Importance Of Unity And Diversity

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Organizational leaders are today faced with many challenges. One of their key challenges arises from the countervailing values of organizational unity and diversity. How should today's organizational leaders deal with simultaneous calls for unity and diversity? What is the nature of the unity and diversity being demanded? Is this situation an intractable problem that should be ignored, or a two-headed opportunity to be welcomed? What role should leaders play in serving these two mandates? This article seeks to address these questions. The nature of unity and of diversity is examined in the first sections. The article then focuses on some of the major challenges to be overcome in addressing these two countervailing values. The notions of "leadership" and "leading" are explained and examined as possible responses to these simultaneous calls. A specific role for leaders who choose to pursue organizational success in merging the values of unity and diversity is presented. Recently, theorists and practitioners have begun to appreciate the need for human diversity in organizations. Theorists have most frequently related the concept of diversity to the separation of functions resident …show more content…
In today's societal climate there is a tendency to limit the discussion of diversity to issues of race, ethnicity or gender . While these differences are important, diversity is more than affirmative action, equality of employment opportunity, multiculturalism and plurality revisited. Human diversity should always include the human differences, individual distinctiveness and uniqueness of all persons. These categories of human diversity - which include differences in history, experience, knowledge, imagination, personality, intelligence, talent, ability, perspective, insight, gender, class, community, society and culture, - should be tapped to further the organization's

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