Diversity and Ethic Essay

Does Diversity Affect Ethical Decisions?

Today, the United States is a diverse work industry and many things have changed from how it used to be in the 1950s to 1960s.  I agree that diversity does effect ethical decisions. To me diversity means an individual’s gender, race, cultural background, and religious beliefs. Also, how they were raised and treated growing up. For example, did they live in a good neighbor or in a high crime neighbor? What type of school did they attend and or where have they worked in their life. Even age is a major factor in the workforce industry.

When I turned 18 years old I got a job at a manufacturing company called Chromalloy Dallas. My position was quality control. I was the youngest employee in the company. The hardest part was for people who were older in their 40’s to accept the fact that a young guy is doing the same job as them. They fear that the new generation might take over their job. In the very beginning of my career at Chromalloy I was thrown under the bus multiple times. When they needed someone to blame, I was the one. When our work load was high, I was given the difficult tasks so I could look like I was struggling and slowing the company’s production down. I was on thin ice with management. This was going on for about a month. While most employees got overtime, I didn’t because I was not worth the 1.5 pay for overtime.

One skill I have is my ability to learn quickly and expose it. After about three months I was able to gain respect from others. My knowledge started growing so fast, employees including supervisor were coming to me for a quick answer to their questions. Even though I was young, I always presented myself professionally. For example, I would dress up in casual formal clothes to work while others were in relaxing clothes because it is a warehouse environment. Within a few more months, I became a lead inspector at incoming inspection. I was in charge of handling the parts coming into the company up to the production process. I got a chance to work with many people from different background. People who couldn’t speak English well versus people who could. People who struggled to understand basic reading work instructions and many more things. This was a manufacturing company and majority of the employee were hardworking Hispanic and Asian workers.

This company had horrible leadership skills as far as management. They did not lead by example, instead just dictate. When I became lead, I tried to make it a more positive atmosphere as far as my department. I was able to learn the material and teach others in the company. I was able to relay the information down from management to my co-workers where it felt like we were a team. After spending three and half year with this company, it decided to merge with Chromalloy Georgia, meaning it had to downsize. Management made their first round of laid-offs based on the value of the person. What I noticed was even the ones that have been there a long time but struggled to get along with management or wasn’t really aggressive got let go first. There was a lot of politics in the atmosphere around this time. If you knew how to play it, you stuck around, if you didn’t you were on the list. In my eyes, a lot of the managers judged the workers based on their vibe with the employees more than what the employee brought to the table.

I worked with an individual who worked very hard but was quiet and didn’t under much English. After working with him for a while, he mentioned to me he had lost his parents at a very young age. Therefore, he never really went to school growing up and had always been working to make ends meet. Well management thought he had a negative attitude and was not a team player. Basically he was laid off with the first group of people.

There was an employee named Mike who worked in the lab, I am not sure how he grew up or his background but he always had a major odor issue. He smelt like he hasn’t shower in days or hasn’t washed his clothes. When the company’s work load was slow, no other department wanted his help because of his hygiene odor. Management would rather send him home.