Report

WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT 1

Cultural Assimilation Report

Case Analysis

The Solution Group has been authorized by the ELC to assess the assimilation of recent transfers into the workplace environment. In this regard, the new IT division of Fig Technologies in Tyler, Texas and it is aligned with its counterparts in Qatar and Germany. Thus, the employees and teams are comprised of different people belonging from different cultural backgrounds and geographical regions. This paper aims to reveal the Cultural Assimilation Report which has been proposed after assessing the employee’s progress.

Composition of the Team

When the progress is being assessed is a consultant and different questions have been asked it has been determined that the team is consisting of minority and majority groups. This division is like an obstacle in the way of progress. Because the employees are from Qatar are from multiple similar cultures whereas Germans are in the majority. The difference in values, beliefs, and behaviors is dominating the major group over the other. So the teams are divided again into 3 groups of 10 members. Hence, 2 groups are groups German while 1 is from the mixed or Qatar’s employees.

Assessment Tool

In relation to this, the Consultant had proposed an assessment tool so that the assimilations between the groups can be noticed. The assessment tool is composed of the survey in which the consultant remained friendly and asked questions and discuss various things. Survey aided consultant because the team members comfortably expressed their perspectives.

Later on, the Consultant proposed a questionnaire and an interview was taken from every team member. The questionnaire was composed of the following questions:

1. What are your comments about new grouping?

2. Were you comfortable before in the previous team?

3. Can you share your ideas with other members?

4. Do you appreciate members of different backgrounds?

5. What sort of problems you were facing before or now?

6. Can you have the enough spirit to express your talent and abilities?

7. Any change which you want to bring in the group?

8. Do you work collectively or individually?

9. A collective approach to work is better or separate hard work?

10. Let me know your recommendations about your concerns?

Assessment Results

Thus, after a detailed assessment with the help of discussion, survey, and interview the consultant realized that he had earlier suspected the real problem. That is why he suddenly decided on the regrouping of the team members. The first challenge which was a bigger obstacle in the way of success is the dominance of the major group (Johnson et al., 2001). Hence, he divided again the team members and fixed them in another way. Despite this, all three teams started to compete with each other positively that establish a collective approach of working. While, one of the three teams has members from diverse backgrounds, and the consultant was surprised to observe that the team belonging from diverse cultures is striving and performing better than the other teams (Johnson et al., 2001).

Moreover, all the team members were found and respecting hence the exchange program will help team members to learn from each other as well. In addition to this, the major challenge was the change of customs and languages that made difficulty for them as they sometimes remain unable to get each other (Johnson et al., 2001). Still, the team is dedicated and hardworking and can generate better outcomes from now onwards.

Approaches to Develop Assimilation

Based on the above discussion the consultant wants to develop the approaches which can better fit the workplace environment. The consultant added that apart from the workplace scheduled tasks few more gatherings can be arranged where team members can get influential from their colleagues who are from different cultural backgrounds (Lambert, 2016). It will also enable them to understand each other easily. However, such activities will improve positive competition and better understanding. Whereas, assimilation will result in better results for everyone and innovative pre-existing beliefs can be created (Lambert, 2016). It will help the organization to expand and the world in a world around it. Thus, a collective approach among the teams will result in the rapid development of a working relationship between them.

References

Johnson, P., Heimann, V., & O’Neill, K. (2001). The “wonderland” of virtual teams. Journal of workplace learning, 13(1), 24-30.

Lambert, J. (2016). Cultural diversity as a mechanism for innovation: Workplace diversity and the absorptive capacity framework. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications, and Conflict, 20(1), 68.

Organizational Diversity

Introduction

In many workplaces, it's normal to find friendly rivalry because each of the employees has a different preference, opinion, different education level, different background, different personality, age, culture, and different ethnicity. Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between the people in an organization or workplace ( ). It involves how a worker perceives him/herself and the other workers which determine how he/she relates to others. Rivalry competition sometimes is healthy because it encourages each person to excel in his/her work making the job more interesting and exciting. The rivalry is also a bad thing if it gets out of hand and can cause agitation and confusion in the workplace.

Assessment of findings in Miami, FL

In Miami, there is a sporting rivalry in professional and college teams’ competition and the pressure is felt by the team’s funs. The rivalry has gone it the extreme that people are hurt, riots, fights, hooliganism, and end of career to some players. There are many popular sports clubs in Miami each having its fans. Each fun supports his/her team due to devoted passion which drives him/her to feel a sense of belonging, to socialize, nostalgia, preference, and love for the game.

This pressure leads to the funs defending their teams even to the extreme levels without minding its impacts on the society whether positive or negative. This leads to the office workers in Miami to move from the friendly rivalry to the extreme rivalry. These causes fights and riots and the employees moving from one place to another looking for work in peaceful areas. The organizations face major challenges including loss of property, low production, and shortage of labor, poor management, and low production among others.

