Dec 21, 2009
Human Motivation And Diversity
Many of the long-established theories of human motivation point towards creating an environment where people feel valued and are recognised. In reality, many organisations (and in sharp contrast to their equality policies) operate a practice of organisational assimilation where everyone is encouraged to do what everyone else does.
This is often typified within induction programmes where new starters (a minority group) are shown how to become members of the majority group. Fit in or get out is the unspoken yet underlying message.
While of course, all organisations must have procedures, rules and regulations, otherwise organisational anarchy would prevail, this organisational assimilation is often completely at odds with the aspirations of many managers. How often does a manager ” particularly in times of crises, express a desire for more initiative, different thinking or creativity within their teams? In our experience the answer is often, yet those very same qualities, rather paradoxically, often get either suppressed or lost somewhere along the way.
Feeling included is an important measure
If you had a personal characteristic that was different to that of the majority group within your workplace, would it be important to you that this difference was recognised, understood and embraced? And if your difference was not embraced and you felt excluded what would you do? (Your options would actually be surprisingly limited in these circumstances.)
For example, would you exercise your right to leave the organisation in question? Complain? Or to stay in the hope that things might improve? All these options could have potential negative consequences to the wellbeing of both the organisation and person in question. Feeling excluded or left out at work has proven negative effects on personal wellbeing and consequential performance at work. The manifestations of these include sickness absence, productivity, leaving employment etc.
From an organisational perspective, labour turnover, productivity, absence rates and organisational reputation are hugely important issues. For the it must be capable of being measured to matter brigade, try mentioning the costs of sickness absence or labour turnover as a persuasive argument.
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