Diversity in the Workplace

The article I have selected “Shifts happen, and then we change-Today diversity has become a solution, not the problem” brings to light new perspectives I had not considered in the past. The author,
Barry Cross, has brought to light that even the most conscious of us regarding diversity may be missing the boat, as the world changes so must diversity. What I have learned is that diversity is a constantly moving and changing target and if we are not open minded our good intentions may fall short.
When I think of diversity the obvious come to mind; race, sex, religion and culture. One aspect of diversity that I never thought about, but has caused me heartburn, is the generation “X” and “Y” factor.
This younger generation may be of the same sex, race and religion, therefore diversity in my mind never came to mind, but they are of different thought and experience than me. They do things their own way and learn through different means.
The company I work for has recently hired several younger people that I oversee. I have had a hard time accepting the way they do things, i.e. constantly on the smart phones, e-mailing instead of visiting clients, even “how hard they work”. Yet the results are coming in positive. This article has made me see that I will be the one having to adapt to these changing times. Even though it is not the way I would do things in many cases they are more productive and can better communicate with our clients. I will try to remind myself of something the author wrote “It is time to become a learner again, time to learn from my children and trust that they have learned the lessons I have taught them and accept that their reality may be different than mine” (Cross 2011). This definitely applies to both my professional and personal life.
I am glad we went through this exercise, as it has taught me to maneuver the virtual library. This is an article I would not have come across if I had used a traditional library. The process was quite simple and the filter options allowed me to really fine tune what I was looking for. At first I simply typed in diversity, which produced too many results. I tried looking for diversity in the work force, but none of those results really appealed to me. Finally I typed in diversity and leadership, I further narrowed the search by selecting “peer reviewed” and limiting it to articles between 2006 and 2013. This gave me relevant selections to choose from. Even though I read several pieces before arriving at this article, I consider it time well spent.

References
Barry Cross (2011). Shift happens then we change-Today diversity has become the solution, not the problem, The Diversity Factor.

References: Barry Cross (2011). Shift happens then we change-Today diversity has become the solution, not the problem, The Diversity Factor.