We encounter diversity in business on a daily basis whether we chose to acknowledge it or not. “Human diversity has been popularly understood to refer to differences of color, ethnic origin, gender, sexual or religious preferences, age, and disabilities,” (Moran & Harris, p.157) In business it also extends to education, work experience, and specialties in the work field.
In many instances this is a very beneficial thing in that it offers the opportunity for more ideas to be brought to a discussion project. The company that I work for now actually looks for this on projects. When there is a project planned, they look for a number of people with all different backgrounds and specialties to serve on the team. Normally there will be a team leader who has a background in the area of the project, but from there, there will be a service center manager, operations supervisor, a driver, a dockworker, and a customer service specialist all selected for the team. The reasoning behind the selection is all the different ideas that can be brought to the table based on their perspective of the problem. Diversity plays a huge role in this and is actually what drives this process.
The military is a prime example of diversity. You have all races, genders, and backgrounds brought together to do a job. No matter what the off the job issues are, when it comes time to work, it is done the same way no matter who is doing it. Being a military brat, I experienced it first hand. The difference was, we did not see it as diversity. We all knew who was black, white, Hispanic, or Asian, but that did not matter. There is a different feeling and sentiment when it comes to military kids. We did not see a color or background, we just saw people who were just like us. We made friends quickly because you knew people were only going to be around for two to three years and then they would be transferred somewhere else. Many times you never saw these people again, but you still consider them friends and can pick up a conversation with them like it was yesterday.
Diversity is all around us. The key is figuring out how it actually helps us and adds to our lives and business practices versus how it hinders and hold us back.
References
Moran, R., & Harris , P. (2011). Managing cultural differences global leadership strategies for cross-cultural business success (8th ed.). Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Hana Abdullah says
I agree with you that we encounter diversity on a daily basis. Especially now in this “information age” where connecting/communicating with some one thousands of miles apart is just a click away. With diversity, comes culture. Some people use it interchangeably but they are two distinct things and both equally important. You mentioned how the military integrates all kinds of diverse people together but I don’t think that we should discount culture, which is the combination of social systems (in particular where we grew up/were influenced the most) that in part shapes how we view the world around us, which in turn helps determine how we behave in that world. Culture occurs at the societal level, whereas diversity occurs at the individual level (Lesson 1, 2014). It’s all the diverse people in one area that make up a culture, in this case the military culture.
Reference:
Lesson 01: Introduction to Leadership in a Global Context retrieved from cms.psu.edu.
Robert Charles Weidamoyer says
I think you make a great example of diversity by using the military, however there are some situations where the military isn’t subjected to the same potential issues that a normal business may be. For example, the military wears uniforms that are all the same and they are not different, altered or added to under any circumstances. Imagine a school or business telling a student or employee that they can’t wear a religious head piece, or faith-related jewelry? The organization would be publicly lambasted and probably sued over discrimination. The military can argue that their dress code is for the safety of a soldier and their fellow fighters- what could a school or business claim as reasoning for such strict uniformity?
Steven J Gelsebach says
Your examples of diversity and its values really transferred well to me. In particular, I like how you shared about how diversity is all around us to conclude your work. After you stated the benefits of how diversity enhances our perspective, the realization of how this is all around us is a key distinction to capture. The rich multicultural society we live in holds much potential, however, I feel the openness or possibility of that is not present in our culture. I find that rather than race or ethnicity, it is just our individuality of our culture that holds us back from embracing the potential of a culture the U.S. has to potentially offer.