I recently just finished my internship in August and had the opportunity to work with many people from different backgrounds. In terms of their physical looks, it has never impacted my work. Each person had their own drives and ideas in any project we worked on. And this made it very productive because we were able to come up with a lot of ideas for a given project and see it from many angles. Everyone learned from each other. The only counterproductive thing I experienced was some people worked much harder than others. There would be times where we would have to make sure one person gets his or her part in by the deadline.

Another great thing about working with people from different backgrounds is that you get to learn about their culture. I’ve had many conservations where we switch stories about where we come from and how it’s different from the U.S. It allows for you to get to know your co-workers in a more personal way.

Personally, from my experience working in the industry, I've actually discovered something rather interesting regarding this topic. I've met multiple people from very different ethnic backgrounds. Many of which are not even citizens here in the US. However, despite being from different cultures and even different countries, I've truly noticed that everyone can contribute and provide their insight and work just as equally as everyone else. I work with many coworkers that either have broken english or speak a different dialect, but we are still able to communicate through "engineering". When I think about it, it makes sense that in order to be an effective part in industry, we should all speak the same language and learn nearly the same techniques and skills. I will say however, the differences in cultures within my company has allowed many opportunities for each of us to share the unique parts of each of our cultures and strengthen the bond and connection each of us have, which in turn promotes a much more productive work environment.

I believe that human differences will be a very helpful when the group works as a whole. While working on a project you will get so many different ideas from all the different backgrounds. Having people from different backgrounds can help make a more diverse device because the group members can give us the distinct characteristics from each background. With so many different ethnic groups the members can learn from each other and their past experiences that could help make the project successful as a whole. I do not think there could be anything that would hold the project back.

Personally, from my experiences in internships and class projects, I've always had a positive outcome with diversity in the team. When it comes to getting work done, different perspectives and ways of judgment are always helpful, though not everything is used, they are considered. One thing about diversity that slows me (personally) is accent. I find strong accents distