Reference no: EM133175514

Diversity and the Organization

Learning objective 1: Identify demographic changes that are producing an increasingly diverse labor force and the opportunities (improved recruiting, creativity, problem-solving, flexibility, marketing) and challenges (prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes, ethnocentrism) of this trend for organizations.

Learning objective 2: Understand that balancing your organizational identification and your personal identity-in other words, balancing work and life-ultimately requires a change in organizational cultures so that flexibility becomes the norm and expectation for employers and employees alike.

Question 1: Throughout the section exercises in this chapter, you have thought about a specific organization to which you have belonged-perhaps a sport teams, a club, a house of worship, a workplace, or the college you attend. Think one more time about this organization. Could it benefit from taking a more proactive stance toward recruiting a diverse membership? If so, make a list of how the organization would gain a recruiting edge over other organizations, and how a greater diversity of perspectives within its membership could improve creativity and problem-solving and help the organization do a better job of getting its message out to a diverse public. Think of specific instances when the organization's actions could have been more effective if its membership and leadership were more diverse.

Question 2: Chances are that you have struggled with balancing your personal life with your work-whether that work was a job, or school, or your involvement in community organizations or clubs. To what extent do you think that your decisions about the amount of time you spend at work, at school, or in other involvements are shaped by your identification with the organization in question? To what extent is it shaped by the norms and expectations of that organization's culture? Has there ever been a time when you overcommitted yourself? Why? Jot down your thoughts. How could the information in this chapter have helped you make more informed choices?