Organizational Behavior: Workplace Diversity, Personality and Values, Motivation, Leadership, and Organizational Change

Organizational Behavior 1
Contribution 1: Workplace diversity
Workplace diversity refers to the diversity within an organizational workforce in terms of caste,
racial background, religion, gender, sexual orientation or nationality (Bond & Haynes, 2014).
This course helped me in the learning the importance of effective workforce diversity
management. I work in a multinational organization wherein we have people working from
different parts of Asia, New Zealand, America and Europe. Working with these people has
helped me widen my horizons and enhance my learning. One discussion point that hit me was
stereotyping. I realized that I was also a part of this ill culture which stereotypes people on the
basis of their background. Breaking stereotypes is the first step of managing diversity (McCann,
Sparks & Kohntopp, 2017). Stereotypes eventually lead to bias.
Through the development of this course, I also understood the importance of trainings. In fact I
recommended the same to my manager. One important thing that I learnt was that organizations
must carefully manage people with disabilities in the organization. It is important that
organizations do not discriminate against especially abled employees and offers equal
employment opportunity to them. I noticed that I do not have a single differently abled person
working with me as my colleague. This surprised me to a great extent. I discussed the same with
my manager but he assured me that the organization does not discriminate.
Diversity within a workplace is a boon more than a bane. There can be increased incidences of
conflict and lack of understanding. However, a diverse organization if managed effectively can
improve individual learning of employees and create a positive work culture. Diverse workforce
can also enhance openness and help teams look at a situation from several different perspectives
(Davis, Frolova & Callahan, 2016). This is why a diverse organization must be managed
competently in order to make the best of it.
Contribution 2: Personality and values
Enduring characteristics of an individual are important personality traits of people. Individual
personalities play a significant role in defining how they handle different situations. One of the
most important things that I learnt through this course is the importance of self-reflection. We
took several online personality tests which helped in a gaining a deeper insight about my own

Organizational Behavior 2
personality. The MBTI test defines 16 personality types based on 8 characteristics. This tool is
largely helpful for individuals to identify their own personality traits better (Hancock, 2016).
However, such a tool has its shortcomings and should ideally not be used by organizations to
decide whether or not a candidate should be recruited (Judge & Zapata, 2015).
We also studied about the big five model of personality dimensions. Upon taking the test I
scored high on extroversion and emotional stability. When I tried to understand the test results
further, I realized that I would be best suited for a sales and marketing profile. This test therefore
also helped me in understanding my career choices.
Risk taking is the ability of an individual to be open to taking risks. High risk taking managers
are more open to risks. They make quick decisions as opposed to low risk taking managers. My
manager is a low risk taker. This can be reflected upon the kind of clients we have. He often
needs a lot of convincing if we need to explore a new geographic area to get clients. I believe
that I would be a high risk taking manager because I am more open to challenges and unexplored
situations. Personality of an individual has a significant impact on their working style and
performance. I realized that I must continue to self-evaluate my performance in order to gain a
better grip of my personality.
Contribution 3: Motivation
Motivation is a primary factor that largely impacts an employee’s performance as well as
retention in the business. There are several theories that can be applied by businesses in order to
keep their employees motivated. Employees can be motivated through several factors. Intensity,
direction and persistence are the key to effective motivation in any business (Lazaroiu, 2015).
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs defined a clear hierarchy of five needs that need to be fulfilled in
order to motivate an employee (Robertson, 2016). I realized that owing to the salary
compensation offered to employees, a business fulfils their physiological needs. An employee’s
colleagues, managers and the team within which he or she works can fulfil the employee’s social
needs. Now the promotions and the appraisals within an organization are important to fulfil
esteem needs of employees.