Team diversity is common in all types of organisations throughout the world. The contemporary business world has changed and organisations are working in a complex and competitive environment because of an increased globalisation, which leads to companies spreading their operations geographically and interchanging the work force (Ferdman & Deane 2014). Diversity in the organisation involves different characteristics, including ethnicity, culture, nationality, age, education, and experience among others (Ferdman & Deane 2014).
The inclusion of diversity in teams has been seen to improve the performance of the teams and organisations. According to Ibarra and Hansen (2011) research on leading CEOs, diverse teams produce better results than teams without diversity. However, according to Rahim (2011), diverse teams often experience conflicts and tension and finally result in poor performance and poor results. The current blog discussed that diversity in teams can lead to better results and to tension within the group and p
oor performance.
Advantages of Diverse Teams
Team diversity exposes the team members to numerous experiences, as each member is unique and offers a new perspective to the team. Once these diverse skills and knowledge are pooled together, they can benefit the team, and the organisation at large (Kearney & Gebert 2009). In addition, it strengthens the productivity of the teams and gives them an opportunity to make effective decisions. Every member has specific strengths and weaknesses, which he/she has obtained from the culture he/she comes from, or from other unique members of the organization. If such diverse team is properly organized then they will show strong and effective results and improve the overall productivity of the company.
Diversity within a team also presents an opportunity for employees to experience personal growth. When an individual is exposed to different cultures, ideas and perspectives, he/she has the opportunity to grow intellectually and benefit from the people in their surroundings, as well as, their position in the world. In addition, as team members spend more time with diverse co-workers, they slowly break the barriers of ethnocentrism, and xenophobia, which makes them well-rounded members of the society. In addition, diversity within the team affects communication skills. After spending time with diverse members of the team, it is expected that the communication barriers will diminish over the long run (Bendl, Bleijenbergh, Henttonen & Mills 2015). 
In addition, diversity is expected to strengthen the company’s relationship with specific client groups, which makes communication more effective. For instance, customer service representative teams can be paired up with clients from their region, which will make the client feel more comfortable with the given representative (Bendl et al. 2015).
Disadvantages of Diverse Teams
Bendl et al. (2015) also argues that diverse teams experience conflicts and tension within the group, which results in a poor performance. When there is diversity within the team, it is expected that the members will have different views on work and tasks. Consequently, the team will perform poorly, which has adverse impacts on the company. Communication within the team may be hampered when the members have numerous differences. For instance, when team members are from different cultural backgrounds and they are not fluent in the same language, communication may be affected, and it can hamper the effectiveness of the team (Bendl et al. 2015). It is also expected that due to diversity, the team members will have numerous misunderstandings, which will require the team leadership to spend a considerable amount of time conducting investigations on the different reasons for misunderstandings, which may include harassment and negative attitudes. It may also be challenging to develop a diverse team. The organisation has to make sure that their members understand the concept of diversity to work effectively together in one team (Bendl et al. 2015).
In conclusion, diversity within teams is critical, but the management has to be careful on how to constitute the teams. It is important to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the team diversity in order to set up a team that will be effective. The overall impression is that diverse teams are essential in organisations as they assist in dealing with complex issues. In addition, the leader needs to be able to deal with the drawbacks associated with diverse teams in order to enhance their performance.
Reference List
Bendl, R, Bleijenbergh, I, Henttonen, E, & Mills, AJ 2015, The Oxford handbook of diversity in organizations, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Ferdman, BM, & Deane, B 2014, Diversity at work: the practice of inclusion, Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Brand, San Francisco.
Ibarra, H & Hansen, MT 2011, ‘Are you a collaborative leader?’ Harvard Business Review, viewed 28 March 2016, <http://hbr.org/2011/07/are-you-a-collaborative-leader/>
Kearney, E & Gebert, D 2009, ‘Managing diversity and enhancing team outcomes: the promise of transformational leadership’, Journal of applied psychology, vol. 94, no. 1, pp. 77.
Rahim, MA 2011, Diversity, conflict, and leadership, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick.
Ethical leadership includes different attributes, including ethical behaviour, fairness, trustwort hiness, caring, and honesty. Leadership styles and the way they affect stakeholders and organisational effectiveness has attracted the attention of philosophers for quite a while (Ciulla 2013). Ethical leadership, as defined by Rubin, Dierdorff, and Brown (2010), is a behaviour of a leader without the regard to personal traits or attributes in relation to actual behaviour. Brown and Mitchell (2010) emphasises the issue by stating that employees imitate the ethical values of their leaders. In order to delve more into the concept of ethical leadership, this article focuses on the deontological ethics, and on the rightness or wrongness of actions themselves, as opposed to the correctness or fairness of the consequences of the actions. In addition, it does not concentrate on character and habits of a leader (Tannsjo 2013). In addition, teleological ethics theory focuses on what is desirable and good as an end to be achieved (Tannsjo 2013).
Different leaders employ different approaches to motivate their employees as they communicate their value. On the contrary, the employees rely on the leaders whenever they face situational ethical problems. According to Mayer, Aquino, Greenbaum, and Kuenzi (2012), three blocks express ethical leadership. They include the need to be an exemplary ethical leader, fairly treat other people, and actively manage morality. In addition, Mayer et al. (2012) argues that societal culture can shape the beliefs of the people regarding the importance of ethical leadership rather than the reinforcement of behaviour. It is, therefore, important for the leader to be a central source of ethical guide at the workplace. The stakeholder perspective states that the actions of the leaders should be designed to balance interests. This blog defines ethical leadership as personal behaviour that positively influences the organisational and individual effectiveness and considers the example of the Body Shop founder, Anita Roddick.
As an individual, she won various awards for her leadership role, including the Botwinick Prize in Business Ethics in 1994, the Mexican Environmental Achiever Award, and the Banksia Foundation’s Australian Environmental Award (Paprocki 2010). The fact that she is recognised in different categories and is awarded with these prizes means that the society and employees respect her. She gained prominence for setting an example of an excellent ethical leader. Concerning the organisational leadership, Body Shop has grown and extended its business over the years and it operates about 2400 stores in 61 countries globally, and it is the second largest cosmetics franchise (Campo 2014). The ethical leadership of Anita Roddick was a contributing factor to the success of the company. As a leader, she was opposed to the idea of using animals to test cosmetics and ingredients, and it brought a positive publicity to the company. Consequently, it started attracting clients throughout the world, thus, its development and growth was inevitable. In addition to her position on animal testing, Anita Roddick also defended human rights, and contributed to global awareness of different ethical issues, which also enhanced Body Shop’s Brand Image.
The blog has discussed the different perspectives on ethical leadership, including its importance for individuals and organisations. It has focused on the impact of ethical leadership on the effectiveness of different parties involved. In addition, the actions of Anita Roddick, as an example of an ethical leader, and their influence on the success of Body Shop, the organisation that she founded, were explored. Therefore, leaders in the modern world should embrace ethical leadership, since it has a positive impact on the effectiveness of their organisations and stakeholders.
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