The conflict has attributed to extending that team player and funs seeing each other as enemies. This has led the team players to believe that there is no fair game which leads to more chaos. Hatred, jealousy, cruelty, boasting in thee offices have also let to conflicts leading to Miami FL to raise concerns. The unfairness in the game blows up the violence causing ethnicity tensions and social separation

Assessment of findings in Kansas City, MO

In Kanas City, MO offices, people began hanging together talking about the breakups of their past relationships with same-sex partners. This has made homosexuality, heterosexuality, and multiple-partner relationships. Petition circulating in Kanas City Office has banned the discussions. In many workplaces, there are policies regarding sexual orientation. People have a variety of differences in the workplace which makes it important for such discussions to be banned. Such discussions should be private and should not be held in the workplace.

Religious people have played a major role in banning the discussion because of their religious beliefs. Morally, people should respect each other feelings on certain matters and these led to the banning of the discussions. Workplace ethics have not met the management had to ban them to respect these ethics and provide a good working environment. The discussion let to sexual immorality and harassment in the workplace. It also made the level of insecurity especially for women to be high creating fear. The workers became lazy and forgot their duties which led to low production in the organizations.

Recommendation for addressing these findings to the Executive Leadership Council (ELC) for review

Diversity constitutes of variety of people each having his/her own culture belief (Syed.J, et.al n.d) the management has to recognize these and make rules to make sure that every worker is satisfied and can work effectively in a good working environment. People should be brought close to each other to form one unit for the sake of the organization's prosperity.

Management should identify what motivates the workforce and fostering healthier competition may help eliminate the negative feelings that may arise from people who get overly competitive (Mitchell, S. (2016). Employees should find common ground through sports to counter competitive tensions and if the tension is not controlled, then one should distance himself/herself from his/her rival/competitor.

As a manager, intervene early when a fight or rivalry erupts between workers. The sooner you step in the better because when a dispute starts, emotions can run high hence making it harder for management to diffuse the extreme situation. The management should conduct diversity training to help increase awareness about diversity issues, reduces biases and stereotypes and change behaviors of employees (Bond & Haynes, 2014).

Improving Organizational Culture,

Fig Technologies has identified concerns at several of their offices globally. Division has been noted on key teams based upon religion and sexual orientation. Several team members have complained that the non-Christian holidays and LGBT celebrations are not recognized by the established company celebrations or paid time off for observance. There have been complaints with regard to coworkers making harassing comments to this effect. The Executive Leadership Council has asked for you to draft an assessment of these concerns and then to propose a plan of action for addressing these concerns. Further, include a preliminary draft of policy to be included as an addendum to the organizational policy on discrimination and harassment. In your report, be sure to address the following:

· Compare the impact of different religious beliefs and practices (choose three to four different religions) and how these affect the organizational culture, and describe how your new plan and policy will improve organizational culture through inclusion of different religious beliefs and practices.

· Compare how belief systems of different gender orientations and sexual orientations may impact the organizational culture, and describe the effects of discrimination against any of these. In your plan of action, address how inclusion and assimilation of different orientations will improve organizational culture.

Benefits of diversity

Increases adaptability: Workers bring many ideas from their different opinions, working experience that helps the organization in making decisions (Martin, 2014).

Improves employee engagement-when the employees share their thoughts and experiences, they learn about different cultures and lifestyles which bonds their relationship and motivation in the workplace.

-Reduces racism and improves insights- when different people meet they learn new culture insights from each other and this reduces negative attitude towards each other thus reducing racism and sexism.

-Gaining reputation- When a company recruits and employs new workers from different cultures it gains a reputation from its customers.

-It also helps the company to have good customer service as it has different employees globally from different cultures and languages

Disadvantages of diversity

- Lack of effective communication- when people from different cultures meet each having a different language, there is a lack of good communication which is a key to business success.

-Unfair equality- Diversity leads to the employment of overqualified staff due to job insecurity. The

Individuals with great skills and education are employed to do manual jobs.

-Diversity brings people with a different culture, opinion, and too many ideas in the workplace that makes it hard for the company to settle on a decision.

Increased hostility- when sharing opinions and ideas a certain group may decide to support their person based on their culture or religious beliefs leading to disagreements.

Accommodation of beliefs- some workers impose their cultural beliefs into the workplace which leads to disagreements and sometimes violence.

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References

 Bond, M., & Haynes, M. (2014). Workplace Diversity: A Social-Ecological Framework and Policy Implications. Social Issues And Policy Review, 8(1), 167-201. DOI: 10.1111/sipr.12005

Syed, J., Klarsfeld, A., Ngunjiri, F., & Härtel, C. Religious diversity in the workplace.

