(PDF) Diversity perspectives in teamwork

Running head: DIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK
DIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK
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1DIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK
The formation of teams takes place in order to ease the work pressure and divide it
among individuals of a particular group. The team members share the work given to them
equally in order to complete a task within a given period of time (Sohmen 2013). Therefore,
it is important that there exists a mutual understanding and co-operation among the team
members, since any form of problem could affect the performance of the entire team. In
recent times, globalization has become a trend for large multinational companies.
Globalization calls for diversity in recruitment as well as in the workforce. However, the
increase in the levels of workplace diversity have led to the establishment of a proper and
well managed and understandable flow of communication. Even after the establishment of a
proper communication network, problems still arise due to the various differences in culture,
beliefs, views, impressions, religion and so on. The current market conditions demand
employees to maintain a formal as well as informal flow of communication in order to ensure
the work is done flexibly. It is true that misunderstandings often occur in a diverse team or
workforce.
The task of managing diversity in workforce is a challenging and difficult job. In
teams, the team leaders often find it difficult in addressing the team members due to diversity
of age groups. Due to this reason, every member needs to be communicated with in a certain
manner, keeping in mind his age as well as experience in the organization, thus making it
quite a difficult task to perform. Diversity is not only a barrier to effective teamwork, but the
management too finds it difficult to communicate with a diverse set of employees, especially
with the rising number of minorities joining business organizations. Apart from
communication with employees, the management needs to communicate amongst itself as
well. However, the management is comprised of managers and executives who all belong to
different cultural backgrounds and hence diversity greatly affects the workings of an
organization. The change in leadership may also hinder the workings of a team. The new

2DIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK
leader may be different in his way of addressing or communicating with the team members,
dealing with the emotions of others and so on, and his way of working may be different from
the previous leader. But, team members may find it difficult to adapt to this change and may
find the new leader unsuitable, affecting teamwork. The barrier to communication is
considered to be the biggest problem of diversity and it can only be overcome by establishing
a common language, which again may not be known by all, requiring training of the
employees (Tenzer, Pudelko and Harzing 2014). Workplace diversity is considered to be very
costly in nature as well. The training of the employees, managers and other members of staff
is time consuming and may at times, require a lot of travelling and a high cost of
participation.
The diversity of workforce has many disadvantages. One of it is discrimination faced
by employees. The discrimination may either be direct or indirect in nature, however it
affects an individual psychologically and greatly impacts his ability to perform a job well.
Issues in communication are persistent and require a lot of time and effort to deal with. Apart
from this, it is also important to keep a track of accommodating the needs of the employees.
Differences in religion, race, faith, and so on, may require certain employees to be given
leaves on special days, provide them breaks during work to pray, etc (Levitt 2015). The
diversity in workforce requires the employees to communicate with each other and form
mutual relationships through informal communications. However, it is not possible for a team
leader or manager to ensure that every employee is part of a social group. The best that can
be done is to initiate and informal conversation among the team members to ensure that all of
them participate in the discussion. But there is no assurance that every employee would
become a part of a group or have friends in the workplace. Motivation of employees is a
difficult task in a diverse workforce. Most individuals are motivated by different reasons and
it would be difficult to gain their attention or interest regarding a task. Stereotyping of

3DIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK
employees too, is a very common part of a diverse workplace. Young employees are treated
casually or with less respect by older employees. Non-verbal forms of communication such
as physical appearance, hand gestures, facial expressions may have a negative impact in a
team. This is due to the reason that the gestures portrayed may have different meanings for
different employees according to their cultural background, and some may find it offensive in
nature. A diverse workforce therefore, can be said to possess perceptual barriers or a
difference in perception, language or communication barriers, emotional barriers or fears of
mistrust, physical barriers resulting due to a great distance and lastly, cultural barriers or
differences in country, religion, caste, and so on (Latif, Gohar, Hussain and Kashif 2013).
Employees are bound to feel uncomfortable or face problems adapting to the new
environment when he is hired from a particular region and is placed in another. The bigger
the size of the workforce, the difficult it is to conduct diversity management and ensure
business operations are conducted.
Although diversity acts as a barrier to effective teamwork, it has its own set of
benefits as well. Diversity in workforce allows for the free flow and exchange of creative
ideas, productive thoughts and opinions. When there exists a proper exchange of
communication and employee needs are well taken care of, the employees feel that they
belong to the company despite the various differences in cultural backgrounds. This in turn
leads to greatly motivating the employees, resulting in an increased and high level of work
productivity. The exchange of ideas among the team members ensures that a difficult task is
completed with ease in the given time due to valuable inputs from different members.
Diversity at workplace also allows for the personal growth and development of an individual
and increases his knowledge regarding the culture and traditions of individuals from other
races, regions or different sections of the society. A diverse workforce which is properly

4DIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK
managed, serves to have its own set of weakness and strengths which can have a great impact
on the workings of an organization.
In case of a diverse workforce, there are some problems which are unavoidable in
nature. For example, women are expected to perform their household work as well as their
career and it is due to this reason that most women do not enjoy a favorable position of work
or respect even in present times. An unsupervised working environment which is hostile in
nature, may prove to be a leading cause of harassment and discrimination conducted on an
employee. It is due to the fear of facing discrimination that most employees do not opt to
apply for job roles which require them to travel and stay at a different nation (Popescu,
Borca, Fistis and Draghici 2014). Many employees have also been observed to be resistant
towards the change taking place in the organization. This is because some employees feel that
the diversification of workforce to not have much significance regarding contribution to work
and are often afraid of mistrust, failures and high work pressure. In case a company wishes to
global or bring about a great change in its management, a change management process needs
to be formed strategically so that the business operations are not affected due to the change, a
part of which is diversification of workplace. The rising demands of consumer service and
lack of skilled workers has resulted in diversification of workplace to be a common factor in
most companies. In order to properly manage a diverse workforce, it is essential to possess a
skilled leader or management that is aware of the various cultural backgrounds that the
employees are from, has good communication skills, has the presence of a confident and
positive attitude and lastly, is able to analyze and identify the key areas of strength and
weakness of the employees. Doing so would result in proper utilization of skills of the
employees and ensuring effective work output in a diverse work atmosphere.
The decision to possess a diverse workforce depends solely on the management
decision of the company and they may choose to opt for diversification or not depending

5DIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK
upon the business operations and business strategies. If the company feels that diversification
is important and necessary for its business then it should keep in mind that without proper
diversity management, the entire business operation may be at risk and also result in low
work productivity and greater losses. Thus the approach that a company takes regarding
diversity of workforce ultimately leads to understanding whether the decision and
management proved to have a positive or negative impact. A highly dedicated workforce
along with a strong support from the executives and management is required to implement
diversity in workforce, utilize and maintaining it, which may ultimately lead to a positive or
negative impact. In case of small companies, the handicapped or disabled are not allowed to
work. However, in big companies, special facilities and privileges are provided to such
challenged individuals so that they face no hindrance while conducting their work. Big
companies possess large resources and therefore are capable of putting in more efforts in
training and diversity management. While small companies due to lack of resources spend
very less amount of money towards diversity management process and usually conduct
diversity meetings at certain intervals and hence there is a high chance of facing catastrophic
results that may emerge from improper diversity management.
A healthy working environment is a necessary requisite in order to conduct business
operations smoothly and in a profitable manner. Hence, the impact that diversity of
workforce has is huge in a company. Steps should be taken to carefully analyze, understand
and be aware and educated about the cultural background and other important aspects while
recruitment of employees from that region. Without the presence of skilled professionals and
carefully placed strategies, the chances of failure regarding the diversification of workforce is
high. Most problems that arise due to diversification of workplace have been observed to be
the cause of the inability or inefficiency of the managers in performing an effective diversity
management (Salas, Tannenbaum, Cohen and Latham 2013). Some of the managers have no

6DIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK
clue as to what cultural backgrounds the diverse workforce has been recruited from. This
leads to an inability to communicate efficiently with the workforce, ultimately leading to
chaos and confusion. Lack of proper communication between the managers and employees is
also one of the major causes of negative impacts caused by diversification of the workforce.
Most employee groups that are formed for diversity management are unable to perform up to
the mark while removing challenges that are faced by the company regarding a diverse set of
employees. However, a good manager or leader can be greatly helpful for this process.
Thus the conclusion can be drawn stating that the diversity of workforce has its
own set of positive and negative aspects. However, it mostly is a barrier when it comes to
effective teamwork. The differences in working personnel of a company may be
advantageous to the organization by fulfilling the requirements or making contributions that
help the company grow further. Not only formal, but informal communication too is
important in order to maintain good relationships among employees. In case of teams,
diversity in the team members present may create numerous problems in communicating,
understanding and informing team members to perform a certain task. Even though the
presence of a diverse workforce has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, a team is
required to work as a whole regarding the completion of a task, and hence without the
presence of a proper mentor or leader, diversity would serve to create problems/hindrances in
the process of effective teamwork. Thus, diversity of workforce can be considered to be a
barrier to effective teamwork.

7DIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK
References
Latif, B., Gohar, F.R., Hussain, A. and Kashif, M.M., 2013. Barriers to Effective Strategic
Planning. Stud, 1(2), pp.16-21.
Levitt, S.R., 2015. Cultural Factors Affecting International Teamwork
Dynamics. International Journal Of Knowledge, Culture & Change In Organizations:
Annual Review, 13.
Popescu, A.D., Borca, C., Fistis, G. and Draghici, A., 2014. Cultural diversity and differences
in cross-cultural project teams. Procedia Technology, 16, pp.525-531.
Salas, E., Tannenbaum, S., Cohen, D. and Latham, G. eds., 2013. Developing and enhancing
teamwork in organizations: Evidence-based best practices and guidelines (Vol. 33). John
Wiley & Sons.
Sohmen, V.S., 2013. Leadership and teamwork: Two sides of the same coin. Journal of
Information Technology and Economic Development, 4(2), p.1.
Tenzer, H., Pudelko, M. and Harzing, A.W., 2014. The impact of language barriers on trust
formation in multinational teams. Journal of International Business Studies, 45(5), pp.508-
535.