Diversity in Organization

Reflective Video Write-up Submission by Group B2 – Section 1

Diversity is essential for an organization. It is important for leaders and managers to not
discriminate against employees based on their age, gender, caste, religion, etc., and to
accept people with different talents and expertise. Today many companies are welcoming
this fact and making the workplace a suitable environment for each person to grow and
flourish.
However, people can unknowingly perform actions that may influence a person’s motivation
and satisfaction with work. Our reflective video showcases how managers unconsciously
discriminate against their employees and how this inversely affects the output of the
organization. This phenomenon of unconscious bias can be seen and sometimes it may
hamper an employee’s performance. 
 
 
Background:

The story is about individuals in an organization who belong to diverse backgrounds and
who are discriminated against for their differences. The characters in this story include
Shabari, who is a young female employee in her early twenties working in a male-dominated
environment. Harsh is a sincere employee who works diligently for the organization. He is
differently abled. Dev is a twenty-seven-year-old employee from Chennai who is an expert
in Data Analytics. Vikram is a senior manager in the story and Ved is the CEO of the
company. This video depicts various scenarios in which Shabari, Dev, and Harsh get treated
unfairly due to the biases that exist in the minds of Ved and Anujay towards them. It also
depicts the negative impact of such discrimination on the individuals as well as the
organization. We can also see how a shift in the behaviour towards these people makes an
enormous difference in the work environment and the performance of the company.

Situational Analysis:

The video starts with the employees walking in the elevator at the end of their work day
expressing dissatisfaction and frustration. The video then unfolds as to what these people
experienced at work on that day. The first scene is in the conference room wherein ideas
are being discussed about the launch of a new product. The meeting is between the CEO
and two other employees among whom Shabari was the only woman. Ved, the CEO of the
company belittles Shabari by talking over her. Even though she puts forward well-grounded
inputs, her ideas are overlooked by all of them. This is a prime example of gender bias. Even
though men and women do not have major differences in their job performance, women
are consistently discriminated against and underrepresented in the workplace. This type of
discrimination not just occurs during hiring decisions but also persists while assigning tasks
and also while choosing a leader. Studies have reflected that women are effective leaders in
organizations but there is a lack of representation and opportunities for them. Along with
this discrimination also exists in the form of differences in salaries, promotions, and
bonuses. 

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The next scene portrays discrimination against Harsh who is a differently abled person.
Harsh is a good employee who has always performed the tasks given to him with sincerity
but when a challenging task has to be allotted Harsh gets denied the opportunity to work for
it because Anujay, his boss has a preconceived notion that Harsh will be incapable of
performing the task due to his physical disability. This is a clear representation of
discrimination against the disabled workforce. Although on the face of it this might be like
an employer being considerate of his employee’s condition, there is indirect discrimination
as a worthy employee is being vetoed of an opportunity that he was well capable of
performing. Multiple policies have been formulated to protect the rights of these people. In
India “The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016” serves the same purpose.
According to it, all disabled employees have the right to equality and non-discrimination: it
is unlawful to discriminate against a person on the grounds of his or her disability unless it
can be proved that discrimination is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
Such frameworks play a key role in empowering people with disabilities and upholding
equality in the workplace.

In the third scene, there is a discussion about a new client who requires a data analyst to
work on a project. The two people who are considered for the project are Dev and Anujay.
Although Dev is better at Data Analytics than Anujay, he does not get the project since Ved
felt that people from South India are bizarre. Here we can see that Ved is stereotyping the
people of a certain geographical region. This is also a form of discrimination that involves
treating people from a certain location or origin unfavourably. The underlying cause of such
discrimination could be stereotype bias.

In the above scenes, discrimination against various people of various diversities in an

organization was depicted. The outcome of such unfairness was common in all these
instances. We can see that the sales of the new product did not kick-off. The task given to an
incompetent employee instead of an intelligent employee like Harsh resulted in a waste of
time. In the third situation, Anujay was incapable of delivering the task up to the
expectations of the client. In all of these circumstances, we can see that there was a
negative impact on the organization due to the discrimination against these people. 
In the next few scenes, we witness a switch in the behaviour toward these people. There is
inclusion and acceptance which results in a positive work environment which in turn results
in a better performance of the company as a whole. 

Conclusion: 

This video was a representation of individuals belonging to three diverse backgrounds which
included gender diversity, the person with a disability, and cultural/geographical diversity in
a workplace. Along with these diversities exist in the form of demographic characteristics,
age, race and ethnicity, tenure, religion, sexual orientation, cultures, ideologies,
personalities, and faiths. We also represented the impact of biases against these employees
on the organization. It is important to acknowledge that inclusion in a workplace makes
diversity work. It also leads to improved engagement and decision-making. It aids every
employee to move closer to their highest level of performance. 

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The story ends in the same place it started but this time there is an element of happiness
and fulfilment in the employees which is the embodiment of improved work culture. They
are not just satisfied with the way their day went but have also found a new sense of
harmony among each other. 
The best way the world works is with everybody in, nobody out. Differences should not just
be celebrated but should be made essential. 

Humanity is not singular, it’s plural!