My Experience of Being a Student at the University of the West of England in 2013 - Essay Example

? A critical theoretical and visual analysis of my experience of being a at the of the West of England in Introduction As mankind enters the 21st century, the significance of workforce diversity has become an area of discussion among the scholars and industry practitioners. Workforce diversity is now considered as an essential business concern. According to Gaspar, et al. (2005), encompassing a highly diverse workforce is arguably one of the greatest assets of a company. However, the author emphasized that diversity is also responsible for raising a number of issues within the organization. In the similar context, the leadership activities within an organization also play a critical role towards its success. According to Khatri (2012), pursuing the most effective leadership style is an integral function of a business organization. Scholars such as Stadtler, et al. (2010) deem that the success of an organization remain heavily dependent upon the quality and style of leadership being pursued. The significance of effective leadership increases to a large extent when the business encompasses diverse employees. However, the significance is not restrained with only business organization, but is applicable in every sphere of society. Hence, the same applies for the universities and colleges around the world. Figure 1 – Diverse Groups and Teams The image above signifies how the integration of different culture and background helps in increasing the strength. According to Tuomela (2007), a conjoint effort increases the strength and also helps in making pragmatic decisions. However, management of the diverse workforce is equally important in order to get the best out of it; else there are high chances of conflict among the members. Nowadays, students from all over the world like to complete their graduation and masters from renowned foreign universities and as a result of that, students from different cultural and religious background. The University of West England is one such university where students from different places, different religion and different culture come in to pursue their education. As a result of that students are being exposed to various kinds of risks as well as rewards. This statement can be supported by the theory put forwards by Gasper et al. (2005), where they mention that diversity helps in bringing creativity and innovation, and also increases the overall strength. However, diversity may result in less cohesion and augments the chances of communication problems. In addition, mistrust among the group members can also take place. Thus the various kinds of risks and rewards are clearly demonstrated. In the context of a university, the role of leadership becomes evident when a group assignment needs to be accomplished. Therefore, it is evident that the theories which will be focused upon and emphasized in this paper are the pros and cons of diverse groups and teams and the role of leadership in minimizing its negative impacts. The subsequent section of the study will throw light on my experience of being a student at the University of the West of England in the context of working with diverse groups and teams and significance of leadership. My Experience of Work and Critical Analysis In order to showcase the impact of having diverse team members and the role played by effective leadership, I would like to underline an incident which took place during the last when I was working on group assignments. The university assigned me to carry out a group project on business management. The study was actually a research work and needed around 6 members. The group was divided by the professor and our group comprised of students from different places of the earth. We have members from the UK, Australia and India. The student from the UK was eventually made the group leader and we all happily accepted it as the study required knowledge of local people and he is one who has sound knowledge about UK people (culture, likings, disliking etc.). In addition, the English student has previously displayed instances of his leadership skills and qualities which further justified his position as the group leader. Authors such as Adair (2011) stated that a leader must have the skill to inspire followers and have sound knowledge about the domain. Soon we started to work on the assignment and discovered that the study requires several data and also involves statistical analysis. Although, it was not mentioned that we are supposed to undertake statistical analysis, but the team leader pressurized us to include statics in the project. Being an outsider, I had a feeling that we may face problems in data collection, but this concerned was expunged by the assurance of the team leader. However, there are ambiguities that can cause tension within the group. According to Anderson and Metcalf (2003) diversity in team members may increase the chances of conflict and may sometimes result in poor internal communication. The same incident took place as we moved through the process. The first major issue was related to the inclusion of statistics in the assignment. The English students were very confident that statistical analysis can be easily integrated, whereas students from India and China were reluctant to do so. This is clearly reflected in the cultural differences of the three countries where India and China have a higher uncertainty avoidance index and UK has less. Figure 2 – Hofstede Clutural Dimension (UK) (Source: Geert-hofstede, 2013) Figure 3 - Hofstede Clutural Dimension (Source: geert-hofstede, 2013a) This situation was responsible for creating a communication gap among the team members and the group was even on the verge of separation. The perception and views of the team members varied greatly due to their religious background and as a result there were conflicts when the sampling process and questionnaire design was in progress. In the similar way several other issues emerged due to the differences in the group. Hence, from the aforementioned discussion it is evident that work in a group is actually a challenging task. Diversity among the group members, if not lead or managed properly may disrupt the entire function. According to Syed and Ozbilgin (2010) diversity may impact negatively if it is not managed effectively. Although it has a number of negative points but if managed properly, the overall quality of output increases exponentially. Syed and Ozbilgin (2010) further mentioned that if the group is effectively managed it can increase the quality of output. Figure 4 – Effective Leadership We were lucky enough to have an efficient leader who managed the entire process precisely. Whatever he believed in, influenced us to believe and most importantly his guidance was instrumental in accomplishing the project successfully. This statement can be justified by the theory put forward by Gosling, Sutherland and Jones (2012), where the author mentions that effective leadership is the key to manage a diverse workforce (Warren and Fineman, 2007). The team leader also helped us to learn the required statistical packages and to solve the issues of questionnaire designed he allowed everybody to contribute. Lastly, he also organized group meetings which helped in erasing the communication gap. Conclusion The study attempted to portray how diversity in the team or groups can be both beneficial and as well as becomes a cause of concern. In this study, real cases have been demonstrated that clearly point out to the fact that diversity acts as enabler of knowledge transfer and increases the overall strength of the team. However, it can also create communication gap and conflict among team members. Hence, the most viable and only way to surmount this challenge is to pursue effective and efficient leadership. The theories put forward by the scholars also justify the same. Reference List Adair, J., 2011. Effective Leadership Masterclass. London: Pan Macmillan. Anderson, T. and Metcalf, H., 2003. Diversity : Stacking Up the Evidence: A Review of Knowledge. London: CIPD Publishing. Gaspar, J. E., Bierman, L., Kolari, J. W., Hise, R. T., Smith, L. M. and Arreola-Risa, A., 2005. Introduction to Business. Connecticut: Cengage Learning,. Geert-hofstede, 2013. United Kingdom. [online] Available with: [Accessed 05 August 2013]. Geert-hofstede, 2013a. Australia. [online] Available at: [Accessed 05 August 2013]. Gosling, J., Sutherland, I. and Jones, S., Key Concepts in Leadership. London: SAGE. Khatri, R., 2012. Leadership in Business. Bloomington: AuthorHouse. Stadtler, L., Schmitt, A., Klarner, P. and Straub, T., 2010. More than Bricks in the Wall: Organizational Perspectives for Sustainable Success: A tribute to Professor Dr. Gilbert Probst. Berlin: Springer. Syed, J. and Ozbilgin, M. F., 2010. Managing Cultural Diversity in Asia: A Research Companion. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Warren, S. and Fineman, S., 2007. Don't get me wrong, it's fun here, but...': Ambivalence and paradox in a 'fun' work environment. Abingdon: Routledge. Bibliography Shortt, H. and Warren, S., 2012. Fringe benefits: valuing the visual in narratives of hairdressers’ identities at work. Visual Studies. 27 (1), pp. 18-34. Warren, S., 2002. ‘Show Me How it Feels to Work Here’: Using Photography to Research Organizational Photography to Research Organizational Aesthetics. Ephemera. 2 (3), pp. 224-246. Read More