Aspect Of Diversity Analysis

Understanding Aspects of Diversity in a Business Setting
Chamberlain College of Nursing
Understanding Aspects of Diversity in a Business Setting
I think as I discuss diversity in the workplace by managers and professionals in a business setting I should start with what those differences are that make us diverse. Harvey and Allard (2012) write, “those differences certainly include temperament and personality, but also culture, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, ability, age, and size differences” (p. 3). It is very important for managers and supervisors in a business setting to understand how these differences in cultural affect communication among team members. Working as a nurse, I have witnessed physicians from other cultures
treating female nurses as subservient.
Listening to my coworkers describe their encounters with this doctor was very different from the way he treated me. Other female nurses said he used a distinctive tone when they observed him talking to me compared to them. I became more attentive and listened closely when he was interacting with female coworkers. His tone was curt and he would make comments such as “that’s why I’m the doctor” when talking to them. At staff meetings, we talked to the manager about this and our supervisor dismissed it as being “just part of his culture” and we need not be so “sensitive.” I no longer work at this job and I know several staff members who quit when this particular doctor became the medical director. I think it would have been beneficial to all if management would have stepped up and supported staff and addressed their concerns. If management would have addressed these concerns it would have saved a lot of money not having to recruit and orient staff to fill these
vacant positions. I think it is imperative that business leaders and managers understand the effects of cultural diversity and the effects it has on staff.
The ball and sock experiment was a challenge for me since I am right handed. I was easily frustrated as I noticed all the minute things a right handed person takes for granted. From opening doors to brushing my teeth, I could tell I struggled and was at a disadvantage. I think it would have been a lot easier for lefties to do this experiment. I now know how it feels for a leftie to live in a right handed world. It is difficult! I learned to appreciate others and the disadvantages they are faced with daily after doing this assignment. In our readings on the African-American workers at Coca-Cola I can now better understand the disadvantages minorities struggle with in their career. Unfortunately there are challenges that workers continue to face when they don’t live up to societal norms they are measured against, that is to say, the white man. I think learning about and appreciating cultural differences will only enhance our working relationships making them more mutually satisfying. Education is the key to reducing bias and making us more sensitive and understanding of others gender, cultural, sexual, and ethnic differences. As we learned from our reading this week, “we learn that different cultural understandings are no more than different attitudes and means of accomplishing the same goals, it becomes hard to maintain negative perceptions about that group” (DeVry, 2014) once we learn and gain insight into ourselves and others that are different from us. I look forward to learning more about myself and others throughout this course. References
Chamberlain College of Nursing (2014). SOC350N Week 1 Lesson: Getting Started. Downers Grove, IL: DeVry Education Group.
Harvey, C.P. and Allard, M.J. Understanding and Managing Diversity:
Readings, Cases Exercises. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.