When we look at the construction of 1 Corinthians 12 we see the following theme: the spiritual unity of the body of Christ though the diversity of gifts. Verses 1-12 are a discussion of spiritual gifts. At verse 12 Paul introduces the idea of the body as an example of unity in diversity. The body is one, but is composed of many parts. The body of Christ, like the Spirit of Christ, is composed of diverse elements, and yet it is one in spite of its diversity. The unity of the body requires the cooperation of the parts, and at the same time the diverse parts cannot exist or function apart from their role in the unity of the body.

Note that the unity of the Spirit and the unity of the body are not something that Christians have to achieve. Christian unity is not an individual achievement, not a local church achievement, and not a denominational achievement. Christian unity, unity of the body of Christ, is a given. This unity or oneness already exists. It is a function of Jesus Christ. The unity of the church already exists among Christians and is manifested through the various gifts that God has given to His people, who are “empowered by one and the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:11). Paul is teaching about Christian unity here. It is an important lesson, but goes unrecognized for the most part.

Christian unity must be understood as it is manifested — in the diversity of gifts given to God’s people. At the heart of Paul’s discussion about unity and diversity is the doctrine of the Trinity. The essential question or issue of the Trinity is how something can be one and three, or one and many, at the same time. How can there be unity in the midst of diversity? And how can there be diversity in unity? Again, Paul uses the human body as an example of how it works. The human body is made up of various parts — hands, feet, eyes, ears, etc. There is a unity of the body and a diversity of its parts at the same time.

Most people aren’t concerned about such issues, but Christians are. Why? Because Paul is. And Paul raises this issue because it is of ultimate value. It really is important. But why is the doctrine of the Trinity important? What actual difference does it make?

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The difference that it makes has to do with the development of science and technology, and the role of science and technology regarding human life, among other things. At this point in human history people — the populations of the world — are dependent upon science and technology. Life as we know it could not exist without them. They are the foundation of our contemporary life support systems, i.e., food production, medicine and shelter.

It is significant that modern science and technology developed in the Christian West. They did not develop in India or China, both of which have very long histories. There was plenty of time for science and technology to develop in either India or China, but they did not. Why not? Why did they develop out of the Christian West? The short answer is that they developed out of the doctrine of the Trinity, and Christianity is the only religion or worldview that incorporates and advances such an explanation of God and of reality. And that is what the doctrine of the Trinity is — an explanation of God and reality that fits the facts.

A full explanation of exactly how the Trinity works is more difficult than simply stating it. For the most part the doctrine of the Trinity has been considered to be a mystery. And it is, but not because it is completely unknown. Rather, it is mysterious because it is both hard to explain and it is not completely understandable. Yet, in spite of this difficulty everyone uses the doctrine of the Trinity every day, and people have always relied upon it, though for the most part our reliance is at a subconscious level. It’s sort of like relying on air. We breathe it, but for the most part it goes unseen and unnoticed as we go about our daily lives. The reality of the Trinity is, like air, a common, fundamental condition of ordinary living. People assume it to be true yet rarely acknowledge it, much less consciously think about it. But without the reality of the Trinity, life as we know it would be impossible.

Philosophically, the doctrine of the Trinity answers the fundamental issue posed by Plato known as the one and the many. All human cultures in some way have to account for the myriad of objects and phenomena in the world. We have to make sense of the world in order to live in the world. And the use of science and technology require that we make a particular kind of sense of the world.

We live in a world of objects — things — that are constantly changing. Yet, in this world of objects and change, there seems to be an underlying unity and stability. There is a rational consistency in the way that the world works. For instance, every human being begins as an infant and then grows into an adult and dies. Adults are very different than infants in every regard — in fact, they are in many ways unrecognizable as being the same object. Yet we recognize that they are the same, that something has remained the same even though the infant has changed into something that is quite different from its original state. And if we trace human life back into the womb or forward into death, we see even more astonishing changes. Yet, in spite of the changes we recognize an enduring consistency, a unique individuality in the midst of change.

Or consider an acorn and an oak tree. They are completely different, yet we recognize that they share an essential identity over time. The one becomes the other such that the consistency between them is absolutely reliable. Something remains constant between these two very different things. And we see the same rational stability and constancy across the variety of objects that inhabit our world. While the world is full of diverse trees, there is still some constancy and stability to the idea of “treeness” which never seems to change.

This observation of the world of phenomena leads many cultures to believe that the diversity of things and their changes can ultimately be related back to a single thing, a unity or a oneness that remains constant in the midst of the flux of change. It is this constancy, this unity of individual things that gives them their identity. This concern is at the heart of the scientific endeavor and helps us to know how things in the world work. And the only philosophical resolution of this problem is found in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.

Christian Life Skills, Relationship Management, Conflict Resolutions Skills,Strengthening Marriages, Valuing Diversity in Marriage, Preventing Divorce

As things progressed the voices of individuals from the other many dimensions of diversity started to be heard and; now it is clearly acknowledged that we need to pay attention to employees from all of the dimensions Of diversity in order to craft out effective diversity strategies which lead organizations developing and maintaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

So what are these dimensions Of Diversity of which we speak? Well, there are many and here are some to consider:- thinking styles, language, ethnicity, religion, perspectives, experiences, nationality, job level, race, culture, skills, gender, physical abilities, sexual orientation, age and sex. These dimensions Of diversity lead to us acting in a particular fashion and carrying out our day to day work activities in our own particular style.

Each individual whilst acting within their particular style according to their view of the world have the basic needs of being appreciated and acknowledged. Their ideas of how a company should design and develop and product or service and; sell that product or service into the marketplace need to be incorporated into the decision making process. This is especially important when we bear in mind that the organization’s products and services are being sold into an ever increasing diverse marketplace.

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With the makeup of the typical management structures of today’s companies it is critical to have the structure and processes in place which ensure that effective career progression, recognition, acknowledgment and reward for all employees. The higher level management will need to go through relevant training and to fully embrace diversity with the lead of the human resources department.

The way this is implemented will of course differ from organization to organization but we may well see management spending time with individuals in order to understand the world from their point of view. This could take the form of one of meetings and/or social events. However I would advise a mentoring / mentee relationship which gives both parties a view into each others world.

It may be the case that a high level corporate manager comes from a middle class background, attended private schools and went straight through to a prestigious university and from there through various programs is managing as expected. And it must be said, is well equipped to do so. However, this individual may well have no real life experience of dealing with members of the community that are not like themselves so, when they are faced with dealing with individuals like this within the workplace they are left outside of their comfort zones.

In the same organization you may have some other well educated individuals from say the black and ethnic minority communities who is very talented however, the manager may not have life experience of dealing with this type of individual.

(The above is for illustration purposes only, we could use an example where the managers are strictly religious and have to deal with employees who are well capable and may be in a gay relationship this could cause the manager not to value that individual and in turn that individual’s career may not be progressed as it otherwise would have and the company ends up not running in the most efficient way)

The way this individual’s ideas, suggestions and opinions are processed due to the manager’s bias may lead to inefficient development and marketing strategies. These will all in turn lead onto the company not operating in an as efficient a manner as it otherwise would be if all of the quality ideas and suggestions were taken on board.

This illustrated some of my thought processes behind devising an effective diversity strategy in bringing together the management team, human resources and individuals from the differing dimensions of diversity in order to improve company efficiency and overall employee satisfaction as well as enhancing the company’s competitive advantage.

Say that you have employees and/or customers who speak English as a second language. Can you pronounce their names? Speak some common words or phrases in their native language? If the answer is yes, you are showing signs of embracing diversity.

For leaders, embracing diversity means they must do far more than merely accept the existence of diversity. To make diversity work, they must embrace it, and this starts by modeling good diversity skills, by showing respect and appreciation for the differences among the people they lead, and by helping others accept and value these differences.

Fundamentally, embracing diversity translates into showing respect for others and their differences. Tolerance for uncertainties (haziness) in language, styles and behavior, is at the top of a list created by William Sonnenschein, a diversity expert and author of “The Diversity Toolkit.”

