As our Society is Evolving so is the Workplace

Therefore, the workplace itself is constantly having to adapt to our society. This means the workplace has to constantly be working on new ways to improve their business. These changes need to be made internally as well as externally. These changes are vital in the survival of the business. Diversity is one of the most well- known new factors of business that still hasn’t been fully explored. After getting a better understanding of diversity, it will be clear to see why this factor is critical for any type of business.

Before deciding if Diversity is right for your business, it is important to fully understand the meaning of diversity. Diversity goes beyond race or gender. There are many factors such as race, gender, nationality, religion, income, political view point and education. Having an understanding of the basic definition of diversity is crucial if one wants to apply this concept to their business. Now that diversity is defined the next step is finding ways to apply this information and getting a better understanding as to why is has a positive impact on business.

Innovation is the most positive impact of diversity in the workplace. Innovation is the ability to stand out from competitors and constantly creating new and trendsetting models or products. The reason innovation comes from diversity is very simple. There any many different backgrounds and points of view, allowing the individual to give a fresh perspective on the topic. This view point might not have been seen if the employee did not come from a different back ground. Another way innovation can form is having all these diverse workers work together on a project and feed off each other’s different points of view. Since growth and change starts to become a norm in the work setting, it is common for these individuals to become more open minded towards new projects. Innovation is one of the many benefits of diversity in the workplace.

Having a diverse work setting is also a major benefit for being able to speak to all different walks of life. This is achievable due to the fact that these individuals have experience in all different backgrounds making it easier to relate to customers. This is a major benefit due to the fact that it will grow the business’s client base. Growing the client base as well as improving the relationship with the client base will help build a concrete business. Overall, growing the business will therefore, improve sales. Relating to customers is again one of the many reasons why diversity is so powerful in business.

The next contribution that is necessary to have a successful setting of diversity in the work is known as picking the proper the individuals to represent the business. This step is one of the crucial steps of having successful diversity prosper in the work setting. This consist of going out into the world and finding people that will not one represent the company but also displays diversity. Even though this a very challenging area if is executed properly, it pays off in many ways. Having all different types of individuals work for your company opens a sense of welcoming and belonging. This in return, boosts moral as well having staff that will stay and work for your company for long periods of time.

One of the other major contributions diversity has for the workplace consists of increasing productivity within the workplace. Having a mix of diversity creates a mix of different backgrounds and skills. Therefore, these skills and viewpoints are shared among the employees which allows them to expand their horizon and learn new concepts. This allows the group to grow together as well as improving the relationship among the staff members. Since the staff members feel comfortable working with each other, the business becomes an area of welcoming for all staff members. With this occurrence, it is very achievable for employee satisfaction to be possible. Now that it is clear to see all the benefits of diversity in the workplace one must have an understanding as to manage diversity properly in the workplace.

The first step towards having diversity in the workplace is the hiring process. This is also known as affirmative action. This consistency of hiring an individual that will help create diversity in the workplace. It is important to not only find an individual who displays diversity but to also have the individual represent the type of diversity you want to have in the workplace. Once you find this individual it is very important to make this individual feel welcomed and to make sure they understand they were hired for their skills and not just the traits that make them diverse. One of the major challenges a business faces when starting to hire more diverse employees is training older staff members on diversity.

This challenge can be overcome by implementing different policies or learning modules. Not only are these items important they are necessary for the change to occur within the workplace. These items will help make it clear that it is not acceptable to discriminate against anyone in the workplace not matter what. This will create a sense of security and safety in the workplace. This will also allow for individuals to feel welcomed and therefore will allow the individuals to focus on their work and be more efficient in the workplace. The other way to ensure that these policies are being used in the workplace are to make sure their leaders and managers and holding their staff accountable when they are not following these guidelines.

As mentioned above to have diversity affectively occur it is up the management to make it happen. They must be dedicated to implementing this new idea and ensuring that is communication among all staff members that diversity is here to stay in the workplace. This way if any employee has any questions they know where they can go to communicate their issues. This also means that the employee will have all the resources accessible to them so that are no excuses as to why they shouldn’t be practicing diversity in the workplace.

