Diversity and demographic characteristicsIntroductionDiversity includes gender, age, language, ethnicity, cultural background, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs, including understood the fact that people are different in other ways, such as education level, employment. position, socio-economic background, personality profile, marital status and whether or not one has family. Diversity and demographic differences can impact individual behavior by creating conflict in the workplace. The success of an organization depends on the workforce of the organization. A workforce made up of diverse people from different backgrounds can bring the best talent to an organization. There are many types of diversity and demographic characteristics and each impacts individual behavior. Ethnicity, gender, age and diversity of personality traits will be covered as well as an examination of the impact of each on individual behavior. Ethnicity Today, more and more ethnic people are joining the United States workforce. Since the United States has been considered a land of opportunity, more and more people from different backgrounds have migrated to our country over the past 100 years to find work. Today, due to increasing globalization and business diversification, we see even more people of ethnic backgrounds moving to the United States for opportunities. With the increase in education, many people tend to make significant contributions to organizations that would not have been the case otherwise. These individuals bring a wide range of knowledge from their culture and beliefs. They tend to see things differently and have helped businesses understand the need to visualize ideas and solve problems. Viewed in this light, diversity makes management sense, making best use of available resources to achieve the organization's goals and objectives. Reference Understanding Generational Differences Helps You Manage a Multi-Age Workforce (2001) Retrieved January 20, 2006 from http://www.digitaledge.org/monthly/2001_07/gengap1.html.Why Women Make best managers (2004) Retrieved January 20, 2006 from http://www.preseleccion.com/articles/women_managers.htm.Schermerhorn, John R. & Hunt, James G. and Osborn, Richard N. (2005)Chapter 4: Diversity and individual differences [Electronic version] Ninth edition. Developing Hiring Standards, The Untapped Wealth of Information in Your Office, retrieved January 20, 2006 from http://www.hiresuccess.com/establishing-baseline-personality-profiles.htm