Diversity-2
Diversity-2*
1. Diversity’s Challenges
Diversity’s benefits are not automatic. Diversity also means challenge. Racism, sexism, and homophobia disrupt the workplace, prevent teams from accomplishing their goals, and keep organizations from achieving their missions. Simple misunderstanding caused by cultural and other differences in behavior, work attitudes, and communication styles also create challenges in the workplace.
Leaders need to be aware of the challenges of diversity in order to rise above them and reap diversity’s benefits. One of the biggest challenges of diversity is how it affects the management of organizations. Some of the specific organizational challenges that diversity creates are:
· Management complexity: It seems easier to manage a group of similar-minded people. A homogeneous organization has less conflict. There is no need to constantly adjust managerial style, to listen in different ways to each individual, or to find new approaches to doing tasks that have always been done successfully one way.
· Fairness: How can we be fair when different cultures define fairness in different ways? Diversity also creates questions about fairness because of the need to create mechanisms to assure equal acccess to the workplace, protect different groups against discrimination, and treat every individual equitably.
· Individual differences versus unanimity: Most of us think it is easier to work with people with backgrounds similar to our own than it is to learn to work with people with different styles, to understand new perspectives, and to adjust to disparate attitudes.
· Identity and loyalty: When we are all similar (all members of a homogeneous group), we know who we are (or at least like to think we do). We do not constantly need to redefine ourselves. We do not need to wonder if we can trust new people with new values, if they will back us up, or if they will be loyal to our organization as we have known it.
Turning many of these challenges into benefits is possible. Finding new approaches to doing tasks, for instance, leads to innovation. Clear-thinking leaders with sound diversity skills can find the ways to make diversity work. Perhaps the most important diversity skills are leadership skills. There are many definitions of leadership, and many leadership styles. Terry Pearce, author of Loading Out Loud, defines a leader as a person who has a vision and the ability to communicate it in a compelling way. Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu believed “true leaders inspire people to do great things, and, when the work is done, their people proudly say: “We did this ourselves.”
2. Leadership Styles
One view breaks leadership down to four different styles:
· A visionary leader sees a future, sets goals, and communicates a shared vision.
· A motivational leader communicates in a way that inspires others to act.
· An archetypal leader models ways of doing things, or acts in a way he or she wishes others to act.
· A facilitator assures that everyone is heard and that everyone shares in the responsibilties and outcomes of organizational missions.
Organizational theorist Peter Senge** sees a leader as someone who understanda the different needs of an organization, and plays a variety of roles: The leader as designer designs her organization by establishing the organization’s core values and purpose, and by communicating its vision. She creates policies, strategies, and systems based on those concepts. The leader as teacher tells stories that describe the truth about the organization, and fills others with a sense of purpose. She is a coach, a guide, a facilitator, and helps others in the organization generate ideas for the future rather than merely react or respond to outside stimuli. The leader as steward is the steward of the organization’s vision. She tests ideas, listens to others, and changes her personal vision as she talks with others. Her personal vision is not as important as the vision of the organization. She unifies all people, and creates a shared vision. To become an effective leader, an executive needs to understand her own talents and style and combine any and all of the styles above to find her own way of leading.
3. What Leadership Does
What distinguishes a leader, according to Warren Bennis***, is that while managers do things right, leaders do the right thing. Organizations often put too much emphasis on management, on the position of the employee, rather than on how best to lead. Bennis claims that…”American organizations…are underled and overmanaged.”
Diversity greatly needs strong leaders in positions of power. It also needs everyone in every organization who sees the need for better working relationships, who sees the problems and can communicate solutions, to step forward and take on a leadership role. People need to understand diversity, take stands where needed, and inspire others. In other words, more people need to do the right thing.
Effective leaders help the diverse workforce in many ways. They help create awareness of both the issues of diversity and of the ways to communicate in a diverse workplace. To do this, they must be aware of the issues, be self-aware, and be open to different styles of communication.
A leader can also help increase understanding between all members of the organization. A leader can help people in the organization realize their prejudices ans stereotypes, and stop those biases from affecting the workplace. A leader also manages conflict effectively.
By understanding diversity, a leader understands how to motivate each unique individual. A manager gets the most of her workforce, and a leader gets even more.
* W. Sonnenschein: Diversity Tooolkit. ISBN: 0-8092-2842-4
**P.M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline. ISBN: 0385260946
*** W. Bennis: Reinventing Leadership: Strategies to Empower the Organization’. ISBN: 9780060820527
Prof. C.J.M. Beniers
NL Zoetermeer
24-05-2010
© Copyright 2010
About Professor C.J.M. Beniers
Prof. C.J.M. Beniers is a well known authority in the field of modern and international communication techniques. He developed the Six-Component-Model. This model enables companies, institutions and politicians to communicate and negotiate with counterparts from all over the world successfully. His career began as international manager at Philips and later he earned his doctorate as professor in communication. He has more than 35 years experience as manager and management trainer. Thus he knows both sides – theory and praxis – very well. As scientist, Prof. Beniers conducts frequently research in the field of intercultural communication. The results of his interesting research can be found in news articles, free pod casts, audio books and his E-books such as “Bridging The Cultural Gap.” Here, modern managers learn how to prepare for business meetings with people from different cultures; they acquire the techniques and tools to handle situations in times of crises successfully, master intercultural barriers, country-specific communication patterns, looking into personal cultural values & systems. Knowing all this, men can prevent cultural misunderstandings and misinterpretations – not only in business but also in private life.
Contact:
Prof. C.J.M. Beniers
Amaliaplaats 2
2713 BJ Zoetermeer
The Netherlands
Telefone: +31 (0) 79 – 3 19 03 81
Mobile: +31 (0) 6 2 061 8494
Email: info@beniers-consultancy.com
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