in business and this was not as easy topic for me. I therefore decided to enjoy doing the assignment because it was the only way to ensure that I approached it with a positive attitude. I also looked at it as a chance to learn more about business.

Step 2. Focus on the accuracy of the assumptions and conclusions. (In this step, explain how you kept a focus on the assignment to be clear about the requirements. For example, describe how you verified the assignment instructions and scoring guide to make sure everything required is included.)

I had to constantly refer to the assignment and research material to get accurate information on the topic. I also went through the instructions for every section of the assignment and made sure I followed them to the letter. I kept a copy of the template to facilitate constant reference throughout the assignment, and went through it again after finishing the assignment to ensure I included all that was required.

Step 3. Break the problems into workable parts. (In this step, explain how you broke the assignment into smaller more easily tackled parts and provide a reason for each part.)

I began by reading on diversity to get the general overview of the concept. I then identified the three sections required for the assignment and decided the introduction would come last. This is because it would cover everything I had written in the rest of the assignment. I broke the assignment into value, challenges and influence because they are clear and precise topics. I then wrote on each section while referring to the instructions. After that I wrote down the references I had used then wrote the introduction. This made the work easy to finish and remember.

Step 4. Do not guess or jump to conclusions. (In this step, describe how you found if you have the necessary information to proceed. For example, explain how you identified what information is provided and what information must be determined.)

I first read through the research paper and came up with the main points discussed therein. I then realized that I needed to write an assignment that covered all these points and brought out some vital issues that were not in the research paper but would provide valuable information.

Step 5. Employ meaningful self-dialogue throughout the process, including written or drawn prompts as well as spoken words. (In this step, explain how you organized the assignment using notes, tables, diagrams, and drawings.)

I organized my assignment using key notes that would prompt me on the next step for example I wrote a note at the beginning of the assignment to remind me that the introduction would come last. I also wrote down key words like value and influence of diversity in business, which prompted me on the content for the next section.

Step 6. Briefly describe what it felt like to go through the process. 

Going through the process was enlightening and informative. I was able to discover some new ideas as well as evaluate myself against the instructions and requirements provided.

Appendix C: Optional (not part of the grade)