The First Scenario
Different Scenarios showing diversity at the Worklplace.
Workplace diversity refers to the different characteristics and behaviors possessed by people in a place of work. The attributes may be age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, pregnancy, religion, cultural beliefs, and race among others. The diversity policy aims at enabling people of different characteristics to coexist in a working environment. I plan to collect feedback and ideas from various sources to ensure currency and efficacy of a diversity policy by using interviews of the people involved. The trainings need in the team are to enhance communication skills and improve coordination of the team members.
Sara is extremely possessive of her religion, making her hate to work with Kelly in the same project because of his gay nature. Here, Sara is violating the policy of diversity which calls for respect and understanding for colleagues with different characteristics. She is openly discriminating against Kelly on the basis of his sexual orientation. As much as it is in line with her religious beliefs, she should learn to accommodate him for the success of the IT project team (Ahlam, Marzouqi & Nick, 2011).
The diversity policy is aimed at giving guidelines to workmates on the way they are supposed to treat each other. It instructs them to respect each other regardless of their sexual orientation, religion and cultural beliefs. This policy is aimed at Sara, who prefers not to work on a team project then be in the same group with Kelly. On the other hand, Kelly also breaks this policy by displaying his gay nature in public, yet in the same group with Sara, a staunch religious believer (Ashcraft & Breitzman, 2012).
In this scenario, both parties are responsible for implementing the diversity policy which bars them from discriminating others basing on their religious beliefs and sexual orientation. First, Sara should understand that as much as Kelly is openly gay, he is an important member of the team and the team cannot operate without him. On the other hand, Kelly should understand that he can still be gay and not expose it to annoy his workmates. He should know that Sara does not like him publicly exposing himself and that she is also needed in the IT team for the sake of the project.
Consistent with and Cooke (2015) considering equality for both parties, Kelly and Sara should be addressed separately. Each should be explained by the diversity policy which requires them to accommodate each other despite their differences in beliefs. Sara should not be allowed to leave the team; rather, she should understand that she cannot be fully comfortable because of diversity. For this reason, she should accept her colleague’s sexual orientation. Kelly should also be informed that being gay is not a mistake. However, he should know where and when to display this nature and avoid making his colleague uncomfortable.
The Second Scenario
Irene did not bother to inquire from IT team members if they had any special dietary requirements. She went ahead and prepared lunch that could not be eaten by Alvin, a vegan, forcing him to temporarily leave the event. In this case, Irene did not ensure equal treatment and she also did not consider the different needs of the members in terms of dietary issues. Obviously, Alvin must have felt out of place until he decided to look for alternative food from somewhere else. Being a team, leaving created a bad impression on Irene, who organized the catering services (Hewlett et al, 2008).
The diversity policy requires equal treatment of all members of the group despite their characteristics. People have different needs and beliefs. Irene, being the lunch organizer, should have asked the members in case there was any special requirement as far as diet is concerned. The policy calls for Irene to ensure equal treatment and equal considerations in terms of diversity. She is solely responsible for ensuring that all members are comfortable and are equally catered for. In this case, Irene should be approached separately and be reminded of the privacy policy just in case she had forgotten. On the other hand, Alvin, the vegan, should also be talked to in a polite way. He should be apologized to so that he can continue feeling free as part of the team.
Physical games were held on the activity day. However, the rest of the team did not put into considerations the health status or disability status of all members before choosing the types of games to play. For this reason, Danielle, suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and Orlando, suffering from cerebral palsy, did not participate in the games yet they are members of the IT team. Here, the team leader did not put into consideration the special needs and disabilities of the group members. They must have felt really bad and out of place. The other group members should have felt some empathy for the two, so as to ensure equality for all members in spite of their health status (Kanchana, Nilupama & Ramanie, 2017).
Empathy entails relating to the thoughts and feelings of other people, of course without forgetting one’s own. It is a feeling of concern towards the situation others are going through. In this case, the team leader, of course with other team members, should have cared about conditions of the two disabled members before choosing to play physical games. They should have considered other games that the two can participate (Kapoor & Solomon, 2011).
The Third Scenario
Equality and empathy were not expressed here. Furthermore, there was lack of inclusion, which made Orlando and Danielle feel like nonmembers of the group. For this reason, the team members should be called for a meeting excluding the two affected members. They should be asked why they did not obey the diversity policy, discriminating their members through the games they chose. Furthermore, they should be reminded that the two members are very important people in the team, and should be treated equally in all situations.
