Let’s Be Lefties for a Day
Margaret Lo
Chamberlain University
Let’s Be Lefties for a Day
As times are changing, so is the world’s vision of normal. Discrimination and segregation were a huge part of history, but the fact is that in this modern society, culture diversity is the new norm. Companies and organizations incorporate culture diversity in the workplace due to the benefits of various experiences, language skills, and productivity. Employees are the face of the company, and if they have the mentality of prejudice and ethnocentrism, it can affect the success of the business. While most people understand that the world is a melting pot, discrimination still exists in this world and these people are at a disadvantage. Whether it is because they are living in the past, had a bad experience, or have not been exposed to it, the world is a melting pot of culture, gender, and ethnicity. Regardless of how we are different, once “we can learn to appreciate that differences do matter and that becoming aware of those differences will make interactions with others much easier” (Devry University, n.d.).
Perception of normal is primarily based on what a majority of a society thinks. However, each individual’s sense of normal is different. Born and raised in a specific culture, people become live routinely by its customs and it becomes their lifestyle. However, when family genetics also play an important role. These factors influence lifestyle affecting one’s
Slowly, society is changing its views about diversity. Beginning with strong legislation regarding anti-discrimination in the workplace, laws have been established, in the United States, from the Civil Rights Act and Title VII of 1964 (which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, and natural origin), Age Discrimination Act of 1967, Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, just to name a few. These, and a multitude of other laws, have been created as a need to comply with equal opportunity employment objectives as well as a personal feeling of wanting to “do the right thing.” Now, many decades later, it’s not just doing the right thing but rather doing the “smart thing”. With a global economy, a technological revolution, and both customers and suppliers coming from diverse backgrounds, it makes
Diversity in the workplace is not a new idea or concept. From the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s the majority of people living in the United States were immigrants from other countries including Italy, Russia, and Ireland. Each of the members from these countries spoke different languages, came from different cultures, and had different customs and work ethics. Acceptance to them was fought for in the workplace in industries such as coal, steel, automobile manufacturing, and other labor forces. This type of struggle still continues today in the workplace from cultural differences, and language differences to racial and gender differences. This paper will examine the obstacles managers face when overcoming generational differences
As we enter the new millenium, diversity in the workforce is rapidly increasing. Businesses and organizations are living up to the great melting pot image the United States has always been popular for. Employees now reflect a diversity of cultural perspectives, ethnic backgrounds, ages, genders, physical abilities, and levels of education. This wave of multiculturalism is here to stay and cannot be ignored. It is in need of attention in order to uphold the well-being and success of businesses and organizations all over the country.
This research paper addresses the importance of diversity training in the workplace. Having realized how pertinent workplace discrimination is globally, this paper will give a broad look into the various ways that diversity is displayed in the workplace. The diversity issues involving gender, sexuality, race, age, culture and religion will be explored,
In week one I examined a right versus right scenario that involved the company’s diversity recruitment
One of the main advantages to having a diverse workplace is the synergy that occurs between people from different backgrounds, cultures and work values. Employees feel good about diversity that occurs naturally, instead of forcing diversity into the workplace. When diversity is the primary concern, members of nonminority groups sometimes feel excluded, and that minority groups are receiving preferential treatment. The opposition to diversity management manifests itself in many ways. The most detrimental is an employee who is resentful concerning diversity (Pros & Cons of Diversity). Drawing attention to a “problem” only makes it
The discrimination-and-fairness paradigm is considered the “dominant way” of understanding diversity by most organizations. It attempts to remove discrimination and create employment equality by seeking to increase diversity among employees. Progress is measured by how well the company is able to meet its diversity number goals but avoids looking deeper at the reality behind the numbers. (Thomas & Ely p. 81)
In any society, how we see ourselves and how others treat us depends on many factors. Race, ethnicity, and cultural background are identifiers of individuals. Most people have confronted prejudice based on these identifiers, either personally experiencing discrimination or knowing someone who has. Beyond ensuring organizational compliance with a country’s anti-discrimination laws, it is incumbent upon managers to support diversity in the workplace and to be culturally competent.
