The introduction: Angela Ogunjimi’s article
The article I want to discuss is written by Angela Ogunjimi. The most important point is related to the interdependence between workplace diversity and increased productivity. Ogunjimi says that “Diversity can help and hurt productivity. The difference depends on how well your organization strategically uses your diverse workforce” (p. 1).
So, in my opinion, productivity depends upon numerous factors, including the relationships of the employees and their level of cooperation. I would like to consider the points in detail.
The thesis statement
Workplace diversity influences the organization’s success. The factors which impact the productivity of the company are related to the employees’ interactions and their ability to coexist, resolve various contradictions, and take numerous decisions.
The body: the importance of conflicts in workplace diversity/ team project performance improvement
Numerous differences between the employees who work in the same organization are related to workplace diversity. The term is mostly associated with different race, age, gender, education, and many other signs. “Diversity not only involves how people perceive themselves but how they perceive others. Those perceptions affect their interactions” (Josh Greenberg, p. 1). Susan Woods (2010) is of the opinion that, “We know that greater diversity in the workplace increases the risk of misunderstanding and conflict” (p. 1). However, it is necessary to point out that conflicts in the organizations between the employees are not as destructive as most people think.
The difficulty of conflicts “comes because perceptions of justice and injustice, fair and unfair, insult and respect are not understood through a shared perspective” (Susan Woods, 2010, p. 1). The resolution of conflict improves the employees’ relations with each other. Of course, the improvement of relations depends upon the way which was used to resolve some contradictions.
If the members of the team come to an agreement their productivity will increase. “Effective intervention to increase or decrease conflict requires action to influence attitudes, behaviors, and structures grounded inaccurate diagnosis (Brown, 1977, p. 327). Barton H. Hamilton, Jack A. Nickerson, and Hideo Owan (2004) are of the opinion that “Consequently, the impact of diversity on productivity is identified by relatively marginal changes in the composition of a team that may already have set routines and communication patterns” (p. 30).
Generally, while speaking about team project performance improvement, it’s necessary to understand that there are stages of team development, which determine the success of the project. These stages consist of forming, storming, norming, and performing. The members of Monash University (2011) state that forming includes “understanding personal expectations and interests, clarifying accountability” (p. 1); storming means the employees should focus on “conflict-resolution procedures, integrating everyone in the team and building good relationships between team members” (Monash University, 2011, p. 1); norming means the employees’ close cooperation, and performing means the team is to be focused on relationships improvement.
On the other hand, one is to keep in mind that different career fields impact on team performance improvement. For instance, Thada Bornstein says that PI includes five basic stages, namely “getting agreement on the project goal; conducting a performance needs assessment; designing the interventions to close the gap; implementing the interventions, and evaluating the change in the performance gap” (p. 7).
The conclusion: the importance of collaboration
Different career fields can improve team project performance, if there is one common goal, the employees are to achieve. Thus, L. Michelle Bennett, Howard Gadlin, and Samantha Levine-Finley (2010) state that there are the so-called bottom-up teams, which are to “identify a common interest and come together to tackle a problem or achieve an agreed-upon goal” (p.16). They affirm that “People will often be drawn together by a common interest and will self-assemble to collaboratively address a challenging question” (Bennett, Gadlin & Levine-Finley, 2010, p. 16).
Reference List
Bennett, M., Gadlin, H., Levine-Finley, S. (2010). Collaboration & Team Science: A Field Guide. Web.
Bornstein, T. (n.d). Quality Improvement and Performance Improvement: Different Means to the Same End? Web.
Brown, D. (1977). Intergroup Conflict and Negotiation. Web.
Greenberg, G. (n.d.). Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and Solutions. Web.
Hamilton, B., Nickerson, J., Owan, H. (2004). Diversity and Productivity in Production Teams. Web.
Monash University. (2011). Guide to Managing and Optimising Team Performance. Web.
Ogunjimi, A. (n.d.). Does Workplace Diversity Increase Productivity? Web.
Woods, S. (2010). Thinking about Diversity-Related Conflict: Respect, Recognition and Learning. Web.