So for the employer who has Latino customers and employees, as an example, it makes a significant difference when he or she is able to pronounce names and common words in Spanish. A friendly “Buenos Dias” makes a nice welcome in the morning as does “Buenos Tardes” in the afternoon and “Buenos Noches” in the evening. Using such phrases and pronouncing them correctly, represents a key step to embracing diversity. Learning a new language is also fun!

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Another important key is flexibility. When situations are new, difficult or challenging, do you show flexibility? Do you give your employees and customers added time and assistance for adjusting to change?

Self-awareness represents another point on Sonnenschein’s diversity embracement list. A person must understand his or her own reactions and know what they bring to the diverse workplace. Perhaps you like to wear expensive clothes; how do you feel about the employee who would rather dress comfortably than model your expensive image? What is important to you may not even be on the radar of your employee or customer. The whole world does not enjoy dressing formally – so are you being unfair in your evaluation of others who do not dress exactly like you do?

Empathy is another requirement. Are you capable of feeling what someone who is different from you might be feeling in new or strange surroundings? What about the new employee who comes to the XYZ Company from a country of extreme poverty. Will they truly feel welcome at a large cocktail party after their first day of work? Or overwhelmed? Or even frightened? Can you imagine how you would feel in their shoes?

How would a new mother returning to work after having a baby feel if she did not have an appropriate place to use a breast pump? Sound bizarre? Recently in Iowa, a company refused to allow a woman to use their “special” lactation room because she didn’t fill out a form that required three days notice to use such a facility.

The woman finally had to leave work (and quit) because of the physical pain she was in due to her employer’s insensitivity.

Are you patient? Some cultures (actually most) do not consist of Type A racers, requiring a manager’s adjustment if the working relationship is going to be successful.

A sense of humor tops off this list that comes from Sonnenschein’s book, “The Diversity Toolkit.” When we lose our sense of humor, we lose our sense of humanity, as well as our perspective.

But humor is tricky. Having a sense of humor certainly does not mean poking fun at someone because they are “different.” It does not mean mimicking someone’s accent or laughing behind their back. It does mean enjoying others and keeping in mind the ability to laugh at oneself can dispel tension.

Remember – showing respect, tolerance, flexibility, self-awareness, empathy, patience and humor – means that you are well on your way to embracing diversity.

This 30-minute documentary focuses on Permaculture and Organic Farming in South Africa and what it can do to transform society at a grass roots level, to create sustainable lives for individuals, communities and South Africa as a whole. The documentary aims to educate the youth of SA on the importance of food security and introduces a holistic approach to utilize our countries abundant, yet often neglected and ignored, natural resources and natural wealth. Our hope is to reawaken a culture of working the land that has been lost, and present common sense alternatives to complement the current development paradigm and mobilize the youth to create a new world. It is an informative yet entertaining piece, leaving the viewer motivated and aware of their positive potential and the resources available to all South Africans regardless of their background or location to empower themselves to a better life. It provides an introduction to the practices and attitudes of a particular approach to gardening and sustainability that is known as permaculture. The word permaculture is a combination of the words permanent and agriculture. Unpacking a set of practices and attitudes that make gardening or agriculture more permanent or sustainable and help to create wealth. It includes skills that are easy to learn and can make a big difference to everyones quality of life. Permaculture is an internationally successful proven approach to designing sustainable systems. Its adaptability and …
Video Rating: 5 / 5

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An important key is committing oneself to the lifelong practice of self-understanding and comprehending the diverse world around us. No matter how hard a person tries, we all have biases; we discriminate without even recognizing what we are doing.

William Sonnenschein, a noted diversity expert and author, suggests overcoming this tendency by “waking up tomorrow morning” and “try wondering what prejudice you will discover during the day, what assumption you will make that will be proven wrong, what bias will affect your day.”

By finding a daily bias, Sonnenschein believes a person will know they are continually working on self-awareness, show themselves they are self-aware enough to know they have biases, and are working at eliminating as many as possible.

As people work on self-awareness, they become aware of things that are happening around them and are able to intervene and taking on a leadership role.

What if a company leader who always views diversity in terms of numbers of employees, as Affirmative Action, attended a diversity workshop that included formation of problem-solving teams and observed that diverse teams actually did a better job solving problems than the vanilla teams?

