https://padlet.com/jmmcclary/5fr4uj2kcqdg Diversity in the workplace adds many benefits to an organization en-us 2017-05-05 02:15:39 UTC 2017-05-13 03:19:29 UTC hello@padlet.com jmmcclary https://padlet.com/jmmcclary/5fr4uj2kcqdg/wish/170091310 Objective - Evaluate homogeneity and separation of organizational functions. 

Relationship to Objective - This article by Kevin Johnston talks about the advantages of a homogeneous workforce

Specific relationship to objective - Johnston not only talks about the advantages of a homogeneous workforce, but also goes into the two pre-dominant culture types (indiviual and collective) and their advantages to the workforce. It opines that if a manager has a largely individualistic workforce, they should gear their organizational style towards tasking out assignments that employees can work alone on, whereas an owner with a largely collectivist workforce should provide more group-oriented goals. It can be to good to have a blend of these two styles as not all tasks will be solo or strictly group-oriented.

Real Life Experience - In my role as a financial analyst, I am assisting with two major projects. One is to clean up our backlog of older case material that has been left behind by other analysts. I am working on this with another person. It is helpful to work on this together, because not only is there a lot of work involved, but there are different categories of work that are independent of each other. Instead of having one person work all of one category, then another, then another, multiple categories can be worked at once to complete the project quicker. In another project, we are working to automate tasks through the use of macros. This makes more sense to do as an individual project as lines of code are needed to complete the macro and a group effort may result in conflicts.]]> 2017-05-05 03:12:29 UTC https://padlet.com/jmmcclary/5fr4uj2kcqdg/wish/170091310 jmmcclary https://padlet.com/jmmcclary/5fr4uj2kcqdg/wish/170285093 Objective - Analyze how diversification and globalization have impacted the 21st century organization and society. 

Relationship to Objective - This scholarly journal article by Kabir Danja discusses the troubles Nigeria has faced in adapting a globalized approach to their economy.

Specific relationship to objective - Danja states that Nigeria had an economy on the rise due to their six main agricultural products (cocoa, rubber, palm oil, groundnut, cotton, and palm kernel). They were making large amounts of money exporting produce and raw materials. In the 70s, though, they started exporting more of the petrol from their fields and, due to the price of oil quadrupling in the world market, they shifted focus to petrol instead of their cash products. The government used their newfound funds to expand on distribution methods instead of capacity to produce their crops and petrol. Petroleum became such a large part of their exports (89.1% of their national exports) that they are now completely dependent on oil production. Had they continued slow expansion with their crops or used the petrol money to increase their ability to distribute these crops, their economy could have become more stable.

Real Life Experience - My company, CVS Health, has been expanding into different markets globally for some time. In 2012, they acquired an 80% stake in Onofre, a Brazilian pharmacy chain. They have taken many steps towards expanding nationally, such as merging with Target last year, but moves that expand beyond the American borders bring in previously untapped market potential.]]> 2017-05-06 03:11:38 UTC https://padlet.com/jmmcclary/5fr4uj2kcqdg/wish/170285093 jmmcclary https://padlet.com/jmmcclary/5fr4uj2kcqdg/wish/170285473 Objective - Discuss how “others” may be treated in an organization. 

Relationship to Objective - In this Harvard Business Review article, the three authors discuss the impact of diversity programs in the workplace.

Specific relationship to objective - The three authors, Tessa Dover, Brenda Major, and Cheryl Kaiser, discuss the fact that US companies spend millions on diversity programs, but the actual impact of these programs isn't very powerful. In fact, the presence of diversity programs may actually be used as a shield that allows companies to be less open to "others" and more disrespectful. A specific example shows that Walmart  used the presence of its policy to defend itself to the Supreme Court against gender discrimination allegations. The programs also have an adverse affect. White men not only feel that women and minorities are treated better in companies that have diversity programs, but white men also feel they themselves are being treated unfairly. White men that interviewed for jobs at companies that mentioned diversity expected unfair treatment.

Real Life Experience - You can somewhat see this affect with the election results. The Democratic Party took major steps towards securing minority and female votes, but did not have any policies geared towards white males. President Trump was successful because he appealed to working class white males that already had a fear of unfair treatment based on there being specific programs for minorities and women, but nothing specifically laid out for them.]]> 2017-05-06 03:23:12 UTC https://padlet.com/jmmcclary/5fr4uj2kcqdg/wish/170285473 jmmcclary https://padlet.com/jmmcclary/5fr4uj2kcqdg/wish/170338051 Objective - Determine the impact of innovation. 

Relationship to Objective - In this scholarly article by Eleanor Glor, Glor discusses the impact of innovation and whether it can actually be determined.

Specific relationship to objective - Glor determined that there are four kinds of research needed to determine the impact of innovation on organizations. These are case studies, impact studies, quantitative studies of relationships between innovations and organizational factors, and demographic studies. The impact of innovation, though, cannot be determined based on the findings tied to one specific organization, though. One needs to assess multiple organizations to establish decisive relationships. 

Real Life Experience - At CVS Health, we have implemented the usage of Excel Macros and VBA to automate some of our tasks. This has done wonders for productivity in our department, but that doesn't mean that the usage of these systems would have the same effect in other companies. If other companies either don't rely on Excel for their data tracking or use programs that don't work with Excel, this implementation would not accomplish the same innovative productivity boosting that it has for our company.]]> 2017-05-07 03:49:22 UTC https://padlet.com/jmmcclary/5fr4uj2kcqdg/wish/170338051 jmmcclary https://padlet.com/jmmcclary/5fr4uj2kcqdg/wish/170338201 Objective - Discuss the term “culture” and ways to increase cultural understanding.

Relationship to Objective - In this article for Fast Company, John Traphagan discusses ways to improve cultural awareness at work.

Specific relationship to objective - Traphagan identifies that the issue with culture in the workplace is that we don't recognize the influence of culture on our own behavior. Because culture is ingrained within us, it is difficult to think about whether the things that we consider normal are actually offensive to others based on their cultural beliefs. In order to improve cultural awareness, the two important steps are to analyze ourselves and others carefully. When faced with behaviors that annoy us, we can listen for cues that can help us deal with others. We can also observe cultural patterns in others to help learn how to act and react to their behaviors.

Real Life Experience - CVS Health actually has a pretty diverse workforce. We have a large amount of Muslim workers on the finance team. One day, I was running a little behind, so, in keeping with office protocol, I brought in donuts for the team. I went around offering everyone a donut, including a Muslim coworker. He said he didn't want one, so I said they would be at my desk if he changed his mind. I forgot that it was Ramadan, so he was in the middle of a religious fast. By offering the food, I was unknowingly making his religious practice more difficult. I have since learned to be mindful of this time of the year and to avoid these uncomfortable situations.]]> 2017-05-07 03:57:23 UTC https://padlet.com/jmmcclary/5fr4uj2kcqdg/wish/170338201