Diversity Training Essay Example for Free

Diversity Training Essay Research diversity training programs and their effectiveness. Discuss the purpose of diversity training and review the types of programs that are most effective in meeting goals for improving diversity within organizations. Diversity training is recommended to provide employees with the knowledge and skills to effectively communicate and relate to shareholders of different ethnicity, gender, mannerisms, sexual orientation, religion, and age. Diversity training has a positive impact on the company because it helps employees to respond more sensitively to differences in the workplace. Employees will become more aware of their actions, and mannerisms with others in the workplace. Also, it may be necessary to train managers in diversity in order to comply with the equal opportunity/affirmative action laws. Managers that are trained can effectively address diversity issues in the workplace (Reasons for Diversity, n.d.). Diversity training is effective if employees can recognize the advantages of becoming a culturally diverse workplace. Advantages can include; attracting and retaining valuable employees, increased innovation and creativity, and improved team performance. Organizations that encompass diversity can provide a better service or product if employees can understand their customer’s culture and background. The most effective approach for improving workplace diversity is to create a program to promote diversity hiring. A position or task force should be created who’s primarily responsibility is to oversee diversity hiring and training. Typically, diversity training is effectively taught through group exercises, role play, lectures, and video presentations. In conjunction with diversity training programs, the organization should promote employee involvement through diversity committees, diversity staff positions, and affirmative action plans (Rolander, n.d.). When employees are more involved, they become more aware of their actions and the actions of others to help promote diversity. References: Reasons for diversity training. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2010, from Ehow website: http://www.ehow.com/facts_4912414_reasons-diversity-training.html Rolander, G.-C. (n.d.). Creating effective diversity policies . In Divesity central. Retrieved April 7, 2010, from http://www.diversitycentral.com/ diversity_practitioners/research_07_04.html What are the ways an organization can identify managers with dysfunctional behaviors? Once these managers are identified, describe the various actions that could be undertaken to help them change these behaviors. The symptoms and warning signs of a dysfunctional manager include; arrogance in leadership, lack of leadership performance feedback (from employees), favoritism, over-management that inhibits communication between staff members, lack of collaboration, lack of teamwork, low productivity, decline in employee morale, backstabbing, and high rate of employee absenteeism and turnover (Jones, n.d.). Consequently, with bad workplace politics and performance, employees will often distance themselves and can become uncooperative if they feel discriminated against and unappreciated. In some cases, employees will resort to sabotaging the company name, and the organization will risk losing their high performers. Furthermore, employees will lose their motivation and productivity (Jones, n.d.). Once the managers are identified, performance-oriented goals should be set to cure the bad behavior (Jones, n.d.). Fist, the organization must identify the performance issues and get feedback from employees. Employee feedback can be evaluated through an employee feedback survey. The manager must be willing to participate in the change program and recognize their bad behavior. Team-building workshops can be used to educate and train management on effective communication and conflict resolution (Jones, n.d.). If differences are still apparent after arbitration, replacement of the uncooperative management is necessary. References: Jones, M. (n.d.). Dysfunctional Leadership Dysfunctional Organization . In The Politics of failure: watch out for the warning signs of bad leadership. Retrieved April 7, 2010, from http://www.iim-edu.org/ dysfunctionalleadershipdysfunctionalorganizations/index.htm

Paintball :: essays research papers

Paintball! A fast-paced, adrenaline pumping, game...paintball is a world renowned sport and is growing popularity faster than several other top sports. Paintball is non-contact, making it very safe when played right. According to the Sports Data Inc. surveys, paintball has the lowest injury rate of ANY sport, at only .31 injuries per 1000 participants. Paintball is viewed several different ways by people that have not experienced it for themselves. A lot of people think paintball is only for "gun crazy" maniacs. Well that is an incorrect statement, mainly because paintball "guns" are not guns at all. The definition of "gun" is, "Any weapon that discharges shot, shells, or other bullet by the explosion of gun powder or some other explosive from a strait tube." Paintball markers operate in a VERY different way. Paintballs are propelled out of the barrel by air, not any type of explosive, and paintball markers are NOT weapons. No one has ever got killed by a paintball marker from getting shot. Even without a mask on. Although eye injuries have been reported, this is due to the fact that an unsafe game was played. Most likely someone decided that they were superman and took off their goggles in the middle of a game and no ref was there to stop him. All goggles worn during paintball should and are approved by the government and you are not supposed to shoot above a speed of 300 feet per second. Yes, paintball leaves welts, but most people can stand them. The pain of a paintball welt is surely not any worse than getting tackled by a 200 lbs football player. If safety is what people are worrying about, why do we have football, wrestling, or basketball? They are all in the top ten for highest injury rates. Paintball is also growing in popularity, games for paintball are getting released and selling way better than the majority of other games. The most popular of any paintball game is called "Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball" and is exactly the type of paintball that we would like to play at the school, speedball. Speedball is a game of paintball played on a paintball field that is exactly symmetrical to through the middle, a speedball field is usually about 100 feet long and 40 feet wide and the bunkers are usually made of a durable and flexible plastic that holds air, most commonly called â€Å"air bunkers†.

Interpersonal, Group and Collective Behavior Dynamics Essay

Enron is a company that is faced with financial instability but continues to run on dubious dealings including misrepresenting their true financial position (Cohan, 2002). This is done to save the public image of the company hence avoiding the risk of losing investors. American International Group (AIG) is also in a serious financial crisis following cases of mismanagement (FRB, 2009). We shall make a comparison of the group dynamics and internal politics within these two companies. The companies exhibited an element of information blockage. This is holding back adverse news from the public until the last possible moment. This is usually a deliberate act with the aim of maintaining a good public image. It is however followed by lawsuits, hate mails or even death threats from unhappy investors. In Enron’s case, the senior executives withheld any information about financial crisis from the public until it collapsed (Cohan, 2002). AIG maintained a ‘business as usual’ image in the public despite its liquidity issues (FRB, 2009). Motivation to lie or deliberately concealing the truth in an organization was evident in the two companies. The corporate officers do not disclose the truth especially when this truth may put the company into bankruptcy or cost them their jobs. In the case of Enron the lies were inform of hard data, lying about accounting results and a stream of earnings (Williamson, 1970). Questionable accounting practices were meant to hide huge losses that the company suffered. AIG had its share of deliberate lies when it valued its A-A and sub prime property at 1. 7; twice the value used by Lehman. The issue of the board’s oversight function and the business judgment rule is also fairly evident in the two companies he board of directors act as if they are entitled to rely on the honesty and integrity of their subordinates until something wrong happens (Crag & Rebecca, 1996) . The directors of Enron were totally unaware of the severity of the company’s financial crisis until its collapse. A directors were too ignorant of the liquidity problem to the extend of planning for a lavish retreat for themselves. The subordinate managers have persuasive interest in concealing the bad news. This is meant to avoid or delay personal embarrassment and other associated risks such as the likelihood of a price drop in its shares. In Enron, individual executives who decided to hide the dubious partnership feared erosion of status (Cohan, 2002). They felt that they needed to protect both their self and external image. The same case was evident in AIG, where the subordinate managers saw the need for over costing their assets to redeem their image. Overconfidence and optimism is displayed in the two companies by the senior executives especially in press releases. Overconfidence creates a strong image for any company in the eyes of the public. Executives who are overconfident and optimistic are considered to be successful managers. This is because they are able to persuade and influence people even in the face of a crisis. The executives in Enron and AIG were also in the bid of making a name for themselves. Senior executives assured employees would continuously rise even in the event of financial instability in Enron. The chief executive officer in AIG assured investors that they would still get their bonuses even as the company was being bailed out (FRB, 2009). Corporate ‘culture’ cannot be ruled out in the management of the two companies. This refers to the norms of the company which are well known to the management and the subordinate employees. They supersede other business or ethical laws in case of a conflict. Cynism as a corporate culture fosters the breaking of rules as a means to succeed. Ethical rules are under enforced with the focus being to maximize profits. The Enron and AIG were caught up in this culture when they faced a financial crisis. They misrepresented their debts and assets respectively in the company’s sheet so as to reflect high profits and attract investors (Cohan, 2002). All this is done in total disregard for accounting ethics. Myopic information within the organization is also prevalent in the two companies. This might be due to our limited cognitive capabilities but more so because the executives are too busy to deal with abundant data. They prefer sifting this data and extracting only what is relevant. They may also be lacking the skill to analyze and understand the data as was the case of Enron’s former chairman Mr. Kenneth Lay. The directors in AIG and Enron, focused on information that confirmed their prior attitudes of leading institutions in the market. They disregarded any disconfirming information of possible collapse or liquidity issues. This is normally referred to as cognitive dissonance. It is usually difficult to change these beliefs as one is seen as a threat to the company’s status quo. Ms. Watkins, an employee in Enron became such a threat by warning a senior manager of a possible collapse (Cohan, 2002). A chief executive officer’s proposal in AIG was ignored on the same basis (FRB, 2009). Intimidation of subordinate employees by the senior employees is prevalent in Enron but not in AIG. In Enron, investigations against Mr. Andrew a former chief financial officer and other senior officers who were involved in fraud cases did not happen since no one was confident enough to confront them (Cohan, 2002). In AIG the accounting scandal is thoroughly investigated and no one is spared including a former chairman of the board. REFERENCES: Federal Reserve Bank. (2009). History and development of AIG. Retrieved May 26,2009, from http://www. federalbank. orf/history/development. pdf Herbert, A. S. (1955). A behavioral model of rational choice. John, A. C. (2002). †I didn’t know† and â€Å"I was only doing my job†. Has corporate governance careened out of control? A case study of Enron’s information myopia. Journal of Business Ethics, 40 (3),275-299. Paul Z. & Janet A. (1997). The social influence of confidence in group decision making.

Essay on the Problem of Harassment Amongst Students

Essay on the Problem of Harassment Amongst Students When we hear the word â€Å"harassment†, we usually get the image of unwanted actions of an employer towards an employee, or a senior colleague towards an inferior one, usually male-on-female. There is, however, the whole layer of the problem that takes place in various educational institutions and has a somewhat different nature. Sexual harassment in the sphere of education is any kind of unwelcomed sexual activity that interferes with a student’s studies or participation in other activities. Although in other spheres of human life harassment is usually performed by the victim’s superiors, harassment in education is mostly (about 90%) is of student-on-student type, although the one perpetrated by teachers, professors or other school employees does also exist. The goals of harassment are different as well. Usually there is no real inclination of having sexual relations with the victim whatsoever – the most major reason for sexually offending behavior is that the perpetrator considers it to be amusing – either for himself or for the other students. Only a small minority of students denounced for harassment say that they did it because wanted to draw attention of the victim and, probably, date with her/him. Many researchers, however, are of the opinion that it is not a real reason, the true motive being the wish to assert one’s authority and power, to make others fear him/herself – i.e., simple bullying with sexual implication. Although it may not seem all that serious, many researchers consider sexual harassment in education to be a grave matter indeed for, according to them, it influences students’ life greatly and causes a lot of negative effects on the ones who have been its victims. There are, naturally, a lot of organizations and initiatives set on fighting and preventing this kind of behavior, though it is hard to say how successful they are.