Discuss Why Understanding ‘Surface-Level Diversity’ and ‘Deep-Level Diversity’ Is Good Business Practice for Managers Working in Organisations.
Introduction
In this essay, I will be exploring the needs of managing for diversity. As there are many different aspects of diversity, it would be challenging for organization to cope and foresee problematic issues that can arise from, based on their assumption of predictability and understandability of the problems, and finding the right solution to respond to the situations. The content will be based on 3 key discussion points supported with references – why understanding surface and deep level diversity is a good practice for manager, why is it important to manage for diversity in Singapore, and lastly the distinct characteristics of Singaporean employees that need to factor, compared to other expatriates.
Workforce Diversity
Workforce diversity refers to practices or policies that seek to include people who are identified as heterogeneous or different. Workforce diversity has already been here and continues to be an essential concern for business success. The 2 levels of diversities; surface-level and deep-level diversity would be explored further in the essay.
Surface level diversity
To understand why diversity is a good practice for manager, we need to distinguish the 2 different types of diversity.
Surface level diversity refers to characteristics that are observable or readily detectable attributes such as race, gender, or physical disability (Mor Barak, 2011). It’s a human nature to judge someone on his or her first impression, and harbour prejudices, stereotypes whose diversity characteristic is different from you. As team members continue to interact over time, the impact of perceived surface-level diversity on team social integration will diminish, but the perceived deep-level diversity on team social integration will intensify (Harrison et al. 2002).
Age Group
Today, age discrimination is still prevalent in workplaces. The workforce is rapidly aging because of the baby boomer. There are 4 generations now working together, thus poses a
In this essay, I will be exploring the needs of managing for diversity. As there are many different aspects of diversity, it would be challenging for organization to cope and foresee problematic issues that can arise from, based on their assumption of predictability and understandability of the problems, and finding the right solution to respond to the situations. The content will be based on 3 key discussion points supported with references – why understanding surface and deep level diversity is a good practice for manager, why is it important to manage for diversity in Singapore, and lastly the distinct characteristics of Singaporean employees that need to factor, compared to other expatriates.
Workforce Diversity
Workforce diversity refers to practices or policies that seek to include people who are identified as heterogeneous or different. Workforce diversity has already been here and continues to be an essential concern for business success. The 2 levels of diversities; surface-level and deep-level diversity would be explored further in the essay.
Surface level diversity
To understand why diversity is a good practice for manager, we need to distinguish the 2 different types of diversity.
Surface level diversity refers to characteristics that are observable or readily detectable attributes such as race, gender, or physical disability (Mor Barak, 2011). It’s a human nature to judge someone on his or her first impression, and harbour prejudices, stereotypes whose diversity characteristic is different from you. As team members continue to interact over time, the impact of perceived surface-level diversity on team social integration will diminish, but the perceived deep-level diversity on team social integration will intensify (Harrison et al. 2002).
Age Group
Today, age discrimination is still prevalent in workplaces. The workforce is rapidly aging because of the baby boomer. There are 4 generations now working together, thus poses a
References: Chia, S.A 2010 ‘Workplace diversity 'a big plus ', The Straits Times, 10 Apr , pp. 1(Business section), viewed 10 August 2011, <http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20100408-209106.html>. Ministry of Manpower, MOM 2010, Managing Workplace Diversity: a toolkit for Organizations, Ministry of Manpower, viewed on 14 August 2011, <http://www.mom.gov.sg/Documents/employment-practices/WDM/Workplace%20Diversity%20Management%20Tookit%20and%20Manager%27s%20Guide.pdf>. Thomson, R (2002), Managing People, 3rd edn, Butterworth-Heinemann, England. Van Vianen, A, De Pater, I.E, Kristof-Brown, A.L, Johnson, E.C 2004, Surface- and Deep-Level Cultural Differences and Expatriates ' Adjustment, The Academy of Management, vol 47, no. 5, pp.697-709. Word Count : 1867