Now that all these areas of diversity are covered the next step is having the staff practice diversity. This means showing positivity as well as rewarding employees who are effectively adapting to the new situation. One of the best ways to break the ice is to have all team members work together in a group and introduce each other. That way, each employee will know each other. Another way to have diversity occur in the workplace is to have different activities and games that help staff members understand diversity and how they can have it positively improve their work environment. Now that it is established on what makes diversity affectively in the workplace we also have an understanding as to how to properly manage diversity.

All of these factors for diversity in the work place can be hard to find in the real world. One of the major companies in the world that practices diversity is Google. This company strives to constantly be improving and adapting to the social changes that are occurring in the world. This company goes above and beyond and sets the bar for other companies to follow their lead. The company has a webpage dedicated to diversity and informing the world how they are achieving diversity in the workplace. Their candor on this topic makes the company more likeable and relatable. The website also provides a twenty-two-page report on all areas of diversity to share to the public.

The document starts by providing a brief table of contents and shows that the document was created by the company’s vice president. One of the points that I found very refreshing was that the company wanted to use its company’s leaders to start teaching and abiding by diversity. As well as going more and more into depth into the topic and finding ground breaking information that they can share. This information is used and transformed into a model that can be shown and taught by all different business’s. The most important thing the company is trying to do when making these bold moves is to have a plan to execute as well as learning from any setback that may occur. Going into more depth and understanding of the plan, Google shares their core beliefs towards the topic.

The first thing the company wants to be clear about supporting is equity. This means that no matter what your job is for the company, that you receive equal treatment and given the same opportunities as any other employee. The company also wants to make sure all employees feel welcomed. This means including staff members and having them involved in all activities that occur in their area of business. The most important change the company wants to make sure is used is integrity. Finally, and the most obvious value the company wants to instill is diversity.

Google then goes into more detail and gives the exact percentage of each race and gender that works for the company. As you can see from the image above, the majority of individuals that work for google are males. Only one third of the workers at the business are women. Even though that seems like a low number that is actually considered a high amount. The table also shows that over a third of the business has an Asian nationality. Unfortunately, less than three percent of the business is African American. Even though Google has done an amazing job at having diversity in the workplace, it is clear to see that there is still room for growth.

The document then goes into more depth and shows the data on the diversity in leadership. The document displays that over twenty-five percent of the leaders are women. However, over seventy percent of the workers at the establishment are Caucasian. Even though the business has more women leading, there is still room for their leadership team to grow with diversity.

One of the things that I found very refreshing was that Google states in the review that they are fully aware they have room to grow. The first step is accepting and recognizing what we are biased about. That way, now that we have a basic understanding on what we are biased about we can then work on improving those areas. Google more into depth with this and has different studies and practices that the employees can use to help them overcome these natural biases.

The next topic that I found very interesting was how into depth the company wanted to practice inclusion. The page shows all the different groups that Google recognizes and supports. The company supports individuals with physical and mental disabilities. Google also accepts anyone no matter what their sexual orientation maybe. Another area that the company supports are the individuals who serve the military. The company shows their support by supporting causes and business that work to inform others about these differences. The review shows that the company spent around a billion dollars to make these changes towards improving diversity. Even though this company is known as one the most innovative businesses practicing diversity, there are always room for improvement.

Janet Stovall is a strong supporter of creating diversity in the workplace. This individual grew up in a small town that at the time she grew up still practiced segregation. The white individuals lived on one side of the tracks while the black individuals lived on the other side of the tracks. Even though this was occurring in her community, she knew that this was not acceptable. She stated that one of the most powerful things she learned is that single mindedness can destroy racism.

Janet then goes into depth about her time at the community college she attended in the same racist town she grew up in. As you can assume the college only had a handful of staff members as well as students that were African American. Janet spent many years rioting and fighting for her rights. After she saw no results, she tackled the problem with a different solution.

Stovall provided the university with a project that challenged the university to expand and increase diversity within the college. The challenge was simple, to only increase the number of African Americans who attended as well worked at college within a certain amount of years. What helped motivate the university to try and reach this goal what simple. If the college did not work towards meeting this goal then the college would be questioned for its loyalty to improve the college. The college was able to exceed the originally amount set out for this goal.

The most important information that came from this Ted Talk was how this could be applied to the world of business. The speaker explains and shared her belief that businesses are the only areas of the world the can make a major impact on creating diversity. What helps support this is that number of individuals that are in the working force which is well over one hundred million individuals. The numbers also show that we spend over a third of our lives in the workplace.