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This experience could actually change the way this company leader sees diversity and what it could mean to his company. He may also recognize how his own blinders had held back his company’s progress.

This imaginary company leader might further recognize that change is needed at every level of the organization. As an initial step, he might create a diverse group to staff one of the company’s trouble areas – and if all goes well, the troubled area could turn around, showing a profit.

So how does one work on self-awareness, so as to be more aware of what is going on around them with respect to diversity? It starts by working on communication skills in relation to diversity. Sonnenschein has developed a diversity questionnaire to help increase self-awareness. Here are three sample questions:

- Do you recognize and challenge the perceptions, assumptions, and biases that affect your thinking?

If the answer is “almost always,” assign one point; “frequently,” 2 points; “sometimes,” 3 points; “seldom” 4 points and “almost never, “5 points.” Use the same scoring system for the next two questions:

- Do you think about the impact of what you say or how you act before you speak or act?

- Do you do everything you can to prevent the reinforcement of prejudices, including avoiding using negative stereotypes when you speak?

Sonnenschein includes seven more questions in this diversity questionnaire, part of his Diversity Toolkit (Contemporary Books, 1997). The lower the score, the better is one’s ability to communicate in a diverse organization and the community at large.

Here are three more diversity leadership tips:

1. Know your cultural identity and understand what that identity brings to your communication. This helps in communicating with others of differing cultural identities.

2. Ask others about yourself and listen to their answers. This helps in increasing self-awareness.

3. Examine your order or grading of values. This helps in understanding how you behave and communicate.

Effective manager are good leaders. They are responsible for creating a work environment in which the contributions of all people are recognized. For this to happen, managers must understand how to best use people’s differences so that their special attributes can be used to achieve company goals and objectives.

But it starts from within, from the manager’s self-awareness.

Related Valuing Diversity Articles

One best thing about Indian diversity is the motto to live peacefully, which has also helped India to gain its independence. This happened due to active participation from people of different religion, caste, creed and community thinking they are Indians first. As every coin has two faces, diversity in India also has some advantages as well disadvantages and looking at the it becomes significantly important to analyze them.

Due to diversity in religions, cultures, ethnic origin and linguistic background often, India faces some social tensions based on these issues. Examples can be depicted as communal violence based on religion values or current issue of tensions among people of different states and of different linguistic origin.

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Due to Indian diversity and previous traditions, politics is limited to certain families carrying out the legacy.  This has increased overall corruption in India and due to nervousness of these politicians to look after poor and disabled in turn increased illiteracy rate.

Only because of diversity, still there are many states with underdeveloped infrastructures where there is no electricity and no proper roads for transportation. On the other hand, some states are developing with rapid pace to compete with some of the biggest commercial cities in the world.

Different regions, castes, states and different parts of the country have diverse issues making government paralyzed to meet all these issues. Somewhere people are fighting for their reservation rights whereas somewhere people are fighting against people migrated from different states in search of employment opportunities.

It is the world-renowned unity in diversity and diverse cultures in practicing religion, traditions, cuisines, manners and clothing that attract all the visitors and tourists from globe to India. Tourists visit India to understand the different spiritual practices, to meet scents, Yogis and follow the rich heritage and culture of different religions have perished in all these years.

Although there is diversity in cultures, preaching and practices, often these things are treated separately when any matter of special grievance develops in the country. Recent issue of anti corruption movement started by Shri Anna Hajare has witnessed the strong national integration in Indian civilization despite of caste, religion, social status, age and place.

Every participant in diversifying the Indian culture has strengthened and enriched the cultural heritage of India in many ways either with the religion practices or with the ancient traditions. For years, these traditions and practices are preserved from generation to generation and will be preserved by coming generations in near future.

Due to diversity in India, many advantages as differential soil providing rich agricultural beds in different crops according to soil variety. This has led to development in sugar industries, wheat industries, tea industry, fruit industry and industries depending on the cash crops of the subsequent crops.

: Certain areas in India are engaged in enriching its culture and ethnicity, as more number of software engineers is from South India whereas many classical musicians haul from Western India. North India is known for brave soldiers and East India has provided some of the brilliant literature pundits and scientists to the country.

