Workplace Conditions that May Be Warning Signs of Potential Diversity Disasters

Workplace Conditions that May Be Warning Signs of a Potential Diversity Disaster

By Lori B. Rassas

We are know that running a company has its potential risks and, in today's workplace, it is important to be aware of certain workplace conditions that have the potential to lead to a diversity disaster.??

·??????Exterior division leads to interior discord. No business is an island. Divisiveness in your community or the places where your employees live can easily infect your workplace. And let’s face it:??divisiveness is prevalent these days.??So if there are any issues that are particularly heated in your community, consider paying closer attention to your workplace culture to be sure that negativity does not infiltrate your organization.

·??????Close quarters encourage conflict. If your employees cannot easily get away from one another, even if it’s just for lunch, they are likely to fray one another’s nerves. Just think of how you felt about your housemates during quarantine, then remove the protective layer of family or friendship.?

·??????Boredom leads to battles. When employees have lots of spare thinking time since their work is monotonous or repetitive they may say or do things out of frustration or boredom. Misguided attempts at humor or freewheeling conversations could result in disputes or arguments about non-work issues.

·??????Decentralization limits supervision. When departments or functions are distant from one another, there is less chance for upper-level diplomatic input or intervention. Poor behavior and lax management can allow divisive incidents to become more commonplace.

·??????Power disparities can spawn discrimination. An organization with large power differences between upper-level executives and front-line workers may result in unintentional exploitation. And this situation may be exacerbated if these groups are not diverse.

·??????Customer focus could excuse bias. When an organization believes the customer is always right, or client satisfaction is the most important goal of the organization, it is more likely that inappropriate behavior could be excused if it id what a customer wants or if there is a sense that addressing the conflict might result in lost revenue.

·??????Key staff can feel invulnerable. Some organizations have staff whose key role or high productivity gives them an actual or perceived higher value than their peers, such as someone who services a key client or who is particularly productive. Individuals like this may feel rules do not apply to them, and management may be hesitant to apply some rules to them for fear of alienating someone essential.

·??????Similarity breeds discontent. If there are few people in the workforce, in a department, or on a team who are different from the others, they could feel isolated and at risk. Further, the addition of new people to an organization with a history of homogeneity could lead prior employees to feel threatened and result in their saying or doing something that makes new people uncomfortable.

·??????First-time employees may not know better. If you have a large number of employees who are working in their first or second jobs, they may not yet be familiar with acceptable standards of professional conduct.

Some of these situations may be unavoidable, and your organization may be working to address others in your long-term diversity and inclusion plans.??But, regardless of why one of more of these factors are present in your organization,??it is critical for you to be aware of the heightened level of potential risk associated with them.

Lori B. Rassas https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/lorirassas/ www.lorirassas.com