Diversity: Individual Behavior Impact
Individual behavior is the pattern of behavior, thought, and emotion, unique to an individual, and the ways he or she interact to help or hinder the adjustment of a person to other people and situations (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2001). Within organizations, diversity can positively or negatively impact the behavior of individuals. Organizations are responsible and held accountable for making the overall work environment conducive for all within the diversified setting. Diversity is shaped and informed by a variety of characteristics including age, ethnicity, gender, disability, language, religion beliefs, life stages, education, career responsibilities, sexual orientation, personality traits, and marital status. Workplace diversity is about acknowledging differences and adapting work practices to create an inclusive environment in which one?s diverse skills, perspectives, and backgrounds, are valued (Workplace Diversity Strategy, 2003). There are many diversity issues within the workplace however, age, gender, personality traits, and religion highly impacts individual behaviors within an organization.
Age
?The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)?, states the unlawfulness of discriminating against a person because of his or her age with respect to any term, condition, or privilege of employment; including, but not limited to, hiring, firing, promotion, layoff, compensation, benefits, job assignments, and training (Age Diversity, 1997). Age diversity at work means employing people of all ages, and not discriminating against someone because of how old he or she is. Age discrimination can take place as a result of the organization or from the different generational differences that make-up the organization.
Generational differences can have many diverse impacts on individual behavior with regard to age differences. These differences can become a big distraction, hurt morale, and teamwork, unless managers learn how to accommodate the uniqueness of each group (Gomolski, 2001). Typically older persons tend to take his or her work related responsibilities very serious unlike their younger counterparts. Older employees take pride in doing a job well whereas younger employees want to just get the job done and move on to the next assignment. Although each person is working toward the same organ...
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Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967, as amended, protects workers age forty and over in hiring, promotion, and termination decisions. This project is going to analyze the ADEA and its amendment in terms of effectiveness, ineffectiveness, and influence which will be demonstrated by employment cases, research data. The project shows that the ADEA is not as effective as it suppose to be and its purpose of prohibiting age discrimination has not been implemented efficiently in workforce. The ADEA somewhat has enabled Americans work longer, however, it might not be the best
Cañas, K. A., & Sondak, H. (2014). Opportunities and challenges of workplace diversity: Theory, cases, and exercises (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
While diversity is often a term used to refer specifically to cultural differences, diversity applies to all the qualities that make people different. From a management perspective, the key to diversity is to understand how different types of diversity and different demographic characteristics can impact human behavior. The four types of diversity that will be examined are: occupation, differences in skills and abilities, personality traits, and value and attitudes. For each type of diversity, the impact on individual behavior will be described.
Diversity in the work place has generally been thought of as purely an employment equity issue. However, diversity is coming to be recognized as an asset which can, like any other asset that is well managed, contribute to the bottom line. Diversity is growing almost as quickly as the number of software vendors at an accounting convention (Talbot-Allen, 1995, p. 3)
There are numerous influences that affect individual and group behavior in the workplace. A great many of these are external to the workplace, and include the influences of pervasive social forces that shape an individual's behavior from early childhood, such as religion, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status; physiological influences that impose both opportunities and constraints, such as age and gender; and the influences from life choices that individuals make, such as occupation and geographic location. The general question of "how does influence X affect behavior?" is too broad to address. This paper will examine four specific examples of the impact of gender, religion, age, and sexual orientation on behavior in the workplace, with the objective of illustrating the profound scope and influence of the elements of diversity.
Workplace diversity is broadly defined as an inclusive company culture that strives to respect variations in employee personality, work style, age, ethnicity, gender, religion, socioeconomics, education and other dimensions. A company that favors certain characteristics about its employees runs the risk of lawsuits, turnover and reduced productivity. Tom 's topics will include: State and Federal employment discrimination laws and how they differ; avoiding discrimination claims; properly handing employee complaints of discrimination; Diversity is more than race and sex, and Inclusion is more than being nice; and diversity and cultural awareness during a time of unprecedented economic
Merriam-Webster defines diversity as “the condition of having or being composed of differing elements; especially the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization” (Merriam-Webster, 2016). With diversity including many different elements, the concept of workplace diversity also covers a broad spectrum of topics, and continues to evolve as many companies look to expand globally. This subject has become increasingly important among managers over the last couple of decades, and has helped to reinforce other concepts such as affirmative action and equal opportunity employment. While most people believe that everyone should have the same opportunities available to them, and that we
Traditionally, diversity refers to an assortment of races, ethnicities, genders, ages, disabilities and perhaps sexual orientations. A definition of diversity, however, should not be constrained by traditional categories such as these. Such a definition should also include categories such as religion, educational level, life experience, geographic location, socio-economic background, marital status and work experience. Indeed, each person employed by a company possesses unique qualities that encompass many factors.
The impact of diversity in the workplace is contingent upon several factors. Across companies diversified workforces are becoming increasingly common. To successfully manage a diverse workforce, organizations are ensuring that employees understand how their values and stereotypes influence their behavior toward others of different gender, ethnic, racial, or religious backgrounds; are gaining an appreciation of cultural differences among themselves; and behaviors that isolate or intimidate minorities are being improved (Noe et al., 2010, pg. 302).
In summary, most workplaces are becoming increasingly diverse as people from different genders, races, cultures, ethnic origins, and lifestyles find themselves working together. The key to making diversity work is management. Knowing what they are and understanding what effects (positive or negative) they have on the organization is very important to the success of the company.
Age discrimination has become more than a minor inconvenience throughout the twentieth century; indeed, the issue has become such a hot potato within the workplace that laws have been forced into existence as a means by which to address the problem. In order to help protect those who stand to be singled out and let go because of the unfairness of ageism, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) was designed with the older employee in mind.
Barak, M. E. (2005). Managing diversity: toward a globally inclusive workplace. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
This essay will discuss some of the key issues of ageism that affect potential and current older employees in an education environment.
Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structures have on behavior within an organization for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organization’s effectiveness. Organizational behavior is dependent upon many variables. It incorporates many areas of study such as psychology, sociology and anthropology. These disciplines are important in trying to manage new and existing challenges in the workplace. Two examples of current workplace challenges are workplace diversity and the constant struggle to balance work life and home life.