Despite the diversity in terms of race, religion, Language, caste and culture India is still a strong nation tied together with integration and unity in both politico-geographic and cultural backgrounds. Along with diversity and various such aspects, India is on its way of growth and development and it is worth mentioning that it has one of the string and stable economies in the world. 

Outdoors rugs are excellent a part of out of doors decoration for creating an affectionate and pleasant atmosphere. For traditional and traditional outside, rugs play a vital role to convey all of it together with convivial space. There are principally varieties of out of doors rugs are available: handcrafted rugs and machine made rugs. Handcrafted rugs are those with beautiful designs and really attractive, whereas machine made rugs are stronger, tougher and durable. It brightens up all our patios, dens, porches with sturdy, elegant and stylish patterns and designs. Exterior rugs serve as a welcoming mat for all our close to and dear ones. Cowl the skin space with rugs adds fashion and color. Highly durable and low maintenance outside rugs can be found to make your outdoor stunning and stylish.

The next points should have in mind whereas go for outdoor rugs, these are: Location of the outdoor rug: the placement of exterior rugs is very important. Before buying it, first determine place for an exterior rug. One can use exterior rugs on patios, porches and landscape. With the decorative half, it’s also give snug look and surface. Totally different dimension and shape of outside rugs: completely different sizes and shapes can be found of out of doors rugs. Oval, rectangle, sq. and spherical shapes are used based on your requirements. Sturdiness of rugs: it is a vital level because it is used outside the doors and is available contact in rain, sunlight and dust. It should sturdy enough to guard from sunlight and in sturdy winds.

Excessive tech materials and extremely modern designs: outside rugs are made up of excessive tech materials and extremely trendy designs, give a tremendous look and accent to our home. Briefly, we can say that outside rugs are the right accessory in your outdoor house or area, choose one to keep main points in mind. Give an ultimate and chic view to your house out of doors and have a comfy feeling of residence d cor’s. Go for indoor outdoor rugs and provide magnificence to your own home decoration.

Most companies view recruiting diversity as a burden for business, unrelated to the idea of having diversity in the workplace but rather the hassle associated with finding diversity candidates. It’s no secret that diversity recruiting is not a common result of the standard recruiting process. Many companies find that diversity candidates are not resembled in the majority of resumes on Monster, CareerBuilder, and other large job sites. However, there are overwhelming benefits to integrating a diversity of cultures in the office. Several companies have found first hand that the diversity of culture has led to several new ideas that have increased efficiency or led to new products.

First, let’s analyze your company’s level of sophistication with diversity recruiting.  We’ll use the analogy of snow skiing skill levels.

- This entails defining diversity within your organization whether it gender, lifestyle, or ethnicity. Such a simple question has the ability to lead your organization to success or downfall.

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This consists of three important questions:

1)  Where and why do we need diversity?

2) What are the demographics?

3) Are the needs and demographics aligned?

At the intermediate level, your organization is thinking in terms of long term success.  Knowing where your organization is in terms of your diversity strategy is key to establishing the staff you need.

This level is where you are putting your plans into action. You are actively finding talent and pipelining talent.  The most action is happening at this level. You are finding out what is working for your company and what isn’t by y identifying the organization’s failure points and correcting them.

This is the final level where you are able to define and measure ROI. The ultimate goal of your organization is to be at this level.  This is where you have answered all the necessary questions and performed all the tasks.

Managing diversity is nothing but changing the organizational culture or its standard operating procedures. The fostered culture should enable employees to closely examine their values and beliefs and question themselves as to why others look different for them. Diversity management must essentially create an environment that works naturally for the total diversity mixture.

“Life implies a constant interaction between organism and environment.” In this context, Diversity among workforce becomes an asset business. It enables organizations enjoin choice. Diversity brings to organizations unique perspectives. Understanding the demographic differences among the workforce can help organizations capitalize on diversity and avoid negative stereotyping. If managed properly, diversity optimizes the willingness and ability of all employees to contribute to organizational success besides, encouraging each to draw fully on the talents, different points of view, skills, and practices that have been made available by “diverse” workforce. Diversity, if managed badly, can become a liability.

