Diversity And Demographic Characteristics

Diversity and Demographic Characteristics

Introduction

Diversity relates to gender, age, language, ethnicity, cultural background, disability, sexual orientation or religious belief, including that people are different in other respects such as educational level, job function, socio-economic background, personality profile, marital status and whether or not one has family. Diversity and demographic differences can impact individual behavior by creating conflict in the workplace. The success of an organization depends on the workforce of the organization. A workforce made up of diverse individuals from different backgrounds can bring the best talent to an organization. There are many types of diversity and demographic characteristics and each one has an impact on individual behavior. Ethnicity, gender, age and personality traits diversity will be discussed along with an examination of the impact each of these have on individual behavior.

Ethnicity

Today, there are more and more ethnic people joining the workforce of the United States. Since the United States is considered the land of opportunity, more people from different backgrounds have migrated to our country over the past 100+ years to obtain work. Now, due to an increase in globalization and companies becoming more diverse, we are seeing even more people of ethnic backgrounds relocating to the United States for opportunities. With the increase in education, this is bringing forth many individuals of whom tend to have a great deal of input into organizations that otherwise would not have happened. These individuals bring a vast array of knowledge from their culture and beliefs. They tend to see things differently and have afforded companies to understand the need...

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...s of viewing ideas and solving problems. When considered this way, diversity makes good management sense making best use of available resources to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization.

Reference

Understanding Generational Differences Helps You Manage a Multi-age Workforce (2001)

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Why Women Make Better Managers (2004)

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http://www.preseleccion.com/articles/women_managers.htm.

Schermerhorn, John R. & Hunt, James G. & Osborn, Richard N. (2005)

Chapter 4: Diversity and Individual Differences [Electronic version] Ninth edition.

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