1. Running Head: THE IMPORTANCE OR DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE 1
The Importance of Diversity in the Workplace:
How Vital is It?
JJuan T. Sleet
University of Kentucky

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THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE
Abstract
This paper will inform its readers about how diversity effects the workplace through the gender
roles in society today and how they can have negative effects on the workplace versus the
positives that it offers. The ways to unlock the positives of gender roles and how they can affect
the people and productivity of a business will be discussed along with some input on the history
of how gender roles have changed over the year and what has led to that change. The importance
of cultural diversity and how much of an impact it has on a global scale will be identified. The
use of its different views, ideas, skills, and perspectives in the workplace are going to be covered
and explained how they help a business thrive. Readers will be informed on how skillsets are
what keeps an establishment up and running over time and why businesses look for certain skills
when recruiting. Some examples and visual aids will be provided and by the end of the document
the reader will know why these contributors of diversity in the workplace are important, ho they
help everyone and who the affect the most.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE
Diversity in the workplace is vital for success for in business or environment. This paper
will express the importance of diversity in the workplace through the different variances in what
diversity can mean or can offer to any given workplace. This paper can be important to many
different people, such as team managers/builders in a workplace, students and even corporate
managers. There are many factors that contribute to success in all place of work, through
elements of diversity such as gender, culture, and varieties of skillsets. These three elements
within diversity standout the most because they are what will help our society thrive.
Gender is a factor in the workplace that can vary in its succession because it is such a
sensitive subject. The gender roles that take a great impact in the workplace tend to be the way
women are treated in a business. The role of a women has grown over the decades, but women in
the workplace “are not male clones” (Gannon, 2012 page 1). Businesses have not yet been able
to recognize the differences and their positive effects they have for a business. “Men are linear in
thought process and more narrow in their focus, so they are able to break down problems into
their component parts and solve it” (Merron, 2012 page 1). Versus how women, “more often see
a problem holistically and are able to coming up with an understanding of that situation without
needing to know what all the parts are.” (Merron, 2012 page 1). When it comes to resolving
issues in the workplace you need a balance of both perspectives. The realization that these
qualities, together, can make a business stronger, can also make women more successful on the
job. Women can also contribute to the workplace by effecting the mood of the environment.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE
Women have been known to bring a positive vibe into the job which can either make someone
comfortable or uncomfortable, depending on the occupation and the customer being helped. This
is one reason why women are subject to being discriminated in the workplace, because they are
more suitable for jobs that require a nice attitude and a feminine touch. Women are also
sometimes subject to unfair treatment when it comes to things such as pay or hours on the job.
Women usually are given the jobs that require less time but can vary in skill which allows the
business to hire more without paying as much. Men usually have tasks that have a superior role
and require more thinking. These jobs are usually higher up and are given more recognition. Men
also are known for more masculine tasks that women aren’t seen doing. Other than these gender
roles having completely negative effects during the job, it can have its positives. For example,
creating a sense of competition in the workplace can cause an increase in productivity. These
gender related issues have been going on for decades and have caused major issues and
achievements for society. The feminist movement that took place in the 1960s made a huge
impact on industries then and today. Then, women were limited to jobs such as teaching,
nursing, and secretarial positions due to the fact that women were generally declared as
undesirables for professional positions. Places sometimes shunned women as did one medical
school whose dean stated, “Hell yes, we have a quota...We do keep women out, when we can.
We don't want them here — and they don't want them elsewhere, either, whether or not they'll
admit it.” (Paragraph 2 Tavaana, 2014) People and situations such as this inspired the feminist
movement to focus on ending workplace inequality, such as rejection to better jobs and salary
inequity, by means of anti-discrimination laws. Near the early 1970s the feminist movement
slowly diminished, but the impact it had on society was great. Rape crisis centers, women's
shelters, and health clinics, were incorporated into the conventional structure of cities and all

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helped women gain more power and respect in the workplace. Businesses today embrace both of
these unique traits of men and women, and even give women equal power and the same tasks as
men thus creating a healthier work environment and content workers. Gender equality can
prevent employee turnover, or the rate of how often a business loses employees and has to
replace them, which ultimately save a company money and time. Equality can also improve
decision making when two different perspectives are brought together and examined. Gender
equality will help with the overall productivity of company through competitiveness allowing a
business to strive all while keeping a healthy work environment.
Culture is important to our businesses due to the fact that we as a society are a “melting
pot” of different people with different beliefs.
Respecting those beliefs is important to our moral
code and it can effect workers on the job in a
positive way. For example if a Muslim construction
worker is practicing fasting for Ramadan, then in
return the workplace must respect the setbacks that
the practice can cause, such as fatigue from not
eating. Having a multicultural can also have its
benefits to a business, “A diverse collection of skills and
experiences allows a company to provide service to customers
Figure 1, Graph of how diversity can be
distributed in a workplace. (Cote, 2014)
on a global basis” (Greenberg, 2004). Cultural setbacks can be difficult to have while trying to
maintain a productive workplace. These setbacks can include tension between workers, work rate
and productivity based on the different backgrounds. Typically in a workplace, such as a
restaurant, businesses will hire illegal immigrants and pay them to do the same work that citizens

