Globalization and Diversity, Essay Example

In my grandfather’s time, globalization was a foreign term that most people never even thought of or saw the effects.  The government was working on implementing legislation to protect domestic economies from imports, but that was the most that globalization ever had an impact on economy in my grandfather’s time.  Today, globalization has led to massive domestic unemployment through outsourcing.  The development of an international marketplace has forced American companies to cut costs dramatically to compete with companies in different foreign economies with different laws and business rules to follow.  “The skilful, intense lobbying effort that has accompanied economic globalisation has been effective in instilling and reinforcing a feeling of powerlessness … a belief that ‘there is nothing we can do’” (Cruishank, 1997, p. 5).  The continuous looming threat of bankruptcy due to the inability of companies to compete in a globalized marketplace or even the threat of outsourcing for domestic workers have created a sense of powerlessness for some people.  Many businesses go out of business and this is a threat that I experience as a manager every single year.

When my grandfather was working, diversity was considered mostly an issue that involved segregation of blacks and whites as well as a restriction of women’s rights in the workplace.  Clearly, diversity is not simply a gender or racial issue, although they are key components of the historical fight for equal rights and social productivity in the United States.  According to Secretary Gale Norton of the Department of Interior, “America is a stronger nation because of the diversity of its people. It is the many different views and perspectives held by these diverse groups that bring creativity and innovation to our nation and our Department” (DOI.gov, 2005).  Today, the United States works with a different sense of diversity in which peoples of all races, religions, ethnicities, genders and handicaps all have equal rights.  This accumulation of different peoples with different views have different ways of thinking, multiple points-of-view for the organization, and can be very effective in the workplace if they can all learn to work together.  Such advantages within the workplace would include higher profit sharing, the ability for the company to engage in more diverse marketing and sales, and the diverse workforce may be able to communicate with individuals globally that do not speak English as a native language.  Each of these advantages increases the client or customer-base and also increases profits more so than could ever have been accomplished several decades ago.

References

Cruishank, J. (1997). Economic globalization: Implications for university extension practice in Canada. Studies in the Education of Adults, 29(1), 2-11.

DOI.gov. (2005).  Strategic plan for achieving and maintaining a highly skilled and diverse workforce. Retrieved from http://www.doi.gov/diversity/strategicplan%20FY05.pdf