Diversity in the Workplace
Katrina Cooper
University of Phoenix
Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between people in an organization. Diversity encompasses race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, education, background, and more (Greenberg, p.1, 2004). Two diversity issues from this group have been an issue over the past years in the workplace. Gender diversity in the workplace and age diversity in the workplace are two ancient issues. Not only does these issues involve how people perceive themselves, but also how they perceive others. Human resource plays a major role in how effectively to deal with issues such as these. They take immediate action and are ready and willing to spend resources on managing diversity in the workplace.
According to Bowell (1994), in the past all women in the workplace were automatically assigned to temporary, part-time, or low responsibility jobs because it was understood that their first priority was taking of their families. Women that were not married were likely to quit once they became married and married women would quit once they became pregnant. Today is nothing like the past. There are more women today fulfilling jobs that were before “men” jobs. Women don’t feel inferior to men anymore. They adhere to the Equal Opportunity Act. Women have no choice but to take on roles as head of household in some cases now and do not see work as being temporary or “something they can do until they are married”.
In my place of employment, gender plays a role in the favor of women and men. ...