Compile Project

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 1

5

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Organizational Culture: Religious Accommodations and Sexual Orientation

Michell Muldrow

Columbia Southern University

Unit III

Impact of Religious Beliefs and Gender Orientations on Organizational Culture

In an era driven by expanding global economy and outsourcing of employees, diversity in an organization is increasing. Employees are carrying their religious beliefs and sexual orientations to the workplace. As such, organizations are compelled to adjust their work environment to accommodate the diverse religious beliefs and sexual orientations. However, these beliefs affect organizational culture by increasing interpersonal conflicts which create a hostile work environment. As stipulated in the US constitution, every individual has a freedom of religion and expression (Scharffs, 2018). Organizations offer religious accommodations by allowing religious decorations and flexible scheduling to allow for different spiritual practices.

Religious accommodations affect organizational culture by lowering employees’ morale and retention. Employees develop perceptions that some religious accommodations are devised to favor one group over the other, which decrease their enthusiasm, leading to reduced productivity Society for Human Resource Management, 2008). Perception of bias and inequality prompt employee to disengage from organizational activities, become dissatisfied with their workplace and feel insecure about their workplace. For instance, in Christianity, the celebration of Christmas may evoke religious bias among Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus in an organization. Christian workers are likely to decorate the workplace with symbols and colors considered taboo by other religions. Such accommodation lowers the morale of other non-Christian employees. Additionally, most organizations are unaware of non-Christian holidays which may lead to discrimination of non-Christian workers. Non-Christians employees feel neglected and devalued when they are denied religious holidays. Inequality in religious accommodations lower productivity and negatively affect employee retention. Religious accommodations also disrupt work schedules by allowing for the practice of different spiritual practices. Employees may become unproductive due to continued emphasis on freedom of religion. They are likely to take advantage of the time scheduled for religious practices to run away from their duties.

Instead of denying employees freedom of speech, organizations should reserve control of employees’ activities. They should control religious practices that affect productivity and performance in an organization. For instance, over use of religious symbols and decorations should be prohibited to create a safe work environment for all workers. Fig Technologies should allow celebration of all religious holidays irrespective of religious affiliation. The company should use holiday swapping or create floating holiday policies to allow non-Christian employees to celebrate religious holidays. Holiday swapping allows employees to celebrate their religious holidays without affecting business operations. Inclusion of non-Christian holidays will promote employees’ loyalty to the organization, improve morale, and enhance productivity.

Lesbian, Gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees continue to enter the workforce without hiding their sexual orientations. The changing nature of workforce obliges organizations to align their b business culture with employee’s sexual orientations. Different sexual orientation beliefs affect organizational culture by allowing the creation of equality laws and inclusive workplace to gain leverage on sexual affiliation (Ozeren, 2014). For instance, LGBT employees in Fig Technologies are bound to be included in development policies. As such, the company will be forced to change its gender policies to accommodate the beliefs of LGBT employees. Sexuality views also increase interpersonal conflicts in an organization. An LGBT person may be secluded from participating in company celebration by other heterosexual employees. As a result, LGBTs may lack self-worth and have low self-esteem, which affects their morale and productivity at the workplace. Managers at Fig technologies must develop leadership roles and formulate policies that will apply equally to all employees irrespective of their sexual affiliation. They should create an inclusive diversity council and intra-organizational LGBT network champion equality in the workplace. Inclusion of sexual beliefs in organizational culture will foster satisfaction and increased commitment among LGBT employees.

References

Ozeren, E. (2014). Sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace: A systematic review of literature. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 109(8), 1203-1215.

Scharffs, B. G. (2018). the (not so) exceptional establishment clause of the united states constitution. Journal of Law and Religion, 33(2), 137-154.

Society for Human Resource Management. (2008). Religion and Corporate Culture: Accommodating Religious Diversity in the Workplace. SHRM.