On the other side, Orlando and Danielle should also be talked to, separately. They should be apologized to and made to understand that they are still part of the group despite previous discrimination. They should be told to understand that their conditions do not make them less important in the activities of the IT team and that they are equally important and able. This way, the two will continue working well with other group members without remembering the one-time discrimination incidence (Louisa, 2013).
The female employee is really upset and does not want anything to do with her male colleague who made an inappropriate comment to her in a previous meeting. The lady feels this man did not do the right thing to call her ‘attractive’ yet he claims it was only but a genuine compliment. In this case, several diversity issues emerge. One is about ethnicity, where the female employee terms the man as ‘European’ in her report to the manager. This way, she associates the man’s bad behavior to his ethnic group he belongs to, which is European. Another diversity issue is marital status. The man is married, yet he gives inappropriate compliments to female co-workers, according to the lady’s report. Did she have to mention that the man is married? No. Thirdly, the man is very wrong in telling her how attractive she is and touching her shoulder. This is something that makes her uncomfortable, especially for the reason that he is married.
The diversity policy was violated in several ways in this case. This policy calls for all workmates to treat each other with mutual respect despite their differences in terms of cultural beliefs, religion, sexual orientation, education, marital status among others. The male employee should note that as much as touching a lady’s shoulder and giving compliments to her may seem okay and normal for him, not everyone is comfortable with that. This is a real conflict at hand since the lady does not want anything to do with him. Both parties are responsible for respecting the diversity policy. The lady should respect the man’s ethnicity and should not address him based on his ethnic group. On the other hand, the man should respect the fact that this lady does not like being touched or given compliments by married men (Paswan, 2012).
The Fourth Scenario
Here, both parties should be approached, with a basic objective of resolving the conflict between them. They should both be listened to and reconciled. Both should be told the importance of respecting each other, despite beliefs, ethnicity and marital status. They should be addressed separately before being brought together to a mutual agreement. Moreover, they should be reminded why they need to work together despite their differences and past conflict.
In conclusion, diversity is good since it enables workmates to accommodate each other, learn new things from each other and support each other. The diversity policy should be respected in all situations without discriminating any party. Mutual understanding, respect, inclusion, equality, empathy and other values should be highly implemented for a smooth running and coexistence of workmates.
References
Ahlam H., Marzouqi A. & Nick F. (2011). An exploratory study of the under?representation of Emirate women in the United Arab Emirates’ information technology sector. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: An International Journal, 23(2), 544-562.
Ashcraft, C., & Breitzman, A. (2012). Who invents IT? Women’s participation in information technology patenting. Retrieved from Boulder, CO: NCWIT: https://www.ncwit.org/sites/default/ files/resources/2012whoinventsit_web_1.pdf
Clark J.M. Polesello D. (2017). Emotional and cultural intelligence in diverse workplaces: getting out of the box. Industrial and Commercial Training, 49(7), 337-349.
Cooke, T. (2015). Understanding Women’s Decision Making: The Intolerable Choice of Living in a Violent House or Escaping to the Uncertainty of Homelessness and Poverty. Parity, 28(4).
Hewlett S.A., Jackson M., Sherbin L., Sosnovich E., & Sumberg, K. (2008). The under-leveraged talent pool: Women technologists on Wall Street. Retrieved May 22, 2018, from Center for Talent Innovation: https://www.talentinnovation.org/publication.cfm?publication=1090
Kanchana W., Nilupama W. & Ramanie S. (2017). Compromising gender identities: Stay strategies of women in gender-atypical information technology firms in Sri Lanka. Information Technology & People, 23(2), 246-264.
Kapoor C. & Solomon N. (2011). Understanding and managing generational differences in the workplace. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 3(4), 308-318.
Louisa, S. (2013). Working hard with gender: Gendered labor for women in male-dominated occupations of manual trades and information technology (IT). Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: An International Journal, 23(5), 592-603.
Paswan, A. (2012). Gender, Design, and Marketing. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 456-457.
Patricia C. B., Mieke B. B., Loek N. & Robert?Jan S. (2012). Community development in the school workplace. International Journal of Educational Management, 26(4), 403-418.
Robles, M. (2012). Executive Perceptions of the Top 10 Soft Skills Needed in Today’s Workplace. Business Communications Quarterly, 75(4), 453-465.
Simard, C., Davies Henderson, A., Gilmartin, S., Schiebinger, L., & Whitney, T. (2008). Climbing the technical ladder: Obstacles and solutions for mid-level women in technology. Retrieved from Anita Borg Institute and Clayman Institute: https://anitaborg.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Climbing_the_ Technical_Ladder.pdf
Williams, B. R. (2017). Disability in the Australian workplace: corporate governance or CSR issue? Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: An International Journal, 36(3), 206-221.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
