Abstract
Businesses or firms that employ a diverse workforce are in a better position to appreciate and realize the demographics of their market. Demographics in this case refer to specific characteristics used in marketing or business research. They include race, disabilities, income, gender, location, and age. A company with a limited range of employees does not stand to benefit from diversification and demographics. There is evidence that diversity in the workplace improves employees
- Satisfaction
- Productivity
- Retention
However, diversity alone does not automatically result in a better understanding of the market or improved motivation among the workforce. The companies have to take extra initiative so that diversity achieves desired objectives. (Schermermon, Hunt & Osborn 05)
Gender
The proportion of females and males in business and the workplace has an impact on how people interact and carry out their day-to-day business. A big percentage of male employees in the workplace may harm their female counterparts and vice versa. The proportion of male and female employees affects how people interact and behave. This consequently affects the culture and social environment of a company. As indicated earlier, diversity and demographics affect the behavior of employees in companies. Gender issues mainly are referred to as females. Throughout history, women have been relegated to second place in numerous areas.
This is not because females are weaker or anything but due to the patriarchal nature of society. Society has treated women as the weaker sex despite proof that the ability of both males and females and males in many areas is relatively the same. For instance, the number of women in the United States Supreme Court has never exceeded one. Women have therefore been forced to fight for their positions in the workplace as well as in social life. We have to acknowledge though that the improvement in gender-based bias and issues have been tremendous. Women have shown a great deal of energy in their pursuit of equal treatment. (Vaughn 06)
Gender-based prejudice has several implications on the behavior of female employees, executives, and entrepreneurs. Women are forced to work a little harder to achieve the same position as their male counterparts. A female worker has to demonstrate extra ability to achieve the same aspirations a male of relatively same abilities. This is of course a negative impact on women. A typical check across the business, corporate, and even political fields shows a significantly low representation of the female gender. It is commonplace to find women grouped with other variables such as minority races. Successful women derive a lot of encouragement from their success and ‘triumph’ over their male counterparts.
This in a way drives them even further to yearn and work for more success. It will also be fair to say that a section of males is intimidated by female bosses or successful females. Many men would prefer to have a male boss rather than a female one. A company that has a relatively equal number of employees about gender will have more benefits in the discharge of its services and feedback from the market. (Page 07)
Age
Businesses require a diverse range of workers for them to be successful in their endeavors. Age is an important component as far as the workforce is concerned. People of different ages bring varying contributions to their companies. Companies draw the following influences from age:
- Experience
- Diversity
- Creativity
- Transformation
- Conservativeness (Meredith, Haim, & Schewe 02)
Older individuals tend to be cautious and mainly have a conservative approach to major decisions. This is in contrast to younger workers who are usually adventurous and try to work out new and previously untried projects. Technology for instance has had a huge impact on age relations in business as well as in the workplace. Young people tend to have a higher interest in new technology than older technology.
Since most modern jobs require knowledge in the latest technological advances, the average workforce in most places has come down considerably. Younger people have therefore acquired senior positions in firms as a result of upper edge on recent trends.
Older people though have the advantage of being more experienced. Even when younger people want to venture into a new undertaking, they need to be informed on certain dimensions by their experienced older colleagues. This brings a healthy balance in the operations of a company. Younger employees or executives also contribute to a company’s transformation since they inform on the latest trends in the market. (Meredith, Haim, & Schewe 02)
Personal traits and sexual orientation
Sexual orientation refers to the sex or gender that an individual is attracted to. Straight or heterosexual is whereby a male is attracted to a female or vice versa. Homosexuality on the other hand is whereby individuals are attracted to members of the same sex. Sexual orientation brings several challenges in the workforce. For instance, heterosexual men tend to be uncomfortable in the presence of homosexual men. This trend however is declining as issues of sexuality get spoken about so often. The number of openly gay people is increasing by the day. The view of one being a social pervert if he or she is gay has drastically reduced in the last couple of years. There are people though who still discriminate against homosexuals. This can harm gay people in their discharge of services in a company. (Page 07)
Personal traits have a direct impact on individual behavior. Psychologists for instance have broadly classified individuals as being either introverts or extroverts. Introverts are reserved and tend to avoid new and adventurous ventures. As a result of this, introverts in the workplace will tend to be conservative and rely on experience rather than creativity. Extroverts on the other hand are outgoing, adventurous, and fun-loving. They are also bold enough to take risks in their life as well as in work-related areas. Traits, therefore, are bound to have an impact on the behavior of an individual in his life and at the workplace as well. (Klauke 2000)
Conclusion
Diversity has its benefits and challenges in the workplace and business as well. Diversity is not only beneficial to an organization but its members as well. Benefits include improved problem-solving capability, better decision-making, innovation, and creativity. The results of this include successful marketing to various groupings and enhanced product development. The benefits of diversity however cannot be achieved without effective communication in the organization. Assimilation is one of the challenges of a culturally diverse organization. The management should also be ready to acknowledge differences among people to be able to manage a diverse workforce and market. (Schermermon, Hunt & Osborn 05)
References
Klauke, A. (2000). Coping with changing demographics: Oxford press.
Meredith, G., Schewe, C., and Haim, A. (2002) Managing by defining moments: Innovative strategies for motivating 5 very different generational cohorts, Hungry Minds Inc., New York.
Page, Scott (2007). The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Schermermon, John R. Hunt, James, and Osborn, Richard. (2005). Organizational Behavior.
John Wiley & sons Society and Individual Behavior. Web.
Vaughn, Billy (2006). High Impact Diversity Consulting. San Francisco, STUPID.