ENG 123 Discussion Rubric Critical Elements Exemplary – 100% Proficient – 85% Needs Improvement – 55% Not Evident – 0% Value Prompt Fully addresses assignment prompt connecting personal experience and reflection in a rich, detailed, engaging manner. Fully addresses assignment prompt connecting personal experience and reflection in an engaging manner. Addresses assignment prompt, but there are holes or gaps in describing and reflecting on one's personal experience Does not address assignment prompt 20 Comprehension Develops an initial post with an organized, clear point of view or idea using rich and significant detail Develops an initial post with a point of view or idea using adequate organization and detail Develops an initial post with a point of view or idea but with some gaps in organization and detail Does not develop an initial post with an organized point of view or idea 25 Submits initial post on time (100%) Submits initial post one day late (55%) Submits initial post two or more days late (0%) 10 Provides relevant response posts with Provides response posts with some explanation and detail that may lack Provides response posts that are generic with little 25 Timeliness Engagement Provides relevant and meaningful response posts with Writing (Mechanics) Comments clarifying explanation and detail some explanation and detail connection to original post explanation or detail Writes posts that are easily understood, clear, and concise, using proper citation methods where applicable with no errors in citations Writes posts that are easily understood using proper citation methods where applicable with few errors in citations Writes posts that are understandable using proper citation methods where applicable with a number of errors in citations Writes posts that others are not able to understand and does not use proper citation methods where applicable Earned Total 20 Running Head: PERSUASIVE ESSAY 1 Persuasive Essay Michael Nash Southern New Hampshire University ENG-123-Q2305 English Composition II 20EW2 Dr. Five Crows PERSUASIVE ESSAY 2 Introduction Diversity is any visible or invisible dimension that can be used to differentiate people and groups. The existence of workplace diversity indicates that there is heterogeneity in terms of ethnicity, race, and gender, in which employees possess distinct qualities and elements. Notably, diversity in project management in the 21st century is an issue that project managers need to focus their attention on, to be successful. Several project managers face the challenge of thoroughly understanding people of different social and ethnic backgrounds, genders, races, and even sexual orientations. This inability creates problems in management due to the varied levels of misunderstandings. However, rather than running away from this challenge, project managers should view it as a challenge to be embraced. Beyond public perceptions, a truly diverse project management team can improve the organization’s reputation, create an all-inclusive environment that gives everyone a sense of belonging, and also ensure creativity through the free flow of ideas. Body Diversity improves the organization's reputation as it influences the perception of organizational effectiveness through employer and customer branding. Employer branding represents how current employees and prospective candidates view the firm. Often, professionals prefer firms that embrace diversity and see such firms to be employers of choice. In turn, this perception bolters recruitment and retention efforts, increasing the possibility of being considered a company that professionals in the industry want to work with for the long-term. On the other hand, diversity also influences customer brand reputation. According to a study by Fry and Parker (2018), customers, especially Generation Z and Millennials, mostly shy away from companies that are not viewed as all-inclusive. Therefore, promoting diversity in project management facilitates the maximum exploitation for opportunities to foster strong client relationships, increase sales, and PERSUASIVE ESSAY 3 ultimately enhance profitability. This positively influences the reputation of the organization since reputation assessments rely on the congruence between customer preferences and corporate behavior (García-Meca & Palacio, 2018). Companies such as Accenture have earned several customers and employees as they are reputable for being a diverse and inclusive workplace, especially by achieving parity in the workplace and achieving its goals for gender equality. With this reputation as a diverse workplace, Accenture attracts analysts and investors who bring in more revenue and profit for the company. Project management firms should therefore integrate diversity to enhance their reputation. Diversity in a project also brings about all-inclusive working conditions in which all the people involved feel supported and valued, no matter who they are and their roles. The creation of an all-inclusive environment results from bringing together various dimensions of diversity into a single project, which helps to create a multicultural environment that receives universal acceptance and respect. The dimensions in question include personality, internal traits like gender, sexual orientation, and race, external features like religion and nationality, and lastly, organizational characteristics like positions and departments. According to Foma (2014), such a situation results in higher project employee retention which suggests a higher likelihood for organizational success because of the increased productivity and morale of the employees. They are also more likely to produce higher quality work and to add to this, control project costs because of lower rates of both turnover and employee-related challenges. Diversity also increases creativity by facilitating the free flow of ideas in the organization. This argument rests on the idea that individuals with more heterogenous networks are more creative because tasks draw from multiple knowledge systems. Chua (2011) supports this argument by asserting that the more employees’ networks include individuals from different races, PERSUASIVE ESSAY 4 ethnicity, and other dimensions such as gender, the more they are exposed to and stimulated by perspectives and ideas different from their own. Furthermore, the increased flow of divergent ideas strengthens the impact of diversity exposure on creative thinking. This argument is strengthened by Eddie Fisher (2013), who argues that multicultural experiences enable employees to recognize and integrate viewpoints grounder in diverse cultures, and consequently enhance their cognitive complexity – that is their ability to tolerate and even reconcile conflicting perspectives and ideas. Furthermore, other researchers have found evidence that multicultural exposure positively affects various tasks including idea generation, negotiation, the imagination of tasks, and association of ideas (Chua, 2011). As such, diversity should be integrated into project management since it facilitates the free flow of ideas which is important to the development of ideas of potential value to the field. While there are several benefits to added diversity in project management, some opponents assert that the integration of diversity brings about communication issues. According to these opponents, organizations that work to increase diversity find communication barriers with international employees who have different cultural practices, follow different schedules, and speak different languages. That in such situations, it is easy to cause unintentional offense since trying to be informational and kind makes it hard to address problems. However, diversity on its own is not a communication barrier. Rather, the difference in communication approaches, attitudes, understandings, and styles is an inevitable phenomenon among a diverse workforce. These barriers are also inevitable in all diverse organizations. However, according to Hussain (2018), organizations that truly want to be diverse can overcome these communication challenges through a number of steps that include careful hiring, cross-cultural training, language training, a sustainable communication platform, and assignments as per interest and experience. Cross- PERSUASIVE ESSAY 5 cultural training for instance helps in resolving communication challenges such as cultural relativism, ethnocentrism, stereotyping, and cultural shock. Therefore, organizations that truly want to integrate diversity can overcome any communication barriers by understanding the cultural elements of diverse groups. Conclusion Organizations are becoming more and more diversified as a result of globalization. Projects are now employing people from different cultures, genders, ages, sexual orientations, professions, and skills. However, managers face the challenge of thoroughly understanding people of different backgrounds. Others, therefore, try to avoid workplace diversity. Rather, than running away from this challenge, project managers should view it as a challenge to be embraced. After all, diversity comes with benefits such as workplaces that are all-inclusive and in which all members feel respected and valued. For a project, this means retention of workers resulting in an increased likelihood for project success. Diversity also improves the organization's reputation as it influences the perception of organizational effectiveness through employer and customer branding. To add to this, a diverse workforce is more creative. These benefits cannot be realized if project management firms do not take initiative and begin embracing diversity in terms of dimensions such as gender, culture, race, and sexual orientation to say the least. Leaders should address any barriers such as that of communication by understanding different social and cultural backgrounds. Students and managers should therefore try to embrace diversity as they venture into the field of project management. They should work through c PERSUASIVE ESSAY 6 References Chua, R. Y. (2011). Innovating at the world's crossroads: How multicultural networks promote creativity. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School. Eddie Fisher, Y. S. (2013). The Art of Influencing and Persuasion: How Managers Can Put 'Square Pegs' into 'Round Holes.' Journal of Management Research, 1-18. Foma, E. (2014). Impact of Workplace Diversity. Review of Integrative Business and Economics, 382-389. Fry, R., & Parker, K. (2018). Early Benchmarks Show'Post-Millennials' on Track to Be Most Diverse, Best-Educated Generation Yet: A Demographic Portrait of Today's 6-to 21Year-Olds. Pew Research Center. García-Meca, E., & Palacio, C. J. (2018). Board composition and firm reputation: The role of business experts, support specialists, and community influentials. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 111-123. Hussain, S. (2018). Managing Communication Challenges in Multicultural Organizations. International Journal of Media, Journalism and Mass Communications (IJMJMC), 4449. PERSUASIVE ESSAY 7 
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