An Analysis of the Diversity Day - Essay Example

Diversity Day: An Analysis The external environment to which any particular organization is exposed to is uncertain and changeable. A recent development in the global arena has been globalization and with this, developed countries are experiencing an immense influx as individuals migrate from other countries in search for better jobs. The result has been an increasingly diversified workforce composition presenting a challenge for organizations so as to manage the varied workforce and to effectively channel their energy productively. For this purpose, many organizations seek out to invest in diversity training in order to educate their employees about the different cultures so as to inculcate an appreciation of diversity and to reduce incoherence within the workforce. In the Diversity Day episode of The Office, a diversity training consultant, Mr. Brown arrives at the Dunder-Mifflin Paper Co., Inc in order to educate its staff about diversity and cultural tolerance. The diversity training is necessitated by the imitation of Chris Rock’s comedy routine called ‘Niggas v. Black People’ by Michael, which offends the staff due to its racist joke. This act prompts the corporate management to call for a diversity day seminar in order to teach the staff about racial tolerance. Ironically, after the diversity trainer and consultant, Mr. Brown arrives, Michael seems to steal the center stage when in fact the training was actually meant for him. In the diversity training session, Mr. Brown continuously tries to make an effort to create cultural sensitivity among the staff workers so as to generate a feeling of cultural Enlightment by putting each staff in the shoes of a co-worker with a different race. Here, the purpose is to spark tolerance and appreciation of the diversity present at most workplaces. Mr. Brown means to spur realization of other racial sentiments and hence greater tolerance for other races. A constantly interrupted diversity session that Mr. Brown holds, aims to present an insightful experience for the staff members. His speech talks about the cultural variations and tries to generate a more coherent feeling among the workers going beyond racial stereotypes. Mr. Brown shows much tolerance after Michael says that Mr. Brown really is his name, implying the coherence between Mr. Brown’s name and his African American origins. By displaying tolerance to many of Michael’s racist remarks, he tries to demonstrate how diversity training involves appreciation and recognition of the varied staff workers. In a varied workforce, it is essential to be free from any racial biases as it may hurt or offend other workers leading to declined job satisfaction and subsequently poor performance. Michael’s joke had indeed offended other staff members, most of whom quote the same incident on the papers which Mr. Brown asked to fill when the session had started. When Michael goes on to make further racist remarks, he is interrupted by Mr. Brown showing maturity and a sensible way to handle racist situations that make zero contributions the constructive discussion about diversity. Michael constantly kept interrupting Mr. Brown during the session as he believed he could impart a better knowledge of diversity and hence starts his own diversity training session called ‘Diversity Tomorrow’. In contrast to being a successful diversity trainer, Michael’s session turns out to be more racist with regular references to color-based and racial discriminatory statements and stereotypes, which unsurprisingly offends the staff. Michael epitomizes a poor diversity trainer who ends up conducting the least productive session on workplace diversity and this is well reflected in the card activity he does with other co-workers where they are asked to write a race on their card and identify others’ race. In a clumsy attempt to make the staff understand the world from a different cultural perspective, he badly fails to bring a change in the mindset of the employees regarding diversity knowledge and the appreciation for different cultures. The training session conducted by Michael fails to build a strong organizational culture that fosters diversity and encourages talent and creativity. The diversity session proves to be ineffective in enhancing stereotypical perceptions and eliminating any biases. After Kelly smacks Michael across the face, he realizes that he had gone too far to label anyone a minority race. Michael’s session is an archetype of a poor diversity training session which is essentially unproductive and ineffective in generating a positive feeling among the various staff members in the workforce. What results is Michael’s dismissive attitude towards diversity management and other workers being offended by generalized racial statements by Michael. Hence, Michael’s session failed to create the intended effect. Since the main objective of any organization to conduct diversity training sessions is to create a positive environment, a successful diversity program starts with the whole organization and an evaluation of the business practices. By enlightening the employees of cultural aspects, Michael should have employed a neutral tone free from any stereotyped thinking or any biases. Michael’s session reflected a poorly developed image of other cultures that eventually led to a diversity day debacle. The diversity session should have pointed out some attributes of different cultures and how work can be done consistently in teams so as to bring out greater creativity and ideas. The staff should have been taught about how to well manage diverse teams so as to direct their tasks. Creating awareness is a central attribute of successful diversity training program and thus trainings should be aimed at informing the staff about working effectively in varied teams to produce a constructive outcome. At some point or the other, it becomes important to channel the positivity to productivity in order to enable the organization to gain a competitive advantage. Mr. Brown made an effort to educate the staff about diversity and how it impacts work relationship with peers and inevitably affects overall organizational goals. Attainment of company objectives is closely tied with effective team performance and hence diversity programs should aim at recognizing cultural differences but to gain a greater understanding on how to work better. Thus, for organizational success it important for the staff to show respect and open-mindedness to the individual differences to yield greater outputs. Works Cited Kwapis, Ken, dir. The Office Episode: Diversity Day. Reveille Productions, 2005. Show. Read More