Team D: Week 5 Reflection
MGT/311
May 6, 2012

During week 5 we learned about managing diversity and methods to manage organizational change. Managing diversity is important now that the workforce is more diverse. We have to look at people differently than managers of the past. The two things we have to consider are demographic characteristics and biological characteristics. Since everyone has something to offer in the workplace, we should take the time to get to know our employees skills and use them to make the company run as well as possible using each person’s skills because then everyone gets to display his or her talents. The surface characteristics like age, race, religion, gender, and physical appearance are no longer the focus of management now that the workforce is so diverse. Since none of the surface characteristics are used to determine who would best work with whom, employee skills, talents, and knowledge are what need to be taken into consideration. These are the important traits and the deciding factors of who will work well together within the workplace to be the most productive and efficient. It is important, however, to constantly be aware of how employees are working together so that they can be reevaluated on a regular basis and rotated into different groups with other similar-minded employees when necessary. Innovation is best when it comes from fresh minds. Doing so is a good way to ensure new and innovative ideas from years to come within a business.
A business looks at two levels of diversity, surface-level diversity and deep-level diversity (Robbins & Judge, 2011, p.41). We learned about these two diversities form our readings on how a business manages the different people. Just because two people seem to be a match on the outside surface, the company has to look deeper to reveal each person’s true personalities. The