America: The melting pot and the work place:

In theory; Diversity in the work place is designed so that all minorities, nationalities and genders, etc. can work together and learn from each other in perfect harmony with the rest of the universe; Eventually making the work place a wonderful and productive environment to be in.

In reality, I found it to be very different!

I recently worked for a diversified organization and it seemed that there was more emphasis on hiring the right mixture of people. It was always difficult trying to get the work done because the organization was wrapped up politics most of the time.

Most of us were mature, professional adults and just about everything, rolled off our backs like water off a duck. But, there were always one or two individuals that made it a living hell for the rest of us! These individuals were people that considered themselves to be, more of a minority, than the rest of us! Because they were minority employees, they were considered by the company to be the underdogs! This meant that if ever there was an internal problem, then what ever these people did or said, carried more weight over the majority. In fact, the company was more concerned about being sued, more than anything else!

In the event of a personality clash or a difference of opinion: Most of us would deal with the problem on a person to person level, which would eventually be resolved by someone apologizing and putting it down to a hectic day at work. But, if two employees had a difference of opinion and they considered that they had more rights and more protection; Then that issue would be taken more seriously! Here's the problem with diversity! It teaches us that there is no need for individuality and personality, because we will be protected by our rights; There is always someone that is very willing to take it a step further, by using the system in their favor.

There were always communication problems; Some people could only grasp about ninety percent of the English language and the rest of it, they interpreted in which ever way they saw fit! Simple colloquialisms would be taken personally. We eventually had to put together a list of words that we could not say around certain individuals. However, this did not work, as we would often find ourselves in the middle of a conversation, not thinking about what we were saying. I am not talking about the obvious corny, one liners, that are derogatory; They were straight forward,

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