Ability to Create a Diverse Team Is a Priority for Leaders Essay

Ability to Create a Diverse Team Is a Priority for Leaders - Essay Example Nowadays, a number of organizations and leaders have proposed that a diverse workforce is not essentially an ethical imperative, rather it is a source of competitive advantage. The reasons include the fact that a diverse workforce facilitates to serve different clients through effective communication and it can also generate better ideas and possible solutions to certain issues. Due to this reason, leaders must have the ability to bring together people from different families, disciplines, cultures, and groups and accordingly leverage every aspect of diversity (Kramar & Syed, 2012). According to Mullins (2010), diversity incorporates differences between employees. The difference can be in terms of ethnic origin, gender, family background, cultural background and education among others. In accordance with the research of Ibarra & Hansen (2011), a workforce which consists of individuals from different backgrounds can cause better productivity in comparison with those workforces which a re not diverse. Diverse teams have different thoughts and viewpoints as they arrive from different backgrounds. As a result, it facilitates to create innovative ideas. Thus, managing a diverse team is considered to be the most important skill for any industry. The management of a diverse workforce comprises the implementation of approaches by which varied employees are combined into a dynamic workforce. However, an assertive and strong leadership is essential in order to manage this kind of workforce. In an actual situation, appreciating diversity is quite simple to say, but quite hard to implement. Diverse workforce if not managed properly can generate conflicts among the team members. The different viewpoints and perspectives frequently generate confusion for the diverse workforce. Ultimately, disagreements can possibly give birth to the unproductive work environment and hinder the progression of organizational operations. Besides, unfamiliarity among diverse employees owing to di fferent values can have a negative impact on overall team morale, hindering organizational productivity. A diverse workforce also makes the decision-making process lengthier, because of diverging opinions, resulting in delayed reaction (Cronin and Weingart 2007). Conversely, a diverse workforce has several benefits and one of the most important benefits of diversity in innovation. Managers or leaders can use diversity by inspiring ‘outside-the-box’ thinking that can result in new discoveries. Furthermore, through a diverse workforce, managers can also realize the requirements of diverse customers. Hence, it enhances the marketing ability of organizations. A diverse workforce can enable derive access to a comprehensive talent pool. As a result, organizations will be in a better position of providing a variety of services to suit specific consumer groups. Thus, diversity is stated as the only way to satisfy the requirements of diverse customers (Barnett & McCormick, 2012) . Nevertheless, in order to be effective, the leaders of the diverse workforce must recognize the employees’ individuality. It would help to reveal the strengths and limitations of employees and also assist leaders to know the place in which an employee belongs within the organization. Managing a diverse workforce does not signify that leaders encourage their own values and alter the value of the workforce to match them. For managing a diverse workforce, leaders require greater emotional aptitude, allowing them to observe a business condition from different viewpoints (Shin, Kim, Lee, & Bian, 2012).  

Defence Diplomacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Defence Diplomacy - Essay Example Prior to doing so, however, it is necessary to commence with a definition of the terms, such as would frame our understanding of it componential elements and implications: "To provide forces to meet the varied activities undertaken by the MOD to dispel hostility, build and maintain trust and assist in the development of democratically accountable armed forces, thereby making a significant contribution to conflict prevention and resolution."1 In accordance with the above cited definition, the importance of Defence Diplomacy within the context of international and inter-state relations may be affirmed. Quite simply stated, the exigencies of defence diplomacy emanate from the fact that it serves both to solidify inter-state defence relations and, in optimal situations, for the negation of nascent military/security threats. As Aldrich (1994) contends the very nature of the twentieth century as the bloodiest and most violent the world had ever witnessed, led to the evolution of defence diplomacy. World War I, followed just two decades later by World War II, left millions dead, cities and countries destroyed, economies shattered and civilisations in ruin. The horrors of these two wars, not to mention their cost, underscored the importance of diplomacy as a preventative strategy and defence diplomacy as a national security imperative. In other words, defence diplomacy is the by-product of incalculably violent and insupportable, protracted warfare. Within the context of the aforementioned, diplomatic missions proliferated and assumed reciprocal, voluntary form. These mission came to embrace a military, more specifically, a defence purpose and as such, the spread of diplomatic missions implied the parallel proliferation of defence attaches offices. These offices, representing a country's military, its Armed Forces abroad, soon evolved into an integral component, not just of military defence but, of Military Intelligent Services. As such, they did not simply function as the purveyors of defence and military-related information but acted in such a way so as to maintain national security interests and to fortify the represented state's international military alliances. The importance of Defence Diplomacy and, by association, the institution of the Defence Attach, continued to expand from inception onwards. On the international level, the Cold War most certainly established and promoted the importance of the said institution. The value of the said institution directly derived from the importance of national defence and national security interests and, accordingly, within the context of an ever connected and interrelated world, has increased. Within the geographic parameters of the Arab Middle East, Defence Diplomacy assumed unique importance. As recent events, if not those of the past five decades, have illustrated, the region is subject to numerous threats, many of which have the potential to function as regime destabilisers. The implication here is that, just as did other countries and regions, Arab nations recognised the exigencies of Defence Diplomacy and accordingly, ensured the evolution of the institution of the Defence Attach within the context of the Military Intelligence Directorate. In so doing, Arab nations effectively expanded the range of the mechanisms and instruments they deployed for