Mitchell, S. (2016). Top Ten Tips: How to manage diverse teams. Retrieved from http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/top-ten-tips-manage-diverse-teams/leadership-

lessons/article/1181428

Martin, G. (2014). The Effects Of Cultural Diversity In The Workplace. Journal Of Diversity Management (JDM), 9(2), 89-92. DOI: 10.19030/jdm.v9i2.8974

Today, the contributions that women have made in the labor force participation has strengthened their position in the corporate workforce. However, the composition of gender in the workforce portrays a high number of male roles. In bands four to six, more women are employed than men. Additionally, men dominate more than half of the group nine positions. Moreover, research established that more women work part-time than men (Knight & Pearson, 2005).

When it comes to gender pay, men’s mean and median pay every working hour is relatively high than women’s. This disparity is popularly known as the gender pay gap. The main contributor to the gender pay gap is that numerous organizations offer higher pay rates to men. The gender pay gap demonstrates discrimination in business organizations despite not being illegal (Knight & Pearson, 2005).

Furthermore, the number of men occupying the position of executive-level managers in organizations is also higher than women. Gender diversity in the C-suite remains relatively low. However, there is an increase in women's participation in boards due to quotas, among other measures. The top female executives are given positions that are not expected to lead to assuming the role of a CEO (Knight & Pearson, 2005).

Advantages and disadvantages of flexible work responsibilities and schedules

Having flexible work responsibilities and schedules benefits not only the employees but also the Company. Offering flexible schedules to employs is one of the primary organizational measures that increase employees' productivity. Flexible work responsibilities show that the organization’s administration trusts the employees to contribute towards the achievement of business objectives. Moreover, it gives employees freedom and control over how they spend their time to increase the productivity of an organization (McMenamin, 2007).

Most employees are faced with stress, which is a concern in the workforce of numerous organizations. Schedules that are not elastic are too demanding, causing anxiety among employees due to the absence of the ability to balance work and social life. However, the utilization of flexible schedules and work responsibilities introduces an environment where employees can manage both work and life’s demands. This also allows employees to report to their jobs every day, which decreases absenteeism (McMenamin, 2007).

However, flexible schedules are associated with some disadvantages to an organization. Some employees thrive in an office environment making flexible working hours not suitable for them. Such workers may end up taking advantage of flexible working hours and use that opportunity to relax instead of contributing to the achievement of organizational goals. Also, having flexible working responsibilities may affect an organization's activities. Some employees possess skills and abilities suited for particular roles. Utilizing flexible work responsibilities may lead them to an area of operation where they are not gifted. Lastly, the difference between work and home has not been defined clearly. As a result, there are issues concerning the appropriate working hours for both managers and workers (McMenamin, 2007).

Potential human resource benefits of offering child and elder care in organizations

Members of the workforce that provide eldercare or offer childcare are more likely to be unproductive. They also may arrive to work late or take more time to offer to take care of either the elderly or children. Availing such care for individuals who work full time affects them both mentally and emotionally. Establishing backup child and elder care in an organization influences an employee’s productivity and contribution towards achieving business objectives (Schmidt & Duenas, 2002).

Other benefits include boosting employee’s morale by improving their physical and psychological well-being. Offering child and elder care in organizations also decreases absenteeism because time spent by workers when delivering care services is minimized. Research has highlighted that providing care services to the aging and children improves employee's commitment to an organization (Schmidt & Duenas, 2002).

It is significant for an organization's management to recognize the employee's family and other aspects of their personal life because it affects their commitment to an organization. Care platforms in organizations enhance satisfaction within the workspace leading to improved retention and reduced turnover (Schmidt & Duenas, 2002).

Explain work-life balances regarding achieving greater results for the organization

Work-life balance refers to the proper allocation of time for work and other aspects of life by a working individual. The other aspect of life outside work include personal interests, family, social activities, and leisure. Managing work life and social life is a global concern within the workforce. Developed nations like the United States of America have established work and family policies to ensure a balance between works and other aspects of life (Guest, 2002).

Individuals who are continuously work-oriented deal with symptoms of stress and burnout. If an employee does not have enough time to relax and recharge their productivity decrease, which means that there are likely to decrease their performance. A healthy balance between work and other aspects of life results in highly productive employees who participated in achieving business goals in their organizations (Guest, 2002).

Therefore, it is vital to encourage employees to take time off. Besides, the management in companies should establish schedules that give employees time to engage in other social and leisure activities. Such a measure allows individuals to enjoy the life they have been working hard to create. Moreover, a balanced work-life helps people avoid some illnesses and mental disorders (Guest, 2002).

References

Guest, D. E. (2002). Perspectives on the study of work-life balance. Social Science Information, 41(2), 255-279.

Knight, M. B., & Pearson, J. M. (2005). The changing demographics: The diminishing role of age and gender in computer usage. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing (JOEUC), 17(4), 49-65.

McMenamin, T. M. (2007). A time to work: recent trends in shift work and flexible schedules. Monthly Lab. Rev., 130, 3.

Schmidt, D. E., & Duenas, G. (2002). Incentives to encourage worker-friendly organizations. Public Personnel Management, 31(3), 293-308.