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do at a lower rate. This sometimes can cause a worker to work at a productive rate or at a rate
that can effect a business in a negative manor. Having a culturally diverse workplace can
increase the innovative and creativeness of a workplace by using different experienced people
from different cultural perspectives. Cultural diversity is especially important to companies that
do business internationally and send employees to different countries. This puts a lot of pressure
on the representative of a company to learn the customs of their potential business partner.
Customs that are included are learning the greeting practices, what interests a potential and their
religious views. It is important to learn and respect the views and practices of others solely so
you company can benefit from what they have to offer. Having a better understanding of
different views cannot only make a healthier workplace, but also broaden the different customers
a business can reach out to. Figure 2 shows how skills cultural diversity offers impact a business
based on effectiveness. Cultural diversity offers many bonuses such as a broad array of skillsets,
greater understanding in a global workplace, and an enhanced sense of creativity.
Skillsets are what makes a company strive and excel among other companies. Just like in
the movies where a ragtag team gets together and
uses their talents to overcome a problem.
Companies use this strategy to create a more
efficient work force and to maintain a healthy
business. All businesses have valuable colleagues
and a variety of skillsets, but because no two skills
are exactly alike, this is what makes some superior
to others. Also important to take into
consideration is how the skillsets of multiple
Figure 2. Image of A team, (Wikia
2010)

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people in a single workplace feed off of each other. To better understand the importance of
individuality and skills see Figure 2 below. Figure 2 is an image of the “A Team” who are a
perfect example of how a variety of skills, abilities, intelligence and capabilities makes it so
together any obstacle can be overcome. In this example of the “A Team”, they have the
physically capable member, the resourceful one, the leader, and last but not at all least the one
who can fix anything. In any workplace from a fast food chain restaurant to a hospital or big
name corporation all come across the same problems with communication, getting tasks
executed as a team and making sure to use each colleagues t their strengths and abilities. Often
times problems that occur in a workplace, do not have obvious solutions or any guarantee that
any of the workers will have the capability of helping. An example of this would be if someone
who is deaf were to come to either the restaurant or hospital if neither of these places have an
interpreter for sign language then not only will there be no solution, but potentially make this
potential customer or patient feel uncomfortable and like an outsider. Good communication
skills, computer skills, and creativity are just the beginning of universal job skills that employers
look for (Dempsey, 2010). It goes without saying that the importance of skill diversity is clear to
all companies, and as a result employers today are becoming more selective of who they hire for
the job. An individual who has just a stellar resume versus someone with a decent resume but
also computer skills, as well as being trilingual, would probably lose the job to the individual
with more skills because that individual has more to offer the company. Companies look for
certain skills when recruiting to boost productivity. Having a wide selection of workers with
skillsets to choose from can prevent a decrease in quality as well as production. Skillsets are
what keep businesses alive and strong, and without them many of the businesses we know today
would be total failures.

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Diversity in the workplace is important for success in the business due to the fact it can
give new perspectives, ideas, provide unique creativity, and broaden the understanding on a
global scale which all contribute to the productivity of a business. These contributors of the
business are met through the diversity of gender; and how it can provide unique perspectives,
skills and understanding to a business, cultural diversity; which gives a very broad array of views
and perspectives, skills, ideas and relevancy to different customs on a global scale, and skillsets;
which are what is brought to the table to keep a business running through a vast collection of
individual skill (Pitts, 2013). All of these contributors are what keeps a healthy environment,
good moral in the workplace and a healthy business going. These all help society and its
members the opportunity give what they have to offer so a healthy economy can thrive ad be
maintained.

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References
Dempsey, B. (2010, February 18). The Seven Most Universal Job Skills. Retrieved
November 5, 2014.
Greenberg, J. (2004, January 1). Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges and
Solutions. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
Gannon, D. (2012, May 25). How Men and Women Differ in the Workplace.
Retrieved November 5, 2014.
Merron, S. (2012, May 25). How Men and Women Differ in the Workplace.
Retrived November 5, 2014.
The 1960s-70s American Feminist Movement: Breaking Down Barriers for Women. (2014,
January 1). Retrieved November 24, 2014.
Pitts, T. (2013, April 3). Gender Equality in the Workplace Increases Productivity - via

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@Mindjet's Conspire. Retrieved November 23, 2014.