Diversity does not have to be a quota of people you hire, it does not have to be extreme, and it should not interfere with hiring the very best candidates. As your company grows, you will start receiving more resumes from those who have different backgrounds, education levels, and talents. Using the tips mentioned above are ways for you to see what is out there and how you can help create a diverse working environment that everyone benefits from.

After the spot is selected, you start making the foundation. The foundation can be of various types. They mostly include pier, wood, slab etc. Once the foundation is ready, the next step is the sub floor. The standard sub floor is usually 16 inches on the center covered by the plywood flooring. This kind of sub floor is functional and safe. You may also consider a porch, however this depends on the area around the playhouse. The next step involves framing the exterior wall. This is somewhat similar to framing the wall of the house. You need to lay the walls on the sub floor, then measure it followed by marking and then cut the top and the bottom plates. It is essential that while doing this you decide the placement of the window too. In this step also make provision for cutting the sills, king studs, the cripple studs and the headers.

Once the sub floor is complete you can then concentrate on sheathing the playhouse walls with the plywood. You can attach the plywood while the walls are laid on the sub floor. It is important that you square walls before attaching the plywood. It is very much essential to attach a top plate to the top of the wall. It will provide and help holding up the roof. Repeat the same thing for the inside wall, as well. The next step involves deciding the type of roof you will choose for the playhouse. The common kinds of roofs are the gable or the hip. The gable is the easiest, as it resembles a triangle. It also allows the snow and the rain to drain off. The hip roof has various angles with almost all the sides sloping down to meet the walls of the playhouse.

The next step will be installing the ceiling joists. You can also use the pre-manufactured wood roof trusses. It is advisable that you add a girder post on each rafter in the center, in case you wish to use the rafter. The girder post provides support to the center. The last step of building the playhouse involves installing the door, sliding, windows and painting. It will be a great idea to use some kind of safety glass for the windows. The playhouse is now ready for use. You may wish to keep an alarm in the room in case the children need to alert about an emergency.

What does that really mean?

Well, Diversion Safes are like chameleons because they blend in with their surroundings and therefore are generally unnoticeable.

Diversion Safes look like real, everyday products that you see around your house or garage everyday.  They are hollowed out and usually have a screw top or bottom.  Many are weighted to feel like they’re full.

Because Diversion Safes look like the real McCoy they can be placed in your home or garage or anywhere that you’d like to hide your valuables or money.

Many home burglaries today are committed by people who just want something to sell to support their drug habit.  They are interested in small, expensive items such as laptops, loose money, a jewelry box that is in the open or anything else that looks valuable.

So why should your Maxwell House Coffee Can Safe even get his attention?  It won’t, so your money stored in there is safe.

Who would suspect that the can of Ajax Cleanser which is sitting with your other cleaning products would contain your diamond bracelet that you didn’t take with you on vacation?

Or how about a book on your shelf that holds something of value and importance.  Even if a burglar knew about Book Diversion Safes he would never have the time to look through your entire library.  Burglars want to get in and out of your house as quickly as possible they can so they grab any loose loot around.

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“But I don’t have any expensive jewelry or important papers” you might say “so why do I need a Diversion Safe”?

How many times have you lost your cell phone or car keys at home?  What about the money you left on the kitchen table?  Now you can put them in a Flower Pot Diversion Safe that has a large enough compartment even for your wallet.  Leave it on the table or counter and you’ll always know where you left these items.

What about an extra key to your house?  Put it in a Fake Stone Safe or an Outside Thermometer Diversion Safe rather than leave it under the mat or above the door or in the mailbox – those days are gone.

Another place to hide an extra key for your house, car, boat, shed or even your swimming pool gate is in your garage.  But put it in a Liquid Wrench Diversion Safe surrounded by your other car products. 

Or, if you want a large container for other items, place them in a one-gallon Paint Can Diversion Safe and put it with your painting products. 

One other thing – with some Diversion Safes you might want to put a little of the real product around the top to make it look used. 

For example, put a little paint on the top or side of your Paint Can Diversion Safe or a touch of shaving cream on the top of your Barbasol Diversion Safe. 

