Diversity Paper

Diversity Paper

Diversity is individual difference based on gender, race and ethnicity, age, able-bodiedness, and sexual orientation in organizations. (http://www.helpwantedrichmond.com/helpwantedrichmond/diversity.php) It is important to have presence of workforce diversity that makes people different from one another. This paper examines how diversity through gender, age, ethnicity, and religion impact individual behaviors. The other types of diversity that impact individual behavior are socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, geographical differences, occupation, difference in skills and abilities, personality traits, and value and attitude difference. David McClelland believes it is important for understanding individual behavior. The three types of needs for understanding individual behavior are: need for achievement, need for affiliation, and need for power.

Diversity

Workplace diversity is different characteristic in employees that make them different from one another. The characteristics that shape individual differences are age, ethnicity, gender, disability, language, religious beliefs, life stages, education, career responsibilities, sexual orientation, personality, and marital status. It is important to value all employees' backgrounds and perception in a workplace. Workplace diversity is also about recognizing those individual differences and be able to utilize those differences to improve quality and result of work. Workplace diversity also utilizes the principles of equal employment opportunity. (http://www.helpwantedrichmond.com/helpwantedrichmond/diversity.php)

Gender

Gender is the difference between men and women. There is no consistent difference between men and women in problem solving abilities, analytical skills, competitive drive, motivation, learning ability and sociability. The main difference between women and men are that women are more conforming, have lower expectations of success, have higher absenteeism, and have lower earnings. (http://www3.interscience.wiley.com:8100/legacy/college/schermerhorn Core Concepts of Organizational Behavior Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn)

Age

When it comes to age older workers have lower turnover and have lower avoidable absences. Though they are often stereotyped as inflexible. At times they complain their skills and experience are not valued. Younger workers tend to move from job to job. While working at World Savings bank nine out of eleven workers in our branch were under 25. Where I noticed all of the younger workers had a lot more energy and were open minded to new ideas, and willing to accept changes then the older employees. On the other hand the older employees had a lot more knowledge and patients. When I got promoted to an Assistant Manager I had hard time with many employees that were older them me. They did not like the fact that they had trained me and after I got promoted I was one of their superior. (http://www3.interscience.wiley.com:8100/legacy/college/schermerhorn Core Concepts of Organizational Behavior Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn)

Ethnicity

Ethnicity is a social group whose members have one or more of the following for characteristics: they share a sense of common origins, they claim a common and distinctive history and destiny, they possess one or more dimensions of collective cultural individuality, and they feel a sense of unique collective solidarity. (Adopted from department of statistics 1988) A person can belong to more then one ethnic group and change their ethnicity over time. Some factors that contribute or influence a person's ethnicity are ancestry, culture, race, nationality, country of birth, and citizenship. (http://www.nzhis.govt.nz/documentation/ethnicity/ethnicity-04.html)

Religion

Another fact that impact individual behavior is religion. Religion is "any specific system of belief and worship, often involving a code of ethics and a philosophy" (Webster's New World Dictionary). Some functions of religion to individuals are psychological functions which include dealing with death, suffering, fear, and anxiety. Other functions include a better understanding of world to the individual. For many individuals religion provide a better understanding of meaning