Diversity Paper

Diversity is a very important part in today’s workforce. There are several diversity and demographic characteristics that make up diversity. This paper is going to deal with a few of those characteristics. The characteristics that will be discussed are ethnicity, gender, age, religion, and occupation. This paper is going to take these characteristics and examine the impact of each on individual behavior.

The first look will be into the impact on individual behavior that ethnicity brings to the workforce. Let’s first look at the definition of ethnicity. Ethnicity is a population whose members identify with one another by genealogy or ancestry. They have common factors like culture, language, religion or physical traits. Individual behavior is formed by ethnicity. Each individual brings to the workforce their culture which includes the language spoken in that culture. Many older people in cultures that come to the United States will refuse to learn English or have it spoken in their home which makes it harder for the children to learn English because they do not have the ability to practice it outside of school. Religion is another aspect of ethnicity but is discussed later as an individual impact on behavior. Even though physical traits are part of ethnicity I am not sure that it has a direct impact on individual behavior.

Even the most modern countries still struggle with gender equality. The United States has made huge advances since the forties and fifties when women were encouraged to stay at home and be good little homemakers; barefoot and pregnant. Today’s workplace is filled with men and women doing equal jobs, however the equality stops in the job done. Women still struggle to attain equal pay for equal performance. Other modern countries carry similar standards to those of the U.S. yet some, perhaps archaic countries, still deal with the pre-historic standards of yesterday. Women are treated like possessions instead of the loving, hard-working, contributing, intelligent equals to their husbands. Much has changed since the day of the poodle skirt. With continued advances, perhaps all will attain gender equality in the workplace by the time the poodle skirt returns.

Age is another factor that impacts individual behavior. People in their late teens and in their twenties are seen as more irresponsible because they are still searching for who they are. They are not seen as dependable and thought of as nightly party goers. Even Workplaces like the FBI will not consider candidates that are much younger than 30 years old because they want people who are stable and they figure by the age of 30 the individual has their party time out of their system, have obtained their degree and are more than likely married and have a stable home life. Individuals in their thirties and forties are seen to be stable although in recent years this has been disproven. Years ago people by these ages had been in one employ for twenty years or more. Now there is not that longevity, people are not staying with employers for years like that they are leaving and going on to bigger and better things. Now those people considered senior citizens are de-valued as too old to contribute anything anymore. This is so far from the truth because what the older generation can teach the younger generation is invaluable. Young people see age as a time to have fun and grow while middle aged people are more concerned about stability and success while seniors are more about relaxing and enjoying the rewards from their time in the workforce.

Religion varies between ethnic groups and can greatly affect an individual’s beliefs and behavior. Each country provides examples of the impact of religion on the workplace, as evidenced by their observations of religious holidays. Countries sometimes share religious holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and Ramadan, but generally most countries have their own unique set of holidays. Individuals who are practicing in their particular faith will reflect those values and beliefs in their everyday lives and bring those into the workplace. Religion brings controversy such as in public