This information is powerful the numbers cannot lie. If we actually applied this information and actually did something with the information we could start to see diversity more in the workplace. The speaker then goes into depth about how she would recommend using this information and applying it to business’s. “Real problems, Real numbers, Real Consequences”. This simply means that businesses need to address the real problems the business is facing. The next step is understanding the actual amount of diversity that isn’t happening in the business. Then the business needs to come to the realization that if they done make these changes then they will fall behind in the world of business.

One of the challenges with this is that diversity hasn’t become a major issue yet in the world of business. It is just starting to come to light and individuals are still learning the subject. That is one of the reasons these businesses are not as concerned on making these changes. However, studies show that our country is slowly but surely becoming a minority country. Within our lifetime we will see this change. Therefore, it is important that these businesses start adapting and practicing diversity. *The numbers already show that diversity improves performance and revenue growth. *

Another very interesting proposition the speaker made was that these businesses should challenge themselves by matching the minority of their customer base with the same amount of their employee base. Therefore, if fifty percent of the business’s customers are African American, then fifty percent of the business’s employees should be African American. The reason that this fact is so important is that it helps meet the needs of the customer and allows the company to connect with its customers. Even though these changes are being made it is most important that inclusion is also being practiced.

This means that if diversity isn’t practiced in the workplace, then there needs to be consequences. It is very clear that businesses have the power to make this change. Even though this idea hasn’t been put into practice, I believe that if more individuals were informed then we would see change. Another interesting point the speaker made about the topic was that this change in the workplace could ultimately make an impact in our life’s outside of work. Therefore, this change could put an end to all the issues that come along with diversity.

After getting a better understanding on diversity, it is very clear to see how this idea can make a positive impact on society. The first step is having an understanding on the topic. Like mentioned before, diversity involves factors such as race, gender, nationality, religion, income, political view point and education. (Bateman 313) Having a wide variety of employees with all of these factors can help make a positive influence on the workplace.

To clarify, diversity is beneficial for business due to the fact that it helps improve innovation, relatability, reliability and increases productivity. Innovation is improved as a result of having employees with a variety of backgrounds that gives the company a new perceptive on all facets of their business. For example, hiring a diverse staff improves customer satisfaction since it is more likely for the company to have an employee that the costumer can relate to. Therefore, this is one of the many ways diversity builds relatability and reliability for the business. Since all ideas and skills are welcomed into the business, the staff is able to focus on their work and therefore increase productivity. All of these understandings of diversity allow us to fully appreciate the concept as well as finding ways to apply it to everyday life.

Managing diversity is the first step is successfully teaching others about the topic. To create diversity in the workplace the first step is to hire diverse employees. The next step is then creating an educational program or video that informs that staff on the topic. Other ways on educating the staff can consist of having team building activities. To make sure diversity is actually prospering in the company is to build a leadership team that will enforce this idea. It is also very important to ensure that their positivity and openness on the topic. Creating open discussion creates a bond between the staff and leadership team. All of these concepts are ways diversity can successfully be managed into the workplace.

Google is one the most innovated businesses in the world. Google created a website for the public to inform them on all their trials and errors on diversity. It was clear to see that the company challenged its and took pride in the improvement that had been made. Googles data concluded that they had grown their diversity mainly with women and Asians. The company also showed improvements with creating diversity in their leadership roles by having more women lead. However, even though these are positive impacts there is still much work that needs to be done.

Even though social problems have been occurring throughout our entire history, diversity may be able to put an end to this awful reoccurrence. The first and most powerful way we can implement diversity is by challenging businesses to become more diverse. The steps are laid out very clearly and the studies have shown that diversity is a powerful tool for any business. Our society is constantly becoming more and more diverse and therefore our society needs to begin to adapt to diversity. Accepting this concept and having major business’s pave the way for diversity is just the beginning.

Google is one of the many companies that take pride in diversity. If more companies shared this idea we would see a completely different work setting. After getting more insight on the topic I found it very clear that Google was very innovative and diversity was one of the main reason this statement was accurate. Even though the numbers seem to be low, Google is actually one of the most diverse business’s in the country. This information should be embarrassing for our society due to the fact that our society continues to ignore this problem. I believe this issue will not be resolved until our nation becomes a diverse minority nation. 

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