Diversity In Workplace Research Paper

Have you ever felt uncomfortable applying to jobs or entering clothing stores to go shopping? Have thoughts of insecurity race through your mind because you feel you do not meet the standard? Diversity plays a major factor in bringing an environmental friendly atmosphere. With diversity, you are sure to have a successful business today working environment. This paper serves to illustrate how diversity in the workplace can affect businesses. Business owners should be able to adapt to various consumers and expand globally. There are several benefits of diversity such as having a variety of viewpoints, creating a comfortable environment for everyone to be themselves, and allows business owners to effectively market there products and services.

The dimensions of diversity include gender, ethnicity, and sexual age. At the workplace, encouraging diversity will ensure all employees work at their full potential because they will feel included. Peace is needed as a nation and in order to bring that everyone must work together as a whole starting today. The Human Resources textbook states: “Organizations in the United States were once free to discriminate against women, African Americans, and other minorities. But now organizations must hire and promote people solely on the basis of their qualifications.” (Angelo & Ricky 173)

The acceptance of gender in the workplace has changed drastically throughout the years specifically for women. There was a time where women were not allowed to work any standard job. Females were limited to employment as nurses, domestic servants, and teachers. Women were required to stay at home with the children, clean the home, and prepare the food for the household. Throughout my research, I stumbled upon an article, “10 things woman could not do before the 1970’s” written by Natasha Turner. Before the 1970, she stated that women were unable to keep their job if they were pregnant, report a case of sexual harassment, nor get a legal abortion. “As more and more females have entered the workforce, organizations have subsequently experienced changes in the relative proportions of male to female employees.

Census data indicate that in 2010 women constituted 47.9 percent of the workforce, up from 45.2 percent in 1990 and 46.6 percent in 2000.” (Angelo & Ricky 176) The issues that arise in sex discrimination in a professional environment normally stem from two factors physical and emotional strengths. As children, majority of households are taught to treat woman a certain way. Society stereotypes woman in a category where they make decision with their heart and not their mind. Men are the aggressive individuals who are superior in the home and are the often view as the foundation of the family.

The money is the motive and they will not stop achieving because they want to provide their family with the best. With that upbringing, the nation finds it hard to adapt to sex equality in a work environment. According to the Fiscal times, “men are linear in thought process and more narrow in their focus, so they are able to break down problems into their component parts and solve it,” says Keith Merron a senior associate Barbara Annis & Associates, a consulting firm specializing in gender diversity. “Women more often see a problem holistically and are able to coming up with an understanding of that situation without needing to know what all the parts are. When it comes to problem solving – particularly in business – you need a balance of both perspectives.” (Drew para. 2-3)

Racial discrimination has been an issue forever. The stereotypes of African Americans are that they’re lazy, always late, and have attitudes. White people are stereotyped in a way where it’s believed they are smarter, great hospitality, and get things done efficiently. Asian individuals have great math skills and work extremely hard without demanding high wages for their performance. Racial discrimination is very difficult to detect in the work environment. No matter how you put it, there is a way that you can flip a situation into racial discrimination. Before you get hired, you can feel discriminated against due to your race. It has been proven certain names will not receive callbacks because of pre-judgment. The race card is used a lot in the workplace but after the Civil rights act of 1964 it has been cut in down little by little but still occurs present day.

According to the EEOC, “Race discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because he/she is of a certain race or because of personal characteristics associated with race (such as hair texture, skin color, or certain facial features). Color discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of skin color complexion. Race/color discrimination also can involve treating someone unfavorably because the person is married to (or associated with) a person of a certain race or color or because of a person’s connection with a race-based organization or group, or an organization or group that is generally associated with people of a certain color. Discrimination can occur when the victim and the person who inflicted the discrimination are the same race or color.” (EEOC para 2)

Work Cited

[http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/05/28/10-things-that-american-women-could-not-do-before-the-1970s/] http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/05/25/How-Men-and-Women-Differ-in-the-Workplace#sthash.DTZyBGc9.dpuf http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/race_color.cfm