Workplace diversity essay

The problem of diversity in the workplace has become a widely debated and controversial issue in the recent years. In today’s globalized society, workplace diversity is not a surprising phenomenon at all. However, before deciding whether it would be beneficial for one’s business to hire workers of different cultural backgrounds, the pros and cons of workplace diversity should be analyzed.

Among the pros of workplace diversity is the fact that it gives companies an opportunity to develop more extensively and implement productive programs for the clients with diverse needs. Workplace diversity improves sales and marketing of the company, bringing many benefits to its overall performance. This is a significant advantage of diversity in the workplace as this phenomenon has long proved to be highly beneficial for the performance of different companies.

Furthermore, the special needs of diverse clients can be satisfied if the company’s workforce is of different cultural backgrounds. The needs of culturally diverse clients are easier to satisfy with such workforce. This can be accomplished with respect to one’s cultural differences, which is a significant plus of workplace diversity. Furthermore, it is always a beneficial experience for both the workforce and the clients. The interaction with the clients is likely to be improved if the workforce is culturally diverse. Finally, in today’s globalized society it is hard to avoid cultural diversity in the workplace. This applies to different countries all over the world, especially the developed ones. And in many respects, cultural diversity in the workplace proves to be fruitful in terms of the performance of the company.

As for the contrary opinions on the issue of workplace diversity, it needs to be noted that there are also some drawbacks of this phenomenon. Among others, workplace diversity leads to some degree of tension or misunderstanding between the workers and the clients. For this reason, companies should implement diversity trainings for their employees. This will ensure that there is no tension at the workplace. Besides, the employees themselves might find it difficult to interact with each other due to the differences in their cultural background. Every culture has its own peculiarities and characteristic features, which makes it hard for workers to adapt to each other’s differences. It especially concerns a situation when workplace diversity embraces workers of different religious beliefs. Some of them might not understand the specifics of this or that religion, which might lead to tension and lack of understanding between the workers. This is a significant shortcoming of workplace diversity.

Furthermore, workplace diversity might lead to resentment among the workforce. If the workers are culturally sensitive, there would be no problems at the workplace. Otherwise, the workers might feel uncomfortable in different situations where cultural knowledge is required. It especially concerns the Asian culture that significantly differs from the Western one. In fact, in most cases the tension and lack of understanding takes place in the relationships between Asians and Americans as the latter have a totally different cultural background being more open-minded than their Asian counterparts. This might negatively affect the atmosphere in the company, which is a considerable drawback of workplace diversity.

All this leads to an assumption that problems at the workplace can be avoided if the cultural diversity is treated with respect. This means that the workers should be more knowledgeable concerning different cultural peculiarities. This will ensure that there is no tension or misunderstanding at the workplace. Furthermore, knowledge of different cultures will ensure a success in relationships with the company’s customers that might be of different cultural background. However, before any action is taken, the pros and cons of workplace diversity should be taken into account in order to avoid unfavorable consequences.