Cultural diversity is in many day-to-day places, even HomeGoods! HomeGoods can be diverse in good ways and some bad ways. An example of surface level diversity at HomeGoods is gender. When a customer walks into the store, a lot of the time they see females up at the registers and males coming in and out of the backroom. When a customer would like to purchase a piece of furniture, they often ask if “there is a guy who can get it” when any associate is qualified to help, regardless of sex. HomeGoods associates face surface level diversity in a bad light from customers and management, even if that wasn’t the intention. But what the customers don’t see is the team in the backroom, processing and unboxing all of the new products. Behind the doors, there are males and females both working together to be quick and efficient. Deep level diversity is a little harder to pinpoint from a customer’s point of view. After working together after a while, associates often get to know one another. Some
physical and social separations of categories of people (403), genocide “systematic killing of one category of people by another (404), and Institutional prejudice and discrimination “bias built into the operation of society’s institutions” (401). Prejudice normally will target people of a differnt social class, sex, age, political affairs, sexual orientation, physical disability, race, or ethnicity. Prejudice can also take part in stereo typing “a simplified description applied to every person in some category” (398). This mainly takes place at work and white people are most likely to hold stereotypical views of minorities. Racism had been around forever and throughout world history and stills remains a huge social problem because different
Managing diversity and equality effectively in the workplace is the core responsibility of any organization in the contemporary business world. Shen, Chanda, D’Netto and Monga (2009) conducted a survey whose results revealed the massive diversity within the British society in terms of ethnicity, nationality and religion. As a result, the Equality Act of 2010 was formulated and became law whose provisions focus on legal protection against discrimination based on gender re-assignment, marriage, civil partnership, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, pregnancy and maternity, sex and beliefs (Monks, 2007). Therefore, managing diversity in the workplace is critical towards the achievement of equality and discrimination free working environment. Bhatia (2008) observed that the ability to understand, accept, value, acknowledge and celebrate differences among people with respect to race, sexual orientation, religion, age, ethnicity and mental ability within an organization is crucial in eliminating discrimination. Discrimination refers to the tendency of denying equal treatment to people believed to be members of the same social group (Ozbilgin, 2009). In other words, discrimination in the work place is related to denial of equal treatment in terms of promotion, compensation, career development, training and empowerment. Therefore, managing diversity in the work place is crucial towards the achievement of a discrimination free working environment and the
The importance of understanding cultural, ethnic and gender differences by managers and professionals in a business setting is essential to make the work environment comfortable. In every culture there are basic standards of thinking, and acting and these cultural differences strongly influence workplace values and communication. What may be considered acceptable and natural in the workplace for one person may be unacceptable for another person. People from diverse cultures bring new ways of thinking, creativity and language skills needed to survive in today’s work force. In many
In a perfect world, people would be equal in rights, opportunities, and responsibilities, despite their race or gender. In the world we live in, however, we always face all kinds of neglect based on different attributes. All over the United States, certain people treat others with prejudice because of particular features they possess. Unfortunately, prejudice and discrimination occur even in places which, by definition, should be free of all personal prejudices – specifically, in offices and other business surroundings. This tragedy is called workplace discrimination; not every unfair behavior at work, however, can be assessed as discrimination. Discrimination in the workplace happens when an employee experiences unfair treatment due to their race, gender, age, religion, marital status, national origin, disability or veteran status, or other characteristics. Discrimination is one of the largest issues people face in the workplace and it must be dealt with. The U.S. have laws and regulations on discrimination but it still often occurs. Workplace discrimination appears in hiring, training, promotion, firing, and other institutional or interpersonal treatment. Discrimination sometimes causes an employee to leave or quit the workplace, resign from a position, or in more severe cases, to commit suicide or act violently against the discriminators. Discrimination is one of the largest issues many people face in the workplace.
People of different ethnic backgrounds have different attitudes and values in workplace. It can be seen that same cultural groups have better outcomes in our company because they possess the same ideas and point of views due to their
When we put different people together – which diversity inherently does, we have to go to the next step, move beyond diversity and be conscious of who we are and others are. Only then can we get the true value of that diversity, make the workplace fair, keep the pipelines flowing, and have more effective global companies. (p. 134)