Workplace Diversity - by Linda Trignano
One out of every four Americans
identified themselves as a member of a minority group,
up from one in five 10 years ago according to 2000 Census . This means that the
workplace of today is becoming even more culturally
diverse than every before. Managers and others are often required to
continually rethink the ways they work with their staff.
Workplace diversity includes a broad array of
differences that are common in the office of today.
Some
of the profound areas of change taking place in the
workforce include differences in race, religion,
culture, sexual orientation, age, multi-generational
workers and immigrants. Whether you are working with
others of diverse backgrounds or managing a team that
fits this criteria, you need to follow some sound
practices in order to ensure your success and theirs.
1. Respect every individual. Manage fairly and
equitably. Be sure to check you own actions to ensure
that you are not favoring one type of person above
others. In some cases this might mean favoring male
co-workers over female workers. Or it might mean
ensuring that you are being fair to some workers who
have English as a second language. A quick review of
your behavior will work to keep any of this type of
behavior out our your worker interaction.
2. Make an effort to gain some knowledge of the
ethnicity of your co-workers. In today's fast-changing world, we are often asked to enlarge our scope
of acceptance of new and different aspects of diversity.
In an effort to help yourself or your co-workers you
might want to make an effort to gain more knowledge
about the diversity of those your are working with.
Often, to know is to understand. This might be as simple
as a lunch time discussion or could be a topic at your
next staff meeting.
3. Provide additional training when needed. After a
company restructuring, I found myself in the position of
supervising a hearing impaired employee. Her only way of
communicating with me and other co-workers was lip
reading and sign language. Since none of us knew sign
language, I decided to offer my team the opportunity to
learn a working knowledge of signing. We brought in a
tutor and for 8 weeks we learned enough to improve the
communication process. While this is only one example,
it does serve as a guide for incorporating a deeper
understanding of diversity. In addition, we all gained an unexpected
skill.
4. Take swift action to stop any negative interactions
that might erupt over diversity differences. Be
quick to get to the bottom of any squabbles or tension
by calling the parties together and showing that you
will not tolerate any negative actions toward anyone.
While this issue is not limited to diversity
differences, it does seem to result in more than a few
tense moments among diverse people working together.
Your "lead by example" attitude of no tolerance for
discrimination is what's called for here.
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