Diversity in The Workplace
Lori Godsey
Walden University
NURS 3001, Section 08, Issues and Trends in Nursing
March 24, 2013

The Problem Healthcare leaders acknowledge that workplace diversity and cultural competence are important to providing health services, as cited by (Davis, 1998). Perceptions of nursing managers related to workplace diversity and cultural competences have not been a focus of any research studies. There have been studies done on nurse job satisfaction which have focused on a range of aspects, there have only been a few that have focused on workplace diversity and cultural competence from the nurse managers’ perspectives. Health care settings as an organization commonly accept workplace diversity and cultural competence as a competitive edge, as cited by (Davis, 1998). There has not been many links to nurses eminence of work life and the factors related to workplace diversity and cultural competence. Value of work life is defined here as the individuals estimation of need fulfillment and enjoyment of one’s job and career. Nurses job satisfaction is considered a factor of quality of nurses work life. This paper will portray the need for a study to be done among Nurse Managers perceptions of workplace diversity, cultural competence and job satisfaction. This paper will also show that there is an under representation of racial and ethnic minorities in the nursing field and of how the need for more diverse nursing faculty is crucial.

Quality of Nurses Work Life Healthcare leaders in the last two decades have attempted different ways to assess the quality of a nurses’ work life. Understanding the value that nurses contribute to the intricate healthcare environment is just one of the reasons a focus has been centered on nurse satisfaction. Today the quality of a nurses’ work life, the link to workplace diversity, cultural competence and the desired goal of the health care organization cannot be minimized. Presently nurses are expected to understand, embrace and implement workplace diversity while being culturally competent as per (Davis, 1998). Between the 1950's to the 1990's there have been work studies done. The concepts related to quality of work life have been isolated and studied alone to identify predictors of any satisfied employees. The findings from the research demonstrate that employees are satisfied with their work, but for some components of work life have affected more than others. For example, stress, workload conditions, and communication with administration seems to affect the nurse satisfaction. (Davis, 1998). The relationship among the nurse managers perception of the workplace diversity, cultural competence, quality of work life and job satisfaction may have an influence on the approach nurses feel about their jobs. Work place diversity Demographic and economic changes that are occurring in the United States and worldwide are increasing the diversity of interpersonal and inter group relationships in the organization as cited by (Davis, 1998). Management of diversity is defined as an approach used to create and uphold an environment in which each person is respected for his or her differences and where all will receive an equivalent opportunity to contribute and be rewarded based on their results. (Beard & Volcy, 2013)There have been times that educators have been discriminated against, when a faculty member was passed over for a promotion because the supervisor declared that the personality "was too strong" for the supervisor to work with, it was concluded that even though the faculty members performance evaluation was stellar and she was able to work well with others, the decision was based on racial stereotypes rather than merit and performance as cited by (Beard and Volcy 2013). Diversity refers to unique differences of individuals that participate in a workplace setting. The nurse managers are in a strategic spot to indentify both the advantages and disadvantages associated with workplace diversity. “Administrators should be cognizant of the challenges of dealing with minority faculty, allocate resources to allow them to join ethnic minority organizations that grant emotional support that is needed to persevere, to provide mentors to help steer them through the tenure process, review policies to ensure there is no negativity that will affect minorities and to assess the cultural climate of the institution in order to create an environment that embraces diversity.” (Beard and Volcy, 2013). Cultural competence Cultural competence is strongly linked to issues of diversity as cited by (Davis, 1998), The concept of cultural competence is related to the skills acquired for diversity management. As cited by Davis, notes that cultural competence skills are expressions of integrated knowledge that demonstrate domains of cognitive, affective and psychomotor abilities. There are several components of cultural competence which include cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural encounters and cultural sensitivity. There are different variables regarding the concept of diversity. These include ethnicity, multiculturalism, racism and gender differences. Nursing still lags behind many other professions in terms of diversity, but it is uniquely positioned to play a more dynamic role in a nation with steadily increasing racial and ethnic diversity (Beard and Volcey, 2013). In the 1990's the United States was a more culturally diverse society. As cited by (Davis, 1998) the 1990 United States Census Bureau recorded that minority ethnic groups accounted for over 20% of the total U.S. population, ethnic minorities will make up 26% of the total work force by the year 2000. Because of the diverse cultural diversity in the United States, nurse managers need to be culturally competent in the workplace. Job satisfaction Studies have been conducted on variables of nurses’ job satisfaction. These include job involvement, job characteristics, social support, stress, and burnout and the purpose of staying or leaving the workplace. Nurse managers are in a place to inspect cultural competence and cultural workplace diversity. These are directly related to their job satisfaction. It has been observed that black faculty is more likely to encounter challenges and stressors that can include salary, promotion inequities, implicit and explicit discrimination, having to always prove ones merit and credibility and encountering bias from predominately white students. (Beard and Volcy, 2013).

References
Beard, K. V.-B.-C.-B., & Volcy, K. M.-B. (2013). Increasing Minority Representation in Nursing. AJN, American Journal of Nursing, 113(2), 11. doi:10.1097/01.NAJ.0000426668.44751.f8
Davis, S. (1998). The relationships among nurse managers' perceptions of workplace diversity, cultural competence and job satisfactionmong nurse managers' perceptions of workplace diversity. 89. San Francisco, California, United States. Retrieved 3 2013, from http:// search.proquest.com/docview/304416539?accountid=14872.