The Importance Of Diversity In The United States Army

I think if this country has any unifying forces at all today, it would be diversity, though in some cases it could turn out to cause disunity rather than unity. I think diversity is a unifying force because it enables us learn and grow through the collaboration of working with people who may think different from you or may have different methods for doing things. Another unifying force I think is present in America today is innovation in the newest technology, or what was known as the Enlightenment in the mid-18th century. As new immigrants move in, they also bring their talents and creative abilities. Through cooperation with Americans here, more is discovered and developed.

Since its inception America has been coined the “melting pot,” a term that’s intended to encase pride over the vast amount of diversity contained within our country. That pride, however, is nothing more than an idealization of the truth. America is a country of great diversity, but its pride and acceptance of that diversity relies on a contingent tolerance. Diversity is a wide term that can refer to a number of different groups and in this context it is referring to groups of minorities in America, particularly the LGBT community. Perhaps, the best illustration of this harmful treatment can be found in the media, specifically in the form of television.

Northrop Grumman has published a Corporate Responsibility Report on an annual basis since 2007, highlighting its goals and accomplishments in diversity and inclusion. Their 2015 goals included creating an inclusive environment through awareness and leadership training and increasing women and people of color in leadership roles. In response to their goals, Northrop Grumman redeveloped their employee survey used to measure Northrop Grumman’s efforts at creating an engaging and inclusive environment. The results provided managers insight into more effective ways to address diversity and inclusion among their immediate reports. Future generations have not been overlooked in Northrop Grumman’s diversity goals.

Influential leaders balance the long-term needs of the Army, the near-term and career needs of their subordinates, and the immediate needs of their unit's mission (1). The Army Leader Development Strategy states that "successful leaders recognize that continually developing their subordinate leaders is the key to the long-term health of the Army" (5). [1] The Army intends to develop its soldiers in the operational, institutional, and personal domains (2). These domains allow individual soldiers to control their career development with the guidance of their chain of command and the Army progressively and sequentially. The fundamental truth is that soldiers accomplish tasks because they do not want to let each other down (1).

The United States military was the first organization to end segregation and integrate, with the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps being the first two to fully integrate they became the shining example that the American population should have followed. What caused the Army and Marine Corps to become the first to integrate is because of the way there are both structured and controlled. The military is an organization that if rules are not followed then people are either kicked out, put in jail, or possibly even killed. When joining the military one gives up a certain amount of freedoms that allow the machine to work properly, and with the loss of freedoms comes a command structure that demands orders be followed with no questions asked. With

The connection between the Army culture and the Army ethic begins with highlighting that the profession of arms is not just an individual mandate but also an institutional one. We cannot expect the Army ethic and culture to resonate among all soldiers unless it is echoed at all echelons across the Army. The culture suggested has different levels which include artifacts, surface level things that can be “seen, heard, and felt”, espoused beliefs and values, or what the Army thinks is important based on doctrine, regulations, and policy, and the basic underlying assumptions. Based on the underlying assumptions, we can then gain functionality by deriving “…major cultural dimensions.” (Army, 2010, p. 10)

Organizational diversity is a concept where an institution upholds diverse values owing to the differences in race, experiences and religion, among others. The composition of people from different backgrounds constitutes diversity. In the contemporary society, institutions are required to respect and nurture diversity. Diversity helps in bringing exchanges between people with varying experiences and backgrounds. As such, it results in positive benefits that enable the society to live harmoniously.

Human Resources Sergeant in the Profession of Arms Commanding General, General Martin Dempsey asked a central question that frames the major challenges the Army’s leaders’ face. He asked, “How do we create the specific conditions for, and achieve those key attributes that ensure that the Army is a profession – one in which all Army professionals recommit to a culture of service and the responsibilities and behaviors of our profession as articulated in the Army Ethic?”. As Professional Soldiers, we exhibit traits that reflect that of what it means to be a Profession of Arms. It wasn’t until post-Vietnam when the Noncommissioned Officer Corps was truly recognized as professionals. Throughout the years with post-wars, the traits of being a professional has exhibited more so in today’s operating forces after nine years of war.

As a military training instructor, I had the privilege to train young men and women from all over the world. According to Kinicki, Fugate (2016), diversity pertains to our individual differences that make us unique. Generally, the airman I trained put aside their differences and start working together immediately if they wanted to graduate from basic military training. Furthermore, I told them why it was important to work together, I rarely had a problem in my dorm. “There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification” (1 Corinthians 14:10, KJV).

This means we must communicate clearly and consistently with each other, train together, trust each other, and allow for Soldiers to be human every so often. As leaders, we often forget the challenges we faced as junior professionals, and we also don’t always know what is going on with the commands or Soldiers we support that may be making mission accomplishment challenging. The culture we instill within our Human Resources operations can either contribute to a climate of teamwork and taking care of Soldiers, or it can contribute to toxic leadership. It is up to us, as Human Resources Sergeants, to embody the Army Ethic, which consists of “the moral values, principles and martial virtues embedded in its culture that inspire and regulate ethical behavior by both Soldiers and the U.S. Army in the application of land combat in defense of and service to the Nation.” (The Profession of Arms, 2010) We must be the example for and instill confidence in our leadership, our peers, our subordinates, and our customers, the Soldiers.

Studies have been conducted to determine the effects of diversity in healthcare administration. Diverse leadership is associated with improved patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes, reaching strategic goals, and successful decision making. The individuals who responded believed that minority leadership gaps could be closed with positive diversity gaps and giving equal consideration for leadership positions to all applicants. In addition, although diverse candidates for healthcare leadership have grown over the past few years, respondents did not see the same growth in their respective organizations. (Witt/Kieffer, 2011) Diversity leadership is important in healthcare organizations as it will lead to numerous benefits.

These numbers are reflected in the enlisted side of military personnel. On the other end of the spectrum, officer appointed positions seem to lack the diversity apparent in their enlisted counterparts. For lower level officer positions, minorities only contribute 22 percent of the personnel. For the highest level of leadership within the officer ranks, only 10 percent of those are minorities (Demographics, 2014). Despite the lack of diversity within the highest levels of leadership, the vast diversity within the enlisted ranks of leadership has been successful in establishing and conducting cultural awareness and diversity training.

Hello Clara, in the first sentence, do you believe that diversity makes America stronger? Or just the overall highly populated land is what makes America strong? But, I agree, the political structure does become different once immigrants start becoming citizens and begin voting. Since we have individuals immigrating from Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, etc. They all have experienced a different background, so they are all seeking a different form of freedom or opportunities.

If Shell decided to keep the no diversity policy in the TMT despite all the efforts to encourage diversity mindset of the managers, to promote supportive environments and to provide guidelines for hiring and promotions, minority employees would start to lose confidence in the D&I initiatives seeing that there was still a barrier between them and positions in the upper echelon. Voser, however, might be able to defend his choice of the composition of TMT that there were not enough qualified managers with minority status at the senior level (Sucher & Corsi, 2012, p. 11). Nonetheless, since Shell had been promoting the D&I projects for quite a long time, in the long run, the employees’ confidence would depend on the composition of the TMT, which theoretically should reflect the more diverse pool of the TMT

INTRODUCTION This assignment will focus on explaining the importance of diversity management, challenges of management diversity, give strategies and implementation of management diversity in the workplace. A diverse workforce is a reflection of a changing world and marketplace. Diverse work teams bring high value to organizations. Respecting individual differences will benefit the workplace by creating a competitive edge and increasing work productivity.