The Value of Workplace Diversity

1199 Words3 Pages

The diversity of an organization’s workforce and taking affirmative steps to attract, develop and retain diverse employees has become an essential component to business success. It is to encourage managers to use all resources when recruiting to enhance the cultural diversity in their work place as “dynamic atmosphere of collaboration”.

Ethic represents the principles by which people distinguish what is morally right.

“Diversity is characteristics of individuals that shape their identities and the experience they have in society” (Certo, 2010, p.117)

Workplace diversity is similarities and differences among employees in terms of age, cultural background, physical abilities and disabilities, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, education personality. It is how people perceive others and how they perceive themselves. Those perceptions affect their interactions. For most of us it is a lifelong process of learning and dealing successfully with diversity.(Diversity in the work place, Oregon.gov)

If supervisors wish to see a high standard of ethical behavior in the workplace they must behave ethically themselves, exhibiting important dimensions of ethical behavior including loyalty, fairness and honesty with contribution to an environment that encourage ethical action.

Code of ethics is and organization’s written statement of its values and rules for ethical behavior is good starting point for supervisor to meet the challenges to ethical behavior.

Ethical standards can be different from country to country and meeting them is very challenging for those who work with people from another countries and more than one culture.

Understanding cultural differences also can help businesspeople interpret behavior so they can arrive at agreements that are acceptable on both sides.

People from different cultures may have different measures of ethical or unethical behavior.

Sometimes the supervisors can promote ethical decisions making by involving others in the process where group members can offer their perspectives on the situation and the underlying values.

Discussing the ethical implications of the decision can help the supervisor see consequences and options that he or she might not have thought of alone.

Being ready to work successfully in a multicultural environment is a goal supervisors can set immediately and work toward in every business encounter.

Progressive leadership of a diverse workforce is to learn, invest, value, experience, commit and change. M.Khalil Zonoozy Diversity and the Dynamics of Pluralism 1993.

Knowledge of different cultures, awareness and acceptance of difference, ethics across cultures are elements of successful leader who actively promote cultural awareness in the workplace by providing training opportunities to staff, maintaining contact with minority organizations in the community and inviting them into workplace, making cultural awareness a frequent topic at staff meetings.

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