How many people would think to look inside an electrical wall outlet for valuables?  This Diversion Safe can be put into drywall or plaster board and looks exactly like a wall outlet. Even thought this outlet is non-functioning you can still put a plug from an appliance or lamp in for even more authenticity.

Everyone should have Diversion Safes in their home and office.  They are inexpensive and portable – they can be carried on vacation, placed in a college dorm room, even in a warehouse to hide keys, notes, or anything else you want to keep from your employees.

Diversion Safes make great gifts.  Yes, they are unusual but they are much better than a shirt you’ll never wear or a tie that should have stayed in the last century.

Diversion Safes are a gift of love.  After you demonstrate how effective they are, the recipient of the Diversion Safe will realize that you put a lot of thought into the gift and that you are concerned that their valuables will now be kept safe and secure.

If you want to view over 45 different Diversion Safes that will effectively keep your valuables safe from burglars, then please visit our website:  http://www.feelsafeandsecure.com/diversion_safes.html  and Don’t Be the Next Victim!

Human beings, as individuals, are very complex in their psychological make-up. When they interact with one another in groups and in large organizations, the complexities are multiplied. In this effort to guide and direct others, the manager must first of all acquire an understanding of why people act as they do. Why is one employee sparkling and cheerful, whereas another is downcast and sullen? Initially it’s important to know that all human behavior has a cause. There is a reason for a person behaving as he does. The successful leader is a one who can uncover these causes and take steps to correct them. Bawling out an uncooperative worker doesn’t get at the cause. This constitutes treating the symptom only.

Motives are the mainsprings of action in people. The term “motive” implies action to satisfy a need. Motivation is an inner strivings of individuals that direct behavior; it’s a willingness to expand energy to achieve a goal or a reward.

The motivation process centers on needs, which produce motives that lead to the accomplishment of objectives. Needs are caused by deficiencies or imbalances. Motives, or stimuli, produce an action taken to satisfy the need. In the motivation process, the achievement of the objective satisfies the need and reduces the motive. When the objective is reached, balance is restored; of course, other needs then arise. The motivation process then must satisfy these new needs.

The types of rewards that an organization offers its employees play a critical role in determining the level of motivation. In addition, rewards have an impact on the quality and quantity of personnel that the organization is able to recruit, hire, and retain. Organizational rewards include both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.

Traditional theory of motivation is based on the assumption that money is a primary motivator – employees will produce more for greater financial gain. It evolves from the work of Frederick W. Taylor and others in the scientific management movement.

In “The human Side of Enterprise” Douglas McGregor outlined two opposing theories of work and motivation. Theory X is the traditional approach to workers and working which assumes that people are lazy and dislike work, and they have to be both threatened and rewarded. It assumes that most people are incapable of taking responsibility for them and have to be looked after. Theory Y, on the contrary, assumes that people have a psychological need to work and want achievement and responsibility.

Later theorists argued that Theory Y makes such greater demands on both workers and managers than McGregor realized. Abraham Maslow, for example, spent a year studying a Californian company that used Theory Y and concluded that its demands for responsibility and achievement are excessive for many people. Even strong and healthy people need the security in order and discretion. Managers can’t simply substitute Theory Y for Theory X. They have to replace the security provided by Theory X with a different structure of security and certainty.

Abraham Maslow (in his book entitled “Motivation and personality) put forward the need hierarchy theory. In his theory, h identified certain basic human needs and classified them in an ascending order of importance. The needs of an individual are said to exist in a hierarchy as follows:

Physiological needs (these were things required to sustain life like food, water, air, sleep etc…)
Security needs (these are the needs to be from danger, physical pain and loss of job, they include the needs for clothing and shelter)
Social needs (a human being need to belong to a group, to be liked and loved)
Esteem needs (people want to have self-respect and to be esteemed by others. They have a need for power, status, respect and self-confidence)
Self-actualisation needs (these are the highest needs, according to Maslow. They are the desire to develop, to maximize potential and to achieve one’s goals).

