Diversity and Inclusion in Relation to Music in the Workplace Opinion Essay

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Executive Summary

All organizations endeavor to streamline diversity and inclusion in their workplaces. In most scenarios, diversity and inclusion is a key component of a company’s mission statement. Diversity and inclusion applies to all relationship components in an organization including customer-to-employee and employee-to-employee contacts. This paper addresses a diversity and inclusion issue that involves the type of music that is played in the office.

The main office houses approximately twenty-five employees who have diverse cultural backgrounds. The issue of the music that is played through the main sound system has been raised by various employees. Most of the employees have complained that the genres of music that is played in the office do not apply to their cultural affiliation and they fail to represent the majority of the employees’ listening needs.

This diversity issue requires to be addressed in respect to the goal of increasing productivity among employees. This paper seeks to address the issue of the music genres that are played in the workplace, and how it can be handled in respect to diversity and inclusion. The method of handling this diversity issue in the workplace involves both collective and individual efforts.

Situational Overview

The diversity and inclusion issue in the workplace started when the human resource department received several complaints involving the genres of music that are played in the workplace. Our organization features five offices that house different departments in the organization. However, the main workplace is contained under one floor with employees having desks as workstations. Initially, employees were allowed to play music individually.

However, the sounds of various types of music playing in the work floor ended up being the source of disharmony and distraction among workers. The management resolved to allow people to listen to music via headphones and earpieces. However, this development started interfering with inter-personal communication between workers thereby lowering overall productivity. The final resolve was to install a sound system in the main work floor. The idea was to make a sound system that would match the professional ambience of the office.

Having a single sound system has eliminated the confusion that was common when workers listened to different kinds of music. The sound system has also brought a harmonic tone in the work environment. Nevertheless, a significant number of workers have filed complaints with the human resource department complaining about several issues in relation to the type of music that is often played through the sound system.

First, some workers have complained that the music that is played only caters to African Americans and the majority Caucasian cultures. More specifically, some workers have complained about lack of Latin, punk, and heavy metal genres of music in the office playlist. Workers have argued that some cultures are ‘hogging’ a music system that was supposed to serve all people in the office.

Some workers also recognize that in the first few days, the initiative brought class and harmony to the office but soon ‘some elements’ took over the music system. For instance, some workers have requested that they be allowed to listen to music in their own computers because they ‘do not enjoy’ any of the music that is played through the music system. The other issue is that some workers have complained that some of the music that is played in the work place is offensive.

Furthermore, some workers have requested that the speakers in the workplace be used to play radio-music. The person in charge of the current playlist selection is Mike, a twenty-five year old African American who mostly works in the shipping and receiving department. The human resource department has resolved to solve this music playlist problem in relation to the diversity and inclusion policies in the workplace.

Recommendations- Actions

The first recommendation is to make the playlist all-inclusive. Making the music all-inclusive might involve having employees make up the playlist collectively. For instance, it is recommendable to have employees deposit their music in a single storage and then play it randomly. Consequently, if all employees dropped one hundred tracks each, the music that is more popular will most likely be on heavy rotation.

Furthermore, all employees will have contributed to the music equally. Another recommendation is to have a ‘play-list launch party’ where all employees celebrate the diversity of all cultures. In this kind of party, all employees can dance to all kinds of music and possibly learn to appreciate other genres.

The third recommendation is to have designated days/weeks/months when specific genres of music are highlighted. For instance, there can be hip-hop Mondays, rock Wednesdays, and other genre-themed days in the office. This music-of-the-day concept can have an impact in equalizing the significance of all genres of music among workers. This inclusivity can end up creating a workplace that aligns with the organization’s policy of cultivating diversity.

Implementation Issues

The first factor to consider when resolving the issue of music that is played in the workplace is to have a general overview of how inclusion and diversity would relate to a problem. In this case, a workplace that embraces diversity and inclusion would play music that embodies these concepts. Furthermore, in a diverse and inclusive environment, workers would have the ability to enjoy music that is not necessarily from their own culture.

The other issue to consider is our organization’s definition of diversity in relation to its mission. For instance, it is the mission of the organization to maintain a work floor that embraces diversity with the view of improving productivity. Diversity also depends on the demographic composition of the organization. This is a central issue in the consideration of music genres in the workplace. It is important to consider how the recommendations will impact the organization’s overall functions.

For example, a work floor that has no harmony can cause various types of problems for the company. The history of the organization’s work floor inclusion and diversity is important in determining how changes in the process will affect a firm.

Another important consideration when making inclusion and diversity adjustments is the economic and time resources that are required to effect these changes. In matters of inclusion and diversity, it is important to consider “any additional monetary or in-kind resources the organization will commit to its diversity work (staff time), as well as other funding” (Thomas 65).

Desired Result/Impact

The recommendations for inclusion and diversity will achieve various benefits for the employees. For instance, the recommendation to have employees collectively constitute a playlist will enhance collaboration. The collaboration between employees can be transferred into other aspects of productivity within the workplace (Roberson 212). The recommendation to have an event that celebrates music diversity among employees develops a sense of communal practice.

The communal practice can aid in an organization in achieving its goals and objectives. The recommendation to have themed-days also sensitizes employees against issues that accompany lack of inclusion and diversity. For instance, the overall question in matters of inclusion and diversity is whether “we are willing to live with discomfort for a time in order to achieve healthy and whole communities” (Syrett and Sepulveda 487). Themed days can create discomforts for some individuals but they are also great tools for accessing diversity.

Through diversity and inclusion, “diverse teams aim at achieving greater innovation and creativity, thereby enabling them to outperform homogenous teams” (Cox and Blake 46). Consequently, a work floor that features a diverse but homogeneous team is more likely to perform better than one that is divided along the lines of music genres.

On the other hand, conflict and communication problems affect both progress and innovativeness in an organization. Cox and Blake also recognize that inclusion and diversity attracts a more qualified workforce (48). In this case, conflicts between cultures in the work floor might lead to problems in workforce management therefore, lowering productivity.

The first two solutions to the problem of music choices within the workplace provided only temporary solutions to this issue. The reason for the initial failures of the inclusion and diversity issues is that it was solely engineered by the human resource department without the overall involvement of all the workers (Jayne and Dipboye 413).

The current recommendations seek to initiate a process that gradually brings about diversity within the workplace. For instance, a music/dance event that brings about inclusion and diversity is an agent of change as opposed to it being a tool (Chavez and Weisinger 332). The current process of achieving inclusion and diversity is gradual but the results are likely to be more long lasting.

Works Cited

Chavez, Carolyn, and Judith Weisinger. “Beyond Diversity Training: A Social Infusion for Cultural Inclusion.” Human Resource Management 47.2 (2008): 331-350. Print.

Cox, Taylor, and Stacy Blake. “Managing Cultural Diversity: Implications for Organizational Competitiveness.” The Executive 3.4 (1999): 45-56. Print.

Jayne, Michele, and Robert Dipboye. “Leveraging Diversity to Improve Business Performance: Research Findings and Recommendations for Organizations.” Human Resource Management 43.4 (2004): 409-424. Print.

Roberson, Quinetta. “Disentangling the Meanings of Diversity and Inclusion in Organizations.” Group & Organization Management 31.2 (2006): 212-236. Print.

Syrett, Stephen, and Leandro Sepulveda. “Realising the Diversity Dividend: Population Diversity and Urban Economic Development.” Environment and Planning 43.2 (2011): 487-504. Print.

Thomas, Kecia. Diversity Resistance in Organizations, New York: Psychology Press, 2012. Print.

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