Group Diversity

Group Diversity

Definition: Group diversity is described as the state people of having different races or cultures in a group or organization.
Introduction:
Group diversity is a hot topic across the workplace for the various reasons. I will be discussing the benefits, risks and technology pertaining to group diversity.
Risks:
Poor communication between employees can present to be a problem for a workplace with a diverse a group of employees. Rather its races or cultures, everyone must have some type of background on everyone whose background or culture isn’t from the host country. Neil Kokemuller of Demand Media stated in his article “It is imperative that companies train employees on cultural awareness and tolerance of differences to encourage them to openly discuss their different viewpoints on things as opposed to avoiding interaction or getting into conflict.”
Conflict between employees will be another risk. Different races, gender, or culture have a certain way of handling situations that may cause some type of stir within the workplace. Mr. Kokemuller states in his article about Negative Impacts of Diversity in the Workplace is “an inability to see where the other person is coming from can prohibit effective resolution of conflicts. When employees feel like they cannot reach a point of agreement in conflict they may give up and simply let the ill feelings fester and create a negative tone.”

Benefits:
A study conducted by Harnessing Workforce Diversity to Raise Bottom Line, which involves 500 companies between the USA and Europe stated the following benefits as a result of diversity:
Higher staff retention; reduced recruitment cost; more satisfied customers; access to a world-wide customer base; better supply chain management
The Academy of Management Journal wrote in June 2013 that “As workforce diversity increases, knowledge of factors influencing whether cultural diversity results in team performance benefits is of growing importance.”
Information Technology (IT):
Diversity in IT is an effective way to add a different perspective to technology. P. Shachaf wrote in Cultural Diversity and Information and Communication Technology Impacts on Global Virtual Teams stated” Culturally diverse groups produced a significantly higher number of non redundant, realistic ideas than homogeneous groups.”

References:
Shachaf, P. (2008). Cultural diversity and information and communication technology impacts on global virtual teams: An exploratory study. Information and Management,
45(2), 131‐142.
Academy of Management Journal. June2012. Vol. 56. Issue 3, P782-804
Kokemuller, Neil. Negative Impact of Workplace Diversity

References: Shachaf, P. (2008). Cultural diversity and information and communication technology impacts on global virtual teams: An exploratory study. Information and Management, 45(2), 131‐142. Academy of Management Journal. June2012. Vol. 56. Issue 3, P782-804 Kokemuller, Neil. Negative Impact of Workplace Diversity