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Maslow said that people satisfied their needs in a systematic way. When a need had been met, it stopped being a motivating factor. Research into Maslow’s theory hasn’t been very conclusive. Studies have tended to show that needs vary greatly among individuals. At the higher levels in a company, self-actualisation needs may be very strong whereas at lower levels, social and security needs may be dominant.

It’s logical to suppose that things like good labour relations, good working conditions, good wages and benefits, and job security motivate workers. But in Work and the Nature of Man, Frederick Herzberg argued that such conditions don’t motivate workers. His hypothesis is referred to by several names: motivation-maintenance, dual factor, or motivation hygiene theory. The conditions aforesaid are merely “satisfiers” or, more importantly, “dissatisfiers” where they don’t exist. “Motivators”, on the contrary, include things such as having a challenging and interesting job, recognition and responsibility, promotion and so on. It’s worth nothing that the hygiene factors refer to the context of the job and the condition of work while the motivators refer to job content. By the hygiene factors Herzberg meant company policy and administration, salary and fringe benefits, quality and supervision, relationship with colleagues, job security, status and work conditions. Herzberg maintains that motivation comes from within the individual, not from the manager. Herzberg’s motivation-maintenance theory is closely related to the need hierarchy theory of motivation; thus, it is subject for many of the same criticisms. If his theory is true, it means that managers must pay great attention to job content. They must find ways of making jobs more challenging and interesting.

As a result managers in the USA and elsewhere have recently been showing great interest in job enrichment programs.  The increasing the content of individual jobs is proposed to increase worker satisfaction and the meaningfulness of work. Job enlargement, job enrichment and job rotation are three basic approaches to defining job content.

Job enlargement is an attempt to reduce boredom and increase the meaning of work by increasing the number of operations in a process performed by a single worker. The theory behind job enlargement is that combining tasks reduce boredom, increasing task variety and strengthening the worker’s identification with his or her job.

Job enrichment is an attempt to give workers more control over their tasks and more responsibility for design, execution, and output. The worker assumes some of the functions previously carried out by his or her immediate supervisor or by other staff.

Job rotation is a practice whereby each employee learns several operations in manufacturing process and rotates through each in a set period.

The idea of such programs is to make jobs more challenging and to give the worker a sense of achievement.

The preference-expectancy theory implies that motivation depends on the preferences and expectations of an individual. This theory emphasized the need for organizations to relate rewards directly to performance and to be sure that recipients desire the rewards.

The reinforcement theory of motivation by B. F. Skinner is based on the idea that reinforced behavior will be repeated and behavior that is not reinforced ill not be repeated. The theory assumes that the consequences of an individual’s behavior determine his or her level of motivation.

Equity theory is based on the belief that employees will take whatever actions are necessary to produce feelings of equity with respect to their jobs. An important point regarding equity theory is that an individual’s feelings of equity are based on his or her perceptions of inputs versus outcomes.

However, even with the development of computers and robotics, there are and always will be plenty of boring and repetitive and mechanical jobs in all three sectors of the economy, and lots of unskilled workers who have to do them.

So how do managers motivate people in such jobs? One solution is to give them some responsibilities, not as individuals but as part of the team. Other employers ensure that people in repetitive jobs change them every couple of hours, as doing four different repetitive jobs a day is better than doing only one. Many people now talk about the importance of a company’s shared values or corporate culture, with which all the staff can identify: for example, being the best hotel chain, or hamburger restaurant chain, or airline, or making the best, the safest, the most user-friendly, the most ecological or the most reliable products in a particular field. Such values are more likely to motivate workers than financial targets, which ultimately only concern a few people. Unfortunately, there is only a limited number of such goals to go round, and by definition, not all the competing companies in an industry can seriously claim to be the best.

Managing a truly global multinational company would obviously be much simpler if it required only one set of corporate objectives, goals, policies, practices, products and services. But local differences often make this impossible. To be true multinational an organization should operate in at least 6 countries and have no less than 20% of its sales or assets in those countries. And it also should think internationally/ It means that management should have a global perspective. It should see the world as inter-related and inter-depended.

A fairly obvious cultural divide that has been much studied is the one between, on the one hand, the countries of North America and North-West Europe, where management is largely based on analysis, rationality, logic and systems, and, on the other, the Latin cultures of southern