Different Perspective - Essay Example

Diversity Awareness Diversity means difference. Human diversity sets to explain the differences among people. The trends of diversity in the society have made the topic very imperative. Diversity has made the global market a competitive one (Falender, 2014). It has also encouraged the vivid change of the population beliefs. Diversity has enabled people to celebrate their different uniqueness because in the society, there is reduced effort to fit in. People vary from one another. The subject of how people differ is unclear, and that is the reason why studies that involve individual differences are carried out. Such studies scrutinize variance, the difference of people and their central tendencies. The main aim of diversity awareness is to reveal the similarity and difference of people across varying situations. The researches that study individual differences use genetic codes to determine the ethnic, social, sexual, and cultural differences. The methods that collect information for the studies range. Such methods are field studies, laboratory experiments, Principal Component Analysis, Factor Analysis and procedures of structural or multilevel modeling. I identified that gender/sex and ethnicity are traits that are complex. These traits are useful because they include the social magnitude of diversity consciousness. Sexual orientation is the pattern of sexual attraction to opposite sexes or both (Falender, 2014). It can also refer to the sense of identity based on emotional and romantic attractions, the reaction of a person towards a community of other people who share varying attractions. Research indicates that sexual orientation involves attraction to the opposite sex, or the attraction to same sex. Sexual orientation has three categories (Gast & Patmore, 2012). The heterosexuals are individuals who have romantic, emotional, and sexual attraction to the opposite sex. The gay or lesbian have sexual, romantic, and emotional attractions to people of the same gender. Bisexual people have attractions to both the male and female genders (Gast &Patmore, 2012). The various sexual behaviors are determined by the cultural way of life held by people round the world. Sexual orientation has its components that separate it from those of gender or biological sex. Many people discuss sexual orientation based on the biological sex perspective, hence ignoring the emotional and romantic relationship with others. The choice of an individual to have a particular sexual orientation depends on several issues (Falender, 2014). Researches attribute it to hormonal, genetic, development, cultural and developmental influences. Gender/sex to some extent is related to biology. The differences between men and women are scalar (Kochman& Mavrelis, 2009). The vocal tracts of men are longer than women vocal tracts. The relative physique is a gender difference attributed to biology. A randomly selected pair of opposite gender indicates that the woman is taller than the man is. Gender diversity has an impact on the performance of people. Men and women develop different behavior because of the socialization of gender roles. Girls tend to respect the authority of the male, and restrain from expressing aggression and assertiveness. Boys are taught more to be spirited and maintain aggression (Gast &Patmore, 2012). In a company that engages group work to foster gender balance, teams that have a majority number of women perform exceedingly well in social or gender leaning events. Teams that have more males perform better in technical related tasks. This impacts the strategy employed when forming teams, and predicts the results of a team depending on how gender congruent the groups are. Religion is a force that is socially pervasive and powerful. Christianity emphasizes on the values of morality, ethics, and charity (Karis, 2009). This affects an individual’s diversity to engage in organizational exercises. Christians mentor new employees at work as they retain their own workload. People who coordinate group events without demanding extra remuneration are considered charitable. The age of individuals plays a huge role in explaining their diversity. Age influences the use of technology all around the world. Older people, contrary to their younger counterparts, find it harder to adopt and implement new technology. With increasing age, I discover that basic physiological processes decline. Older people perform less effectively than younger people do. Younger people put more of their energy in job related outcomes and rewards, and use technology to realize the outcome. The society is prone to racial and cultural discrimination. The unfairness of these environments has led to injustices. Many of the oppressed societies are struggling to change the system of the incitement attributed to cultural and racial ties. Culture is the set of traditions, values, and memories of a people. This information is transmitted through generations by language and art. Race is a social distinction that is associated with a person’s heritage and ancestry. Ethnicity on the other hand is a classification of people based on their cultural traditions and beliefs. Internet destroys culture awareness because it dents the ideals of the people. The internet increases the diversity of style. The internet enables people to gain knowledge of a subject that is not familiar to people around their geographical setting. The internet plays a huge part in eliminating excess cultures (Loue, 2013). Demographic diversity is the difference of people depending on their backgrounds. People from similar backgrounds possess distinctive opinions about various issues. People from diverse demographic backgrounds hold dissimilar moral beliefs and values. A society that embraces diverse demography has an assortment of viewpoints that help it to broaden its vision. Demographic diversity can damage a society if the opinions of a person of are judged as the opinion influenced by his background experiences (Loue, 2013). The intentions of people do not always create the intended impacts. Information that people give to others affect them and their actions. In my interview, I discovered people gather information from the reactions of other people. They then interpret the reactions and co-create their own opinion. Sometimes, the information is derived from other people’s attitude and behavior (Kochman& Mavrelis, 2009). This culture cultivates curiosity about the identity of a person. It determines how the person reacts to situations and how their co-creation affects the experiences of their lives. Diversity awareness include more than just differences that are visible externally. Generally, the aim of diversity is to establish the uniqueness of people. Invisible differences that encompass diversity include environmental conditions, individual personality and organizational elements (Loue, 2013). Each individual possesses an inimitable personality. Personality can be tolerance, persistence, extroversion, confrontational or even individualistic. The unchangeable factors entailed in diversity are race, gender, ethnicity, color, sex, nationality, and religion. Environmental factors that represent diversity are the demographic location, income levels, educational qualifications, habits and marital status (Karis, 2009). The inborn physical appearance is also a component of environmental factors that affect diversity awareness. Organizational diversity is the diversity that relates to the operation of companies. These factors are not traditional diversity determinants (Kochman& Mavrelis, 2009). These are job classification, title, managerial or seniority status, physical work location, work conditions and departmental affiliation. To increase diversity awareness, there is need to foster team building. Frequent communication among team members is a way to reduce anxiety and uncertainty that is associated with interacting with diverse individuals. The identification of the differences of the team members helps in boosting team relations and giving answers to questions that often arise from diverse teams (Karis, 2009). When it comes to diversity awareness, it is important to understand what a male and a female think about this aspect. This can be comprehended with the help of an interview. The Male Interview (John Matthew as on 14/03/2015) 1. In what major ways are the individuals different one another (age, gender, race, sexual orientation, etc.? John: The major ways in which an individual differ from one another is on gender and sexuality basis. This is because, as a man I can relate more to a man rather than a woman. The same applied to the sexual orientation concept, as a man can be more comfortable with a man when it comes to disclosing their sexual orientation rather than to a woman. 2. What differences did you discover in major life experiences? John; At major life experiences, what I discovered is that a man and woman differ on many grounds. And this differentiation comes on the basis of gender and sexuality. For example, in times of distress, a man is not of much use when compared to a woman .A woman can be more pacifying and comforting than a man whether he is a friend or a stranger. This is because a man and a woman think and act differently. 3. What differences did you discover in everyday life experiences? John: In everyday life experience, I have noticed that a man is more practical in his life than a woman. I have seen that diversity awareness is essential when it comes to everyday working in a society or work place and this is because there can be stagnation in such environment if only one group existed like man alone or women alone or bisexuals alone. 4. What was the most surprising difference you discovered? John : The most surprising differences which I discovered is that of religion. It is amazing to see that humans can be so diverse to such an extent where he can work in an environment with people from various religions like Buddhism, Islam or Christianity. The Female Interview ( Julian Richards as on 14/03/2015) 1. In what major ways are the individuals different from one another (age, gender, race, sexual orientation, etc.? Julian : For me , as a woman an individual differ in different ways but majorly they differ on age and gender basis. This is because when it comes to woman, the age is crucial as the biological clock works faster for women rather than men. As a woman I think that at different age levels women react in different ways and there develops diversity. And on gender basis, the individual differences occur at major level because a man and woman cannot relate much on many issues like mother hood, woman hood and domestic life. 2. What differences did you discover in major life experiences? Julian : The major difference I discovered in my life experience is that of gender and sexual orientation . This is because these two factors bring in large diversification in life no matter which phase in life they are passing through. 3. What differences did you discover in everyday life experiences? Julian : In everyday life experience , I have found that men and woman from different diverse culture, race and age group makes life more easier to live by. I think diversity is an essential part of our existence and it brings lot of color into the life. I found that in work place mainly diversification is essential because it gives opportunity to people from every back ground. After the interview one thing was clear and that is diversity awareness plays an important role in a globalised world and I have gained knowledge on many grounds when it comes to diversity awareness. 1. Describe How This Assignment Increased Your Diversity Awareness: This assignment was of great help in giving me an idea about diversity awareness. I was not much aware of this subject and only after researching on the subject I understood what it means to the globalization and my life in general. 2. What was the most unexpected information you discovered from this assignment? The most unexpected information I discovered from this assignment is that people can have numerous views on the subject of diversity awareness. Like in the interview , I could analyze that a man and a woman can have different view on the same subject. 3.Describe how this assignment contributed to your diversity awareness. This assignment showed me that diversity awareness plays an important role in today’s world. This is because every individual is different and each one has a definite role to play on individual and social ground. How will you treat others differently based on what you learned from your interview? I would respect every individual because everyone is part of our world and has much to contribute to the global society. I learnt that each form of diversity is important in the development of diversity awareness. People should refrain from viewing diversity as a burden. People ought to enjoy the benefits of diversity. From the assignment, I discovered that I should treat people based on their ideological point of view. References Falender, C. (2014). Multiculturalism and diversity in clinical supervision a competency-based approach. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.  Gast L., & Patmore, A. (2012). Mastering approaches to diversity in social work. London: Jessica Kingsley. Karis, T. (2009). Intercultural couples: Exploring diversity in intimate relationships. New York: Routledge.   Kochman, T., & Mavrelis, J. (2009). Corporate tribalism white men/white women and cultural diversity at work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Loue, S. (2013). Expressive therapies for sexual issues a social work perspective. New York, NY: Springer. Read More