What is diversity why is diversity valued

State that you recognize that different people might work differently depending on their own personalities and the culture of the overall organization. Ask them how you can understand the nature of their organization. Attempt to get someone from the organization to help you understand their culture and how to work in a manner compatible with the culture of the organization.

This request is not a sign of weakness or lack of expertise; rather it is an authentic request that better serves you and your employees.

Consider asking others to help you understand how each of the following aspects might be unique in the culture of the organization. Key cultural aspects that might affect your leadership include:. It is not uncommon for people of any culture to experience confusion or engage in protracted arguments about activities only to realize later on that they have been in agreement all along — they had been using different definitions for the same terms.

The following guidelines are most important when ensuring people continue to understand each other when talking about management activities. It is common for people from different cultures to become confused because different people are talking about results and others about the activities to produce the results. Here is another example. Therefore, it is important for you to recognize if your employees have their own form of a certain activity and how that form is carried out in the organization.

If your conversations with others about management seem to get stuck or mired in confusion, it often helps to separate terms from the intent of those terms. For example:. The topic of leadership has become so prominent and passionate with so many people that it sometimes causes great confusion. When people talk about leadership, they might be talking about traits of leaders, such as being charismatic, influential and ethical. However, when others talk about leadership, they might be talking about roles of leadership, such as the Board Chair or the Chief Executive Officer.

Both discussions are about leadership, but both are about quite different aspects. For example, when talking about leading yourself, you might be talking about leadership skills, such as being assertive or having good time and stress management skills. When talking about leading other individuals, you might be talking about skills, such as coaching, delegating or mentoring.

When talking about leading groups, you might be talking about skills, such as facilitation or meeting management. When talking about leading organizations, you might be talking about skills, such as strategic planning or business planning. Fuchs Valuing diversity recognizes differences between people and acknowledges that these differences are a valued asset.

Multicultural education is an important component of valuing diversity. It respects diversity while teaching all children and youth to become effective and participating members of a democracy. It respects individuality while promoting respect for others. It emphasizes the contributions of the various groups e. It emphasizes the importance of people sharing their stories and learning from the stories of others. It acknowledges that different children have different learning styles. This approach seeks to increase diversity awareness, sensitivities, and skills so that young people are prepared to take positive action with their peers.

By building positive peer influence, young people begin to change negative attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors about diversity. Summary Difference in skin color are first notices at about two or three years of age. Even then, young children are considered "color blind" because they do not attach meaning to the color differences but merely perceive it as a difference. In Australia, it is law for workplaces to provide equal opportunity to their employees, as well as to create a workplace free from discrimination and harassment.

Employers are responsible for putting measures into place to overcome employment disadvantage and discrimination in the workplace. This includes valuing workplace diversity and ensuring that a workplace is free from racial and sexual harassment, discrimination, and bullying. Employing staff with barriers to employment and treating them fairly is one of the ways employers can attract a more diverse workplace and diversify the skill sets within a workplace.

The case for establishing a truly diverse workforce, at all organizational levels, grows more compelling each year. The moral argument is weighty enough, but the financial impact - as proven by multiple studies - makes this a no-brainer.

The coming together of people of different ethnicities with different experiences in cities and societies is a key driver of innovation. The food that we eat every day is a result of this blending of cultures. If we look at the most innovative, disruptive and prosperous urban centres in the world — New York, Dubai, London and Singapore — they all have one thing in common. They are all international melting pots with a high concentration of immigrants. Research shows that there is a direct correlation between high-skilled immigration and an increase in the level of innovation and economic performance in cities and regions.

Singapore makes a great case study. Singapore is also highly multicultural, with an ethnic mix of people of Chinese, Malay and Indian descent, and large populations of different religious faith groups including Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and Hindus. When Singapore achieved independence in , its founding fathers instituted measures that would not leave racial harmony to chance. Singapore aggressively promoted racial and ethnic integration.

One important measure was its housing policy, which ensured that every public housing complex followed a national quota of racial percentage.

This forced people of different ethnicities to learn to live with each other, and broke up all the ethnic ghettos that were prevalent at the time of independence. These seemingly autocratic measures have served the small island nation well in producing a well-integrated populace that values meritocracy more than race or religion. In neighbouring Malaysia, my home country, ethnic, cultural and religious diversity has always been promoted. By the time I was 18, I could speak five languages and had friends from the Chinese, Indian, Malay and Eurasian communities, who between them hailed from several religious backgrounds.

The multilingual workforce has given us Malaysians an edge in the workplace. There is substantial research to show that diversity brings many advantages to an organization: increased profitability and creativity, stronger governance and better problem-solving abilities. Employees with diverse backgrounds bring to bear their own perspectives, ideas and experiences, helping to create organizations that are resilient and effective, and which outperform organisations that do not invest in diversity.

This finding is significant for tech companies, start-ups and industries where innovation is the key to growth. It shows that diversity is not just a metric to be strived for; it is actually an integral part of a successful revenue-generating business.