Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Work Environment Where There Are a Lot of Differences in Religion

Question: What Key Barriers to Effective Team Work by Diversity Are As Follows? Answer: Introduction In work places the formation of teams is aimed at reducing the pressure of work on people and also achieves the set targets within the needed time frame. When working in teams people are able to share responsibilities amongst them, assist one another in the completion of a hard task and also reach goals faster. For team work to be effective the members of the team have to be comfortable with each other and also embrace flexibility and adjustment. To have individuals come together is an easy task but how to make them perform is a bit difficult. Assigning them tasks is also easy but the expectation of best results from them is quite tough. Diversity is highly advised in any work place however it could be a barrier in some ways to effective team performance. Arguments to be used in the discussion (body) Diversity as a barrier to effective team work Positive effects of diversity at work place Diversity as a barrier to effective team work In work environments where there are a lot of differences in religion, race, gender and some more individual traits there is some expected negative impacts of diversity and this is in particular with poor management (Kearney and Gebert, p 81). However the negative effects are quite understandable if the culture of work is one that does not support acceptance of differences and tolerance. Key barriers to effective team work by diversity are as follows Communication barriers When dealing with employees that are from different countries and cultures one increases the communication filters numbers as well as barriers to language which may greatly impact both internal and external processes of communication (Avery et al., p 2). The more heterogeneous working cultures do not have difficulties with communication since their employees need not to work hard in overcoming culture and language issues. Some of the developed organizations often hire diversity trainers and language interpreters who assist employees in dealing with communication challenges associated with diversity. Working with different people from different cultures therefore comes with communication barrier issues. The organization has to undergo extra costs of hiring language interpreters. Its thus necessary for the companies to train their staff on the awareness of cultural differences and make then adopt the culture of tolerating differences. This encourages open discussion of their varied viewpoints (Avery et al., p 901). This leads to the avoidance of interaction or getting involved in conflicts. Cultural resistance There is too much resistance to adapt to changes in work places. When companies choose to become more diverse it means they are embracing flexibility. This means the relationship and nature of the workplace also changes. Some of the changes come with stress among employees and thus contribute to the negative relationships of working and poor morale at work places and this may be as a result of poor planning and management (Brewer, p 730). Its therefore important to train the employees on diversity and its importance in case it comes with effects on their processes and roles. Discrimination For any company that intentionally hires workforce that is diverse then it must have good human resources structures in place so as to be able to deal with diversity issues. For companies that slowly diversify with no strategic plan in place they could be met with issues of discrimination among employees, managers and subordinate staffs. Discrimination could be the unfair treatment of people due to some distinguishing traits (Jackson and Joshi, p 681). Its natural that if a workforce is more diverse then opportunities for discrimination could be high because diversity is mainly based on some unique traits of workers. Increased costs With diversity come a lot of costs related to development, diversity assessment and the implementation of plans that are related to workplace diversity as well as different approaches to trainings on diversity. The use of outside experts, consultants, supplies and other materials are either directly or indirectly costly. Some of the indirect costs include the time used by the staff in receiving training as well as providing training to their colleagues (McKay, Avery and Morris, p 780). Time costs could also be in the participation in some aspects of analysis and implementation of diversity management. Therefore the benefits of diversity are expected to outweigh the expenses of managing it. Provision of trainings in diversity and the creation of a culture of cooperation involve ongoing efforts for the management of time. Some companies go as far as hiring trainers who come in to enlighten staff members on the relevance of accepting other people and listening to their opinion. All these resources invested could not have any value if the said company gets limited benefits of embracing a workplace that is diverse (Davidson and Proudford, p 268). Diversity comes with an extensive structure that is accompanied with too many costs. Turn over Embracing diversity is good but if mismanaged then employee turnover tends to be high and this sends bad image of the company out there to the world. When employees feel like the environment they are working in is unsafe as a result of too much diversity they simply leave. The replacement of such employees who have been lost as a result of discontent is quite costly. This is because payments for hiring and training new employees are costly. The company may also risk the loss of some of their top talents to their main competitors if the culture provided at the work place is not safe and motivating. This unfairness could be as a result of too much diversity at work places (DeWall, Maner and Rouby, p 736). This issue of high turnovers can be dealt with if diversity is managed to low margins so as to be able to understand the needs of each employee at work places. With too much diversity the process of conflict resolution becomes extensive and may not be satisfactory to all the staff thu s causing the high turnover. Unresolved conflict There are greater potentials for conflicts among employees of a company that embraces diversity because of the many cultural, social and religion differences that come with diversity. People come in with different perspectives when it comes to handling concerns or issues raised. This is as a result of failing to see or understand where the other person comes from. This in result prohibits the effective conflict resolution process (Blackhart et al., p 270). Once an employee realizes that they are not able to find a common agreement in conflict resolution they tend to give up. This then gives room for ill motives and feelings to prosper and thus create a negative tone in the company. With little diversity conflicts can easily be resolved unlike when one is working with a huge number of staff from different cultures. Integration issues The integration of people at work socially is only influenced to a small degree. At times its difficult to control the formation of exclusive and clique social groups (Bilimoria, Joy and Liang, p 431). Due to this there are a lot of informal divisions among staffs and creation of situations where the employees that are culturally diverse seem to avoid exposure to other members of staff during breaks and even after work. This scenario is not fundamentally wrong but it can greatly hinder the ability of information sharing and exchange of skills and experience. In this way it curbs growth in productivity and the effectiveness of teams. Its therefore advised that embracing diversity should be done moderately putting in mind all the positive and negative impacts. However these negative effects on diversity should not discourage companies from embracing diversity. Following good strategic planning the management at the top can work on enhancing positive effects of diversity and reduce on the negative ones Positive effects of diversity at work place Despite the barriers that come with diversity at work places its one of the things that has some positive impact on any organization if well utilized by both managers and team members. For example there is increased adaptability because employing of a diverse group of people comes with great number of solutions to any problems arising and different talents are also brought on board (Acquavita et al., p 158). People are also able to make various suggestions which could be flexible and easily adopted into the fluctuations in the market and client demands. There is also broader service range that comes with diversity due to the presence of several collections of skills and experiences thus provision of services becomes global. The viewpoints are also diverse when it comes to adopting diversity at work places this is achieved if the diverse group of people is free and comfortable to share their views on the running of the said company. There is also some more effective execution that comes with diversity at work place (Jackson, p 99). This is because workers are inspired to work to the best of their ability and thus execution of company wise strategies becomes easier. Diversity is one good thing to be embraced in any work place. This is because it provides an environment that is comfortable to the staff and it also brings many ideas on board. This in return ensures the company grows to bigger territories. However with diversity come some negative effects. The embracing of diversity should be done moderately putting in mind all the impacts. For instance diversity in races comes with language barriers which prove to be costly when it comes to hiring interpreters. Despite all these diversity in general is termed to be a barrier to effective team work and should therefore be adopted with caution. References Blackhart, G. C., Nelson, B. C., Knowles, M. L., Baumeister, R. F. 2009. Rejection elicits emotional reactions but neither causes immediate distress nor lowers self-esteem: A meta-analytic review of 192 studies on social exclusion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 13: 269-309. Jackson, Susan E. (Ed); Ruderman, Marian N. (Ed). 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Building the orgnization: 651-686. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Kearney, E., Gebert, D. 2009. Managing diversity and enhancing team outcomes: The promise of transformational leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94: 77-89. McKay, P. F., Avery, D. R., Morris, M. A. 2009. A tale of two climates: Diversity climate from subordinates and managers perspectives and their role in store unit sales performance. Personnel Psychology, 62: 767-791.

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