Managing diversity

Teams are forms of work groups, but not all work groups are teams...

Groups and teams are not the same, a group refers to two or more people with common interests and continuing interaction, teams are a group of people commited to accomplish a certain goal or mission.

Effective groups that are functioning well have the following characteristics: the task of the group is undestood by everyone, members listen to one another and are not afraid or intimidated to express their ideas, decisions are usually based on consensus and whenever conflict appears, it is centered about ideas, not personalities.

Four important aspects of group behavior

• Norms of behavior, to evaluate the behavior of members
• Group Cohesion, which makes members stick together
• Social loafing
• Loss of individuality

Tuckman´s five stage model of group development

This model aims to explain how groups develop over time.

• Forming: ice breaking stage. Ex: identify players with skills to play football.
• Storming: Conflict may appear. Ex: players compare the ways they usually play the game and try to decide which way is the best
• Norming: clear roles of each member are stablished.
• Performing: play the game.
• Adjourning: the game is over.

Every team member has something unique to bring to the table, like different point of views, different skills; There are four styles of group member contribution: the contributor, the collaborator, the challenger and the communicator.

Diversity

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The term diversity often raises controversy and confusion, some people may think that diversity is limited to etnicity, race and gender but what they don´t know is that it also includes: age, physical abilities, marital status, sexual orientation, educational background, income, religious beliefs and work experience. (Loden and Rosener 1991, 18-19). I found a definition of diversity which I really liked: “otherness or those human qualities that are different from our own and outside the groups to which we belong, yet present in other individuals and groups.” (Loden, M., & Rosener, J. B.1991).

According to the company Ford, organizations that embrace the different points of view, ideas and opportunities that a diverse workforce offers, can obtain excellent benefits in terms of better performance of the company that translate into better profits, in fact embracing diversity is a key component of their strategic plan to become a leader. Other benefits that may be obtained when diversity is perceived as a value-added activity and not an obstacle, are: increased flexibility, innovative marketing strategies, and effective problem solving methods. On the other hand, diversity in the workplace may also bring some new challenges, training is more difficult, there has to be a lot of tolerance taught, but remember even if it may be difficult, it´s not impossible!

Some common misunderstandings based upon diversity are:

• Accents
• communication styles
• stereotypes
• Values and beliefs
• Regional jargon

Question for the blog...

Since diversity is a source of competitive advantage,what could be the recruitment strategies to effectively target to diverse groups? What would be the consequences of ignoring diversity?

A successful diversity recruitment strategy may include the following strategies: the benefits of working for the company should always be highlighted, Exhibiting different cultures within the organization will for sure positively affect the recruitment efforts, social networks could be a valuable tool (but it depends on the type of company), ensuring that diverse employees appear in videos, webpages and publicity of the company is another strategy that could be useful, also including a diversity mission statement in the webpage may increase the effectiveness of the recrutiment process. 

According to the book ´´international management and culture´´that we studied in class, ignoring diversity should only be considered when culture groups have different tasks and they are not sharing any resources.But when groups members are reciprocally integrated, ignoring diversity may cause deep-seated ambiguities to arise.

References

Nelson & Quick. (Power point presentation). Understanding organizational behavior. Retrieved from: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:m3lJcnM-P08J:ftp://ftp.cba.uri.edu/Classes/stlaurent/BUS%2520341/DSL%2520Version%2520PPTs/Chapter%25208%2520Teams.ppt+four+aspects+of+group+behavior&hl=es&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESibTM_4fmc3VpkyCwsm3xhksgTzFpm9NYVXMlvupDW1Bj6QgS62R1WygyhKeMpgJf9QKHud5i-R5l3sfGO018hsGNIqL0YAViM6rfHhXqtkBTujsECEmSs-aRCFD5gETi0ETQoq&sig=AHIEtbSMIv0wwucHM0jSJ_DCR0KaA-QLKw.  Accesed at: May 16,2011

Loden, M., & Rosener, J. B. Workforce America! Managing employee diversity as a vital resource. Homewood, Il.: Busines One Irwin.1991.Accesed at: May 16,2011

Workforce diversity. Ford motors. Available at: http://www.henryfordconnect.com/connect_body.cfm?id=117.Accesed at: May 16,2011

Recruiting tactics. Available at: http://www.boston.com/jobs/hr/hrexpert/articles/071408.shtml.Accesed at: May 16,2011

Mead, Richard. 2004. International management: Cross-cultural Dimensions. London: Blackwell Publishing. Chapter 1.

Diversity rose. (Image).http://silkychronicles.wordpress.com/