Diversity Case - Understanding Diversity

Organizations are surrounded daily by diversity. Understanding diversity is the starting point in establishing methods and procedures. The suggested methods and procedures are designed to recognize, analyze, and educate an organization. Simple exercises are included to help uncover areas of improvement. Incorporating recognition, analyzation, and education heightens awareness necessary for a successful cohesive workplace.

The recognition and understanding of diversity is essential to the dynamics for a society and organization. Diversity is "the host of individual differences that make people different from and similar to each other (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009)." Diversity has existed for thousands of years. Fear stirs up emotional behavior, some without cause. The fear of the unknown evokes stereotypical behavior as seen after 9/11. After 9/11 some people focused on Iranians, Iraqi, Afghani, and Muslims. Paranoid like tendencies emerged causing people to threaten, fight, and name calling toward people of similar ethnicity to the terrorist. Many people were forced to stay in their homes draw the curtains or shades to avoid the discrimination and possible harm. People ignored the relationships he or she had with coworkers, neighbors, and classmates out of fear and ignorance; however, each individual is similar in some aspect.

Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley are opposites but have similar attributes. The difference between Michael and Elvis was ethnicity, clothing style, music, religious beliefs, and various other aspects. However, the similarity between Michael and Elvis was they were artist, enormous popularity, dying relatively young, drug problems, and fathers to name a few. Another approach to understanding diversity is Mc Donald's French fries.

Everyone is familiar with Mc Donald's French fries. Most people are busy eating them instead of thinking about the diversity. Purchase an order of Mc Donald's French fries and prepare for an interesting revelation. Take the fries and dump them out on a table. Take a long time and look closely at each French fry. Each French fry is different in length, color, shape, texture, and temperature. People are like McDonald's French fries each French fry is similar but different.

Understanding diversity is the starting point to analyzing the organization. The leadership of an organization must set examples for employees to follow. Creating awareness among an organization will initiate the process of educating employees. Management should identify the various cultures and ethnic groups represented in the organization. One of the necessary steps in methods and procedures is establishing guidelines and a follow-up plan (Jackson, 1992).

The guidelines in the methods and procedure are to help employees understand diversity starts with his or her self. Each person is diverse and understanding what each person brings to the organization is essential. Organizations would not function properly if everyone is the same. If everyone is alike creativity, visionary concepts, technology, religious attributes would be stagnant and life would be very boring. However, because of the diversity in the world food, technology, artistic concepts, and behaviors enable thought processes to encompass unique people and ideas (Arredondo, 1996).

The unique attributes outlined in the four layers of diversity are "personality, internal dimensions, external dimensions, and organizational dimensions (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009)." Diversity can be realized by a simple exercise among organizations. The next time a group meeting is held distribute a sheet of copy paper and a pencil.

* The employees should turn