Diversity at the Workplace
INTRODUCTION
Relating and working with people who hold different perspectives and different views brings different qualities to the workplace.
Diversity consists of visible and non-visible differences that include sex, age, background, race, disability, personality and work style. This means that diversity has an impact on the products and services developed by the workforce and on personal, interpersonal, and organizational activities.
Managers of diverse work groups need to understand how their members' social conditioning affects their beliefs about work and must have the communication skills to develop confidence and self-esteem in their employees.
Diversity can be categorized as having primary and secondary dimensions. The primary dimensions of diversity are those that are either inborn or exert extraordinary influence on early socialization; dimensions of this type are age, ethnicity, gender, physical or mental abilities, race, and sexual orientation. Secondary dimensions of diversity include factors that are important to us as individuals and to some extent define us to others but which are less permanent and can be adapted or changed: educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, parental status, religious beliefs, and work experience.
Diversity has become a common characteristic of workplaces due to changes in demographics and psychodynamics.
PSYCHODYNAMICS
This descriptive research addressed the challenges of working with the conscious and unconscious aspects of diversity in order to enhance insights into covert and deeper diversity dynamics in organizations. The research supported the evolving trend of shifting the systems psychodynamic orientation from the group to the individual context. The general aim was to describe a systems psychodynamic coaching model, and to determine its trustworthiness in assisting executives to work effectively with conscious and unconscious diversity dynamics.
Relating and working with people who hold different perspectives and different views brings different qualities to the workplace.
Diversity consists of visible and non-visible differences that include sex, age, background, race, disability, personality and work style. This means that diversity has an impact on the products and services developed by the workforce and on personal, interpersonal, and organizational activities.
Managers of diverse work groups need to understand how their members' social conditioning affects their beliefs about work and must have the communication skills to develop confidence and self-esteem in their employees.
Diversity can be categorized as having primary and secondary dimensions. The primary dimensions of diversity are those that are either inborn or exert extraordinary influence on early socialization; dimensions of this type are age, ethnicity, gender, physical or mental abilities, race, and sexual orientation. Secondary dimensions of diversity include factors that are important to us as individuals and to some extent define us to others but which are less permanent and can be adapted or changed: educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, parental status, religious beliefs, and work experience.
Diversity has become a common characteristic of workplaces due to changes in demographics and psychodynamics.
PSYCHODYNAMICS
This descriptive research addressed the challenges of working with the conscious and unconscious aspects of diversity in order to enhance insights into covert and deeper diversity dynamics in organizations. The research supported the evolving trend of shifting the systems psychodynamic orientation from the group to the individual context. The general aim was to describe a systems psychodynamic coaching model, and to determine its trustworthiness in assisting executives to work effectively with conscious and unconscious diversity dynamics.