Understanding Diversity

Understanding Diversity Assignment
Student’s Name
Institution
The one or two areas regarding understanding or managing diversity in which I am most strong are:
I have developed the understanding that significant differences exist across diversities and learning to respect them. I have been able to appreciate the existence of diversity through accepting the culture of other people (Janasz et al., 2015). I have also learned to accord equal treatment to people regardless of their cultural diversity. In such context, I have been able to maintain normal relationships with diverse friends and colleagues.
The one or two areas of understanding or managing diversity in which I need more improvement are:
I need to learn to accept the challenges that other people experience when dealing with diverse groups. I’m often upset when people treat me differently for being from a different culture (Janasz et al., 2015). I have also had conflicts with people that do not view diversity as a positive existence but as a base of differentiation. As a result, I have had a hard time relating to people that have problems understanding diversity as well as those that do not appreciate the same.

If I did only one thing to improve in this area, it would be:
To improve my ability to accept the problems that other people have with diversity, I need to interact with more diverse people (Janasz et al., 2015). Diverse interactions would expose me to the challenges. It would also give me a chance to understand why the difficulties may occur.

Acquiring an overview of the different challenges and their main causes would help me gain a better understanding of how to understand such people as well as how I can relate to them without conflicts.

Making this change would probably result in:
Accepting the diversity challenges faced by other people would help me understand diversity better. First of all, being familiar with only the positive existence of diversity cannot give me enough insight into the issues. Therefore, it would take understanding the challenging part of diversity to have a deeper overview and be able to identify solutions to diversity problems. It would also help me know how to deal with people that have different problems with diversity.
If I did not change or improve in this area, it would probably affect my personal and professional life in the following ways:
Failure to improve would make it difficult to uphold a good relationship with colleagues that have the problem (Janasz et al., 2015). It would also be a challenge to keep friends with the same problem. It will also force me to have constant conflicts with colleagues over issues regarding diversity. Additionally, failure to address the issue would make it hard for me to accept the different perceptions that people hold regarding diversity, which would affect both my personal and professional relationships.
Were any questions more difficult to complete than others? Which ones and why?
Yes. Question 5 was more challenging to complete because it involves a broader setting than myself. It requires me to identify possible ways in which my relationship with other people might be affected by the inability to accept their challenges with diversity. While it is easy to know how you can be affected by other people’s shortcomings, it is difficult defining the impacts of one’s social behavior. As a result, identifying the effects of my weaknesses to other people and I was not easy.
What did you learn about yourself in this exercise?
I have realized that I still need more insight into diversity (Janasz et al., 2015). The fact that has a problem relating to people that do not uphold diversity implies that I still need to learn more about the same. However, I have learned that I appreciate changes, especially when they involve differences among colleagues and friends. I appreciate the existence of diversity and consider every person an equal regardless of their culture or origin. In such context, I realized I could perform well in diverse teams.

References
Janasz S. C., Dowd K. O., Schneider B. Z. (2015). Interpersonal Skills in Organizations, 5th Edition. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.