During the first lessons of Organizational Leadership 410, I have learned a lot of leadership skills and evaluating topics such as diversity in the workplace. Differences within groups, differences between groups, and talent observations all lead to establishing diversity in the workplace. Organizations that establish and maintain deep rooted diversity bring strong leadership teams to the front line as well as deliver operational excellence.
Evaluating differences within groups leads to drawing attention to areas that have key strengths and improvement options available. These areas within groups often have opportunities to add diversity to bring the best of each employee to the forefront. Challenging team members through different levels of education, gender, and backgrounds can bring a team to the next level of management. Acceptance of the way it always has been will deliver the results you always have got, not drive improvement.
Differences between groups can be just as beneficial through additional diversity in the business. Allowing these individuals to communicate and share ideas between groups can improve company performance and improve the financial outcome. Often, I have found using the cross functional team approach brings a lot of team members, from different backgrounds together for the common goal and objective completion. “Organizations establish workforce diversity programs to promote the hiring, inclusion, and promotion of diverse employees and to ensure that differences are accepted and respected in the workplace” (Daft, 2008, p333). These goals and objectives through cross functional teams often bring greater success than using department teams because of idea sharing and challenging team members through discussions.
Diversity and inclusion will continue to be a key topic of businesses to maintain a successful outcome in years to come. Regardless of gender, race, religion, education, or age it is critical to establish a diverse workforce across all departments including management staff to bring operational excellence.
References
Richard, D. (2008) The Leadership Experience, Fourth Edition Retrieved from https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Leadership_Experience/JJ_HuV1KlyQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=example+of+diversity+in+workplace&pg=PA333&printsec=frontcover
djj5263 says
Do you think that overall workplaces do capitalize on the diversity within the United States? (klc430, 2020) I think it depends on the company and ownership/management in the United States if they do a good job on capitalizing on diversity. I have seen both sides of this in my past employment. Companies with strong leadership teams, that are educated on the importance of diversity seem to be able to capitalize on diversity. Perhaps because they are confident in themselves as leaders and understand the benefits of diversity in the work place and how it makes companies better in the long run. Businesses with insecure leaders I feel tend to stay away from diversity to avoid employees challenging one another. These are businesses that I feel have higher turnover rates and struggle with basic business excellence. I would welcome your thoughts on this aspect and point of view? What have you seen in your history regarding diversity in your professional fields?
hkm5185 says
I agree that diversity, and the ability to discuss diversity it its many forms, will continue to be an important part of our culture. You stated that “Acceptance of the way it always has been will deliver the results you always have got, not drive improvement” (djj5263, 2020). This made me reflect on how much the topic of diversity has been integrated into our culture even over the last twenty years. I am forty years old and when I was in school, diversity wasn’t at the forefront of everyday conversations, as it is now. Now, from an early age, diversity is taught and discussed. Diversity has become a goal, something to be injected into everything from pop culture to world leaders. I wonder how this slow shift towards awareness will impact today’s youth and the conversations they are having twenty and thirty years from now. Will diversity in the workplace be commonplace at that time? Or will my daughter be replicating these same questions and subject material when she is in college? I’d like to think the world is becoming more aware, but the integration of cultural diversity continues to be a challenge faced by many organizations.
PSU World Campus. (2020). Lesson 05: Course Blog. Retrieved from https://sites.psu.edu/global/2020/09/21/diversity-the-key-to-success/
tjw5646 says
When you develop good diversity within and organization or small group. You are opening up much more potential for overall success. A lot of people think that diversity is simply the differences between race and culture, but diversity is a combination of a lot of differences. These differences are the most important aspects of organizational cohesion and success. Different ideas, views, experience, and beliefs are diversity. Some may believe that having a lot of diversity within a group prevents good flow and causes to much confusion because of so many different perspectives. When actually having a diverse group has shown to be much more successful due to the cross-culture approach which brings the connection that contributes different ideas, different approach styles and knowledge. My question is, would you rather remain with a none diverse group that’s been successful together but has never evolved and grown to become better. Or develop a diverse group that doesn’t have a track record yet of success but has much more protentional for future growth and development and what would you look for in these individuals before bringing them onboard?
References:
Defining Diversity. (n.d.). https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2075490/modules/items/29697159
bpf5191 says
I found your blog post interesting and it triggered a few questions and comments. Thank you for the clarity on differences within groups versus differences between groups. The ability to capture the strengths of both are essential to diversity and particularly inclusion. I have experienced diversity programs that spent a lot of time on one aspect of diversity, such as sourcing diverse candidates to fill vacant roles. The difficulty from just focusing on one aspect, such as diverse candidates, leaves companies exposed to the pitfalls of not having a plan or culture that fosters inclusion of diverse employees. Companies must have an integrated plan for not just sourcing diverse candidates, but also creating and fostering an environment where the strengths of diversity can be captured through inclusion into the companies DNA. When a company has established a culture of inclusiveness, they can then tap into both between group differences as well as differences within groups. The inclusion of diversity and support of the growth through discovering and addressing these differences only improves the culture, moral, and reputation of companies allowing them to eventually be more productive.
cmj5709 says
Hello,
Apart from cultural differences, differences in race, gender, age, nationality, class, and even personality can also affect the outcome of team work. To be more precise, diversity exists in the following characteristics: “race, gender, age, physical ability, physical appearance, nationality, cultural heritage, personal background, functional experience, position in the organization, mental and physical challenges, family responsibilities, sexual orientation, military experience, educational background, style differences, economic status, thinking patterns, political backgrounds, city/state/region or residence, IQ level, smoking preference, weight, marital status, nontraditional job, religion, white collar, language, blue collar, and height” (“Defining Diversity,” n.d.). In most cases, teams with greater diversity usually have better performance than teams with less diversity, on the condition that diversity is properly utilized by teams. For example, conflicts out of diversity are effectively managed by the teams and the potential of diverse ideas is effectively explored. From classrooms and workplaces, to labs and playgrounds, studies show that different populations often make better decisions (Beilock, 2019). It can be seen that diversity can contribute to better team performance.
References
Beilock, S. (2019, April 4). How diverse teams produce better outcomes. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/sianbeilock/2019/04/04/how-diversity-leads-to-better-outcomes/#66191e3b65ce
Defining Diversity. (n.d.). https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2075490/modules/items/29697159
mpw5189 says
We know that diversity plays a huge part in the success of a group. Diversity when discussing the differences within groups leads us to assume that the outcome will be more favorable when handled within a diverse group. We often look at culture, race, ethnicity, and gender when it comes to diversity within groups. But have we ever looked at differences other than culture and how they effect the outcomes? Differences such as, the individuals own perspective, their knowledge base, and their expertise on the subject? These differences continue to play a huge role in how the matters of the group are handled. But are these differences one of the reasons why groups with a large diversity typically outperform groups that lack diversity? I think a strong argument can be made that the more diverse a group the better the performance.
ssg5288 says
I find your discussion of the cross-functional team approach especially interesting. I would like to know more about how it brings people from many different backgrounds together to complete a common goal. What did this mean for your business, specifically, and how much impact do you think it had on creating a singular goal? Did you feel that this approach made this goal easier to meet? I’m also curious about what this could mean for my business. I have always believed that creating an environment of diversity will create a space with the most unique and creative thinking possible. Employing the cross-functional approach in this context, do you believe that it is more important to consider diversity in the workplace over experience and performance? How does your company consider potential applicants? What criteria is most important to you on a potential hire?
klc430 says
Great post! I think it is important that organizations and businesses take the time to best utilize their members. This way, everyone’s talents are used to their fullest extent. I agree with the point you discussed: “Regardless of gender, race, religion, education, or age it is critical to establish a diverse workforce across all departments including management staff to bring operational excellence.” (djj5263, 2020). It is important that organizations do this. The United States is known for its diversity and people come here for the opportunities that the United States presents, such as the “American Dream.” I feel that the United States is almost marketed as the country that has a spot in the workplace for every type of individual. Do you think that overall workplaces do capitalize on the diversity within the United States? The more information I learn about this, I think that perhaps diversity is capitalized on only to a certain extent, until it begins to no longer be convenient.
kjm6001 says
For a forum I just completed, I discussed the perceived image of America as the “great melting pot” of cultures in our society from the viewpoint of Anglo-conformism. As I mentioned, it’s often apparent that America is less assimilating or accommodating as we are led to believe. Just as an example, it’s very rare that a business or public school celebrates a holiday of non-Christian origin. While I don’t expect other places around the world to do the same, do you agree that America is truly assimilated? Do we really accept and include other cultures? Or, to play devil’s advocate, do we simply act like they are accepted into our society and overwhelm their own traditions, perceptions, holidays, etc. with our own? I would like to see some examples in the future of organizations truly embracing and including other cultures when boosting “diversity” within the group instead of counting off differing cultures, races, or ethnic backgrounds as “diverse members”. I’m not sure if I spelled out this point of view well enough, but I just don’t see America as truly diverse while our conformist attitudes remain dominant over other cultures (in fact, if America is actually a diverse melting pot, why are they considered “other” or “foreign” cultures or traditions?).
jks52 says
I know that the United States is often considered a large melting pot which symbolizes diversity, cultural integration, and a large differences within the group. Do you feel that this is the same or different than other countries? Do you think Japan or France for instance receive the same benefits from diversity? Do you think the benefits are as vast?