Diversity is a very important element to have within any business organization.  There are several reasons why we should want diversity in the work place.  But my biggest reason is that personally I would get bored with dealing with the same type of people all the time instead of a variety of different people and personalities.  We should all strive to have variety and diversity in the work place and get a chance to know other types of people so we can get out of our comfort zones.

When I look at the four different types of layers of diversity I can see many different examples that exist within each layer between my self and my other co-workers.  I knew from the start that I was different in a lot of ways than everyone else but I never knew that there was academia on these matters and it really interests me that these differences have been studied and researched upon.

For starters personality is a huge one with me.  I am very shy and reserved.  I rarely socialize with people I don’t know unless I need to for that specific occasion and sometimes it is hard for me to get used to working with other people.  Nearly every other co-op that works with me at GE is outgoing and doesn’t have a problem just talking and having a good time with anyone.  I sort of feel that sometimes I am left out or they don’t talk to me because of my personality.  It is not that I don’t enjoy these things it is just that sometimes its harder for me to get engaged.  I can see where some discrimination could possibly come from this, but this is something I too need to work on.

However we are also extremely similar in the fact that we are all young and college students.  This is something that brings a lot of life to our offices and workstations.  Our internal dimensions are similar and because we are around the same age we have a lot of the same humor, same interests, exact same income, and have fun the same way.  This allows for an enjoyable work experience. 

Outside of my fellow co-ops things start to really change in the layers of diversity.  There are men and women of all ages, races, and backgrounds that we work with.  It is a very diverse work force and age can create many layers of diversity from it self.  The whole fact that people are older means they have different interests, physical ability, and seniority.  But along with the other workers that are not co-ops we have many that are union workers and that is a big divide.  Not between the workers and management but mainly the union and management.