Overcoming Issues with Diversity - Assignment Example

 Overcoming Issues with Diversity Introduction The term diversity can be used to refer to a broad range of demographic values. This may include, but not limited to, race, religion, color, gender and nationality. Diversity poses a challenge to all people across the world. This paper seeks to discuss why people in the 21st century are afraid to overcome their issues with diversity. In order to tackle comprehensively its topic, this paper will look at instances of diversity in various environments and address why diversity still remains one of the most dangerous threat to humankind. It, however, worth noting that diversity, in its essence, is a positive aspect of mankind but though many people attribute so many negatives with it. Why People are Afraid to Overcome Issues with Diversity Diversity is virtually unavoidable. It will always come out in any societal settings. This can include at school, place of work or at social functions. These three settings are the most common under which aspect of diversity gets experienced. One reason why people fear to overcome their issues with diversity is because of perfectionism. Perfectionists tend to believe in the notion that they belong to a different class from the rest of their colleagues in any settings. This may be attributed to several reasons (Williams, 2013). One such reason is having completed education earlier than your colleagues and by doing so, having had gotten better grades. This makes them get held as among the elite in any society and as a result, they seek to justify their treatment by the same society. Most perfectionists fear failing, getting disapproved or making mistakes. This further makes it difficult for perfectionists to appreciate any diversity in their diversity. They find themselves unable to accept that other people in the same field or setting may have different ideas from their ideas. Perfectionism can, therefore, be viewed as a problem rather than a positive attribute. Perfectionists can be found virtually in all settings of a society. In a school setting, perfectionists may be those students who have had a relatively good academic record. Such students in most cases find themselves detached from their colleagues due to their impressive performance. This detachment can lead to a condition where the student always strives to impress their colleagues with a view to ‘disapproving’ them. The student, therefore, lives a life of fear of making a mistake (Williams, 2013). In a working place, people to whom authority has been bestowed upon them will in most cases try to be impressive to their juniors. Such staff may find it hard to be always at their optimum performance and as a result, turn to live in fear. Perfectionists need to understand that in order to learn more than they already have, there should be ready to make mistakes. Accommodating other people’s ideas can as well go a long way in helping such people. Fear of ridicule can also lead to people being afraid of overcoming their issues with diversity. There are those people, who feel that, in the settings that they are in, it is almost impossible to overcome their issues with diversity without getting a backlash from their immediate colleagues who may hold different beliefs from them. This may be most so if such people have had experiences of ridicule from colleagues. In order for such people to get the courage to express themselves authentically, they need assurance that the other party is willing to listen. This does not necessarily mean implementing their opinions, but giving them that chance to express their opinions. This gives such people the confidence that their opinions get valued. In order for people to confidently express their views with diversity, there is a need for such people to be given hope (Lindenberger, 2013). Hope in this context, can be defined as a pre-assurance given to someone that they are indeed capable of doing the task they are about to undertake. This is most important especially if such a person had tried to do the task before with little success. Hope does not always mean that the person will be able to accomplish the task, but it gives them that moral courage that they are indeed capable of accomplishing it. Research done on the effect of giving hope prior to a task has indicated that, in most cases where hope got given, people went ahead to accomplish those tasks with much more success than in cases where hope was never given. While this may not always be true, there is a need to appreciate that giving hope is a great step towards addressing the fear that makes people unable to overcome their issues with diversity. Another reason why people may be afraid to overcome their issues with diversity is the lack of team work in a diversified environment. In a setting such as a company where employees come from different backgrounds, teamwork is paramount. Teamwork helps such a staff to tackle the challenges that come with their diversity efficiently (Lindenberger, 2013). Teamwork enables staff to work beyond their demographic differences. In an environment where teamwork is not possible, people may find it difficult expressing their issues with diversity as they tend to fear the outcome of such steps. Everyone will opt to be safe by keeping to themselves what they have in mind rather than having to put it across and face the ‘consequences’. Teamwork can be used even in relatively less diverse settings. The fact that people will in most cases have a factor that differentiates them necessitates team. In some societies, competition in diversity can as well lead to people being afraid of overcoming their issues with diversity. Competition in diversity can be defined as a state where people from different demographical background compete to establish which of the groups holds the most ‘superior’ beliefs. In order to achieve this, one group may try to display another group’s ideologies and beliefs as inferior. The reaction of the victimized group determines how they confidently they will be able to overcome their issues with diversity. The victimized group may find itself instilled with fear to the extent that overcoming their issues with diversity becomes quite a challenge (Williams & Wade-Golden, 2013). Another factor that may make people afraid to overcome their issues with diversity is a case where a community gets marginalized. In a society with a marginalized community, that group may feel intimidated by the rest of the population. In most cases, the larger communities contribute to this intimidation by putting their views first and regarding them as true always. The marginalized community, therefore, does not get a platform on where to express her ideas. This instills fear in such people that, in order for them to remain prevalent in such a society, the opinion of the larger communities should be viewed as the truth of any matter that affects the society (Williams & Wade-Golden, 2013). The marginalized community never gets to express their opinion. They become afraid of overcoming their issues with diversity. Conclusion Diversity is a broad discipline that is very close to humankind. This is because it affects mankind in most of his interactions. There are factors that make people unable to overcome their issues with diversity. These factors tend to instill fear in them that their steps will receive a negative response from the people surrounding them. While this may be at times true, there is a need to address this fear so as everyone is confident to overcome these issues. This can be seen as one of the ways to ensure that there is a just society where everyone can express their opinion without fear of intimidation. References Judith Lindenberger. Diversity and the Workplace. 2013. Retrieved From: https://www.experience.com/alumnus/article?channel_id=diversity&source_page=additional_articles&article_id=article_1134069577860 Williams, D. A. (2013). Strategic diversity leadership in the academy. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing (VA. Williams, D. A., & Wade-Golden, K. C. (2013). The chief diversity officer: Strategy, structure, and change management. Read More