(PDF) Diversity perspectives in teamwork
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Added on 2021-06-16
(PDF) Diversity perspectives in teamwork
Added on 2021-06-16
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Running head: DIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORKDIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORKName of the studentName of the UniversityAuthor Note
DIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK1The formation of teams takes place in order to ease the work pressure and divide itamong individuals of a particular group. The team members share the work given to themequally 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 teammembers, since any form of problem could affect the performance of the entire team. Inrecent times, globalization has become a trend for large multinational companies.Globalization calls for diversity in recruitment as well as in the workforce. However, theincrease in the levels of workplace diversity have led to the establishment of a proper andwell managed and understandable flow of communication. Even after the establishment of aproper communication network, problems still arise due to the various differences in culture,beliefs, views, impressions, religion and so on. The current market conditions demandemployees to maintain a formal as well as informal flow of communication in order to ensurethe work is done flexibly. It is true that misunderstandings often occur in a diverse team orworkforce.The task of managing diversity in workforce is a challenging and difficult job. Inteams, the team leaders often find it difficult in addressing the team members due to diversityof age groups. Due to this reason, every member needs to be communicated with in a certainmanner, keeping in mind his age as well as experience in the organization, thus making itquite a difficult task to perform. Diversity is not only a barrier to effective teamwork, but themanagement too finds it difficult to communicate with a diverse set of employees, especiallywith the rising number of minorities joining business organizations. Apart fromcommunication with employees, the management needs to communicate amongst itself aswell. However, the management is comprised of managers and executives who all belong todifferent cultural backgrounds and hence diversity greatly affects the workings of anorganization. The change in leadership may also hinder the workings of a team. The new
DIVERSITY IS A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK2leader 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 fromthe previous leader. But, team members may find it difficult to adapt to this change and mayfind the new leader unsuitable, affecting teamwork. The barrier to communication isconsidered to be the biggest problem of diversity and it can only be overcome by establishinga common language, which again may not be known by all, requiring training of theemployees (Tenzer, Pudelko and Harzing 2014). Workplace diversity is considered to be verycostly in nature as well. The training of the employees, managers and other members of staffis time consuming and may at times, require a lot of travelling and a high cost ofparticipation. The diversity of workforce has many disadvantages. One of it is discrimination facedby employees. The discrimination may either be direct or indirect in nature, however itaffects 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. Apartfrom 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 givenleaves on special days, provide them breaks during work to pray, etc (Levitt 2015). Thediversity in workforce requires the employees to communicate with each other and formmutual relationships through informal communications. However, it is not possible for a teamleader or manager to ensure that every employee is part of a social group. The best that canbe done is to initiate and informal conversation among the team members to ensure that all ofthem participate in the discussion. But there is no assurance that every employee wouldbecome a part of a group or have friends in the workplace. Motivation of employees is adifficult task in a diverse workforce. Most individuals are motivated by different reasons andit would be difficult to gain their attention or interest regarding a task. Stereotyping of
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