Diversity Issues in the Workplace

The world is changing and becoming more globalized, especially with the fast growing rate of technology, people who live far away feel closer than they are. Since the world is changing, so are things in it, organizations is one of how things are moving faster. Organizations are no longer run in one region, country or for one market, they are now multi-cultural and diverse in nature. It therefore require special skills to manage and be able to teach employees to properly respect and value people’s opinions, sexual orientation, culture and beliefs to avoid diversity problems. Diversity is basically defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect for age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status (Esty, et al., 1995). In work place, I will personally define it as difference between people working in an organization; it could be their ideas, beliefs, language or even their culture. These factors affect one’s way of thinking, and can even determine their work performance. Taking for instance lateness at work, it is obviously a bad working habit but in some parts of Africa or Asia, it is a normal to be fifteen or twenty minutes late, this habit is one of the worse working habits in America. That is cultural difference. Workplace diversity could also refer to human quality or ability that is different form our own example. Workers sometimes treat or favor co-workers who they are more related or have some affliction to in a nicer way than other people. Workplace diversity also happens when companies hire employees from various backgrounds and experiences. “Many companies see workplace diversity as an investment toward building a better business. Although workplace diversity provides many benefits, it also poses many challenges to employees and managers. To reap the benefits of workplace diversity, employees