In this class we learned the importance of understanding and knowing the diversity in our planet. We saw concepts like:
* Multiculturalism: the ideology of including people of diverse cultural and religious backgrounds
* Diversity (politics): the political and social policy of encouraging tolerance for people of different backgrounds.
* Diversity (business): the business tactic which encourages diversity to better serve a heterogeneous customer base.
We also talked about some of the theories of diversity:
1. The Access and Legitimacy Paradigm: Implementing diversity for gaining market share.
2. Discrimination and Fairness Paradigm: Treating and seeing everyone equally.
“Everyone should practice sensitivity, accept new ideas and practice inclussion. All in order to create a good environment that works for you and for the society” (1)
Is it clear for employees the meaning an importance of Diversity?
Many employees of most companies understand that diversity is a priority, something really important, but they don’t really know the meaning of it.
“Eric Ellis, president and CEO of Integrity Development, a consulting firm, says he sees a direct correlation between companies lacking a diversity definition and those that haven't established a strategic plan for developing a culture of inclusion. Having neither plan nor definition can prevent companies from leveraging the talents already available to them in their employee base.” (2)
The bigger the company, the better their understanding of diversity and its importance, maybe because they have more opportunities to interact with different people that those on small companies, and also because in big companies the government gives more politics norms that they have to implement in their daily basics, like programs for diverse leadership, programs for sexuality, between others... For small companies these norms are not punished or obligatory even do they should be and would benefit them.
* Multiculturalism: the ideology of including people of diverse cultural and religious backgrounds
* Diversity (politics): the political and social policy of encouraging tolerance for people of different backgrounds.
* Diversity (business): the business tactic which encourages diversity to better serve a heterogeneous customer base.
We also talked about some of the theories of diversity:
1. The Access and Legitimacy Paradigm: Implementing diversity for gaining market share.
2. Discrimination and Fairness Paradigm: Treating and seeing everyone equally.
“Everyone should practice sensitivity, accept new ideas and practice inclussion. All in order to create a good environment that works for you and for the society” (1)
Is it clear for employees the meaning an importance of Diversity?
Many employees of most companies understand that diversity is a priority, something really important, but they don’t really know the meaning of it.
“Eric Ellis, president and CEO of Integrity Development, a consulting firm, says he sees a direct correlation between companies lacking a diversity definition and those that haven't established a strategic plan for developing a culture of inclusion. Having neither plan nor definition can prevent companies from leveraging the talents already available to them in their employee base.” (2)
The bigger the company, the better their understanding of diversity and its importance, maybe because they have more opportunities to interact with different people that those on small companies, and also because in big companies the government gives more politics norms that they have to implement in their daily basics, like programs for diverse leadership, programs for sexuality, between others... For small companies these norms are not punished or obligatory even do they should be and would benefit them.
QUESTIONS ABOUT CAMPUS
Describe your university’s faculty and administration in terms of its aspects of diversity and/or demographics.
In our University we can find teachers and all kind of employees from other cities in the country, but we don’t find as many teachers as we should from other countries.
We can find some teachers from other countries like Germany and Unites States, but almost all teachers are in the area of International Business teaching some classes or language. We know that in this carrier we need to know other cultures but it is also important that the rest of the University learn about them. In Eafit they try to bring other cultures in the classes with teachers that had taken courses in a foreign country, this is important because they live in another country while they take this courses this experience gives them a different perspective that they can bring to the classes, nevertheless I think it would be good to have more teachers from other countries, that have lived outside for several years because this different perspectives can help us to take difficult decisions and be more open minded to other peolples cultures and ways of thinking.
· Describe your university’s student body in terms of its aspects of diversity and/or demographics.
In the Student body we found a lot of diversity specially because Eafit has a lot of agreements with Universities from other countries so its easier for some people to come study here or for us to go study some place else.
This diversity give us the opportunity of spending some time with different cultures, that have different opinions and points of views that can make the learning experience richer.
We also have a lot of students from others regions of the country, and the differences between us are huge (from Medellin and from Monteria, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga etc). The cultures are very diverse from city to city and the interaction with them is also very good for our college experience.
· What are the similarities and differences between the two groups?
The language is one of the biggest differences. The students come to the University to learn different cultures and languages.
· What are the similarities and differences between the two groups?
The language is one of the biggest differences. The students come to the University to learn different cultures and languages.
They have a similarity and is the way of interacting with people from here. The students easily start to talk with other students, and if they don’t understand very well what you say you can use English to make understand yourself. The teacher knows Spanish so they can talk and interact with you and the professors very easily and people from Eafit try to make them feel welcome so they start to interact very quickly.
· How does the degree of diversity in the faculty affect your learning experience?
It is very affected, that’s why I consider there should be more diversity in the teachers because as I say before this can teach us a lot, see the things from a different point of view, they have different perspectives and can make us analyze even more our decisions, cases between others, besides we as students of international business need to know about other cultures, and eventhough we have exelent teachers it would be better to know more the cultures from a person from there or that have lived there for a long time.
Doing papers or any kind of work with a student from other part of the world can also help us to find creative solutions that satisfy both points of views.
· How does the degree of diversity in the student body affect the classroom experience, and extracurricular activities? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
I don’t see any disadvantage because this diversity doesn’t create any problems between the students or the student and the teachers it only gives advantages.
We learn how a simple thing that we do every day could have different meanings to other people. We learn the value of tolerance and patience to understand other people, their culture and values. We learn how with different points of view the thing can be solve in a much more creative and effective way. This is why this is an advantage, we only learn from it.
· What could be done in terms of diversity to enrich your college experience?
We have to be sure that we talk about diversity and its advantages in some courses, so people that may don’t understand the importance of it can take advantages of diversity.
The administrative department can give more tools to the student body to know all the exchange programs that we have with other countries so we know constantly the diverse opportunities of knowing different cultures and traveling. We also should have more activities like congress, courses etc that allow us (not only international business students) to know another cultures (ex: Asian Week)
· How does the degree of diversity in the faculty affect your learning experience?
It is very affected, that’s why I consider there should be more diversity in the teachers because as I say before this can teach us a lot, see the things from a different point of view, they have different perspectives and can make us analyze even more our decisions, cases between others, besides we as students of international business need to know about other cultures, and eventhough we have exelent teachers it would be better to know more the cultures from a person from there or that have lived there for a long time.
Doing papers or any kind of work with a student from other part of the world can also help us to find creative solutions that satisfy both points of views.
· How does the degree of diversity in the student body affect the classroom experience, and extracurricular activities? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
I don’t see any disadvantage because this diversity doesn’t create any problems between the students or the student and the teachers it only gives advantages.
We learn how a simple thing that we do every day could have different meanings to other people. We learn the value of tolerance and patience to understand other people, their culture and values. We learn how with different points of view the thing can be solve in a much more creative and effective way. This is why this is an advantage, we only learn from it.
· What could be done in terms of diversity to enrich your college experience?
We have to be sure that we talk about diversity and its advantages in some courses, so people that may don’t understand the importance of it can take advantages of diversity.
The administrative department can give more tools to the student body to know all the exchange programs that we have with other countries so we know constantly the diverse opportunities of knowing different cultures and traveling. We also should have more activities like congress, courses etc that allow us (not only international business students) to know another cultures (ex: Asian Week)
References
(2) Proquest. What does diversity mean for employees?. Renita Burns. Black Enterprise. New York: Dec 2008. Vol. 39, Iss. 5; p. 69
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