Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Evan Carmichael Top Header
Share for a Cause









What Is the Importance of Attitudes to Workplace Diversity?

Guest post by: Sameer Madaan

Article Overview: The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than fact. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstance, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, intelligence or skill. It will make or break a company, a church or a home.

Free Download - What Is the Importance of Attitudes to Workplace Diversity? By Sameer Madaan
Name: Email:

What Is the Importance of Attitudes to Workplace Diversity?

Managers are increasingly concerned with changing employee attitudes to reflect shifting perspectives on racial, gender, and other diversity issues. A comment to a coworker of the opposite sex that 20 years ago might have been taken as a compliment-for instance, a male telling a female colleague that he thinks her outfit is sexy-can today become a career-limiting episode. As such, organizations are investing in training to help reshape the attitudes of employees.

The majority of large U.S. employers and a substantial proportion of medium-sized and smaller ones sponsor some sort of diversity training. Some examples: Police officers in Escondido, California, receive 36 hours of diversity training each year. The Federal Aviation Administration sponsors a mandatory 8-hour diversity seminar for employees of its Western Pacific region. Denny's restaurants put all its managers through 2 days of intensive diversity training, with each day lasting 7-9 hours.

What do these diversity programs look like and how do they address attitude change? They almost all include a self-evaluation phase. People are pressed to examine themselves and to confront ethnic and cultural stereotypes they might hold. Then participants typically take part in group discussions or panels with representatives from diverse groups. So, for instance, a Hmong man might describe his family's life in Southeast Asia and explain why they resettled in California; or a lesbian might describe how she discovered her sexual identity and the reaction of her friends and family when she came out.

Additional activities designed to change attitudes include arranging for people to do volunteer work in community or social service centers in order to meet face to face with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds and using exercises that let participants feel what it's like to be different. For example, when people participate in the exercise Blue Eyes-Brown Eyes, in which people are segregated and stereotyped according to their eye color, participants see what it's like to be judged by something over which they have no control. Evidence suggests this exercise reduces negative attitudes toward individuals different from participants.


Related Articles
  Crossing Boundaries With Mentoring
  Diversity Training Can Help Your Business Succeed
  Mentoring is the Answer to Diversity Initiatives in your Organization
  We Must Embrace Diversity
  Psychological Diversity

Home > Starting-A-Business > Sameer Madaan > What Is the Importance of Attitudes to Workplace Diversity
Article Tags: blue eyes brown eyes, coworker, cultural stereotypes, denny, diversity issues, diversity programs, diversity seminar, diversity training, employee attitudes, evaluation phase, federal aviation administration, female colleague, group discussions, hmong, police officers, self evaluation, sexual identity, southeast asia, substantial proportion, volunteer work

About the Author: Sameer Madaan
RSS for Sameer's articles - Visit Sameer's website

I am Bachelor in Advertising Sales Promotion and Sales Management. I am willing to promote entrepreneurship in India. My mission is to find and create the best possible tools to empower people to realize and expand their human potential.

Click here to visit Sameer's website
Dashed Line

More from Sameer Madaan
Financial Analysis
Need for Project Formulation
What Is the Importance of Attitudes to Workplace Diversity


Related Forum Posts
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
Workplace Warrior: Insights and advice for winning on the co Workplace Warrior: Insights and advice for winning on the co - Workplace Warrior: Insights and advice for winning on the corporate battlefield Kay Hammer 2000 From the inside jacket: Successful people don't get to the top without struggles. But few are willing to expose the failures and setbacks that have lined their paths through the battle zones of business. Kay Hammer is that rare breed. With startling candor and penetrating intelligence, this "very modern, very American heroine (Forbes) gives a frank and full recounting of her mid-career reinvention, from a linguistics professor alone to the President, CEO, and co-founder of Evolutionary Technologies International... Hammer's new life began with an epiphany - that nothing substantive in her life would change unless she made it happen. There would be no Prince Charming. From that moment on, she began a long, ardous journey to carve for herself in the youthful, male-dominated software industry-a journey which she likens to serving the apprenticeship of a medieval warrior... Her strategies are geared for battles on all fronts: not only for disarming foes, gaining allies, and winning battles in the boardroom, but also for confronting the internal enemies of self-doubt, fear of failure, and unresolved anger.
Books for Women Entrepreneurs Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women


Recommended Article for You close

  Crossing Boundaries With Mentoring

Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.



Featured Article


Bottom Footer
Share for a Cause












Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Popular Articles

The State of the Sustainable Furniture Industry

Ten Things You Can Do To Be a Better Leader

How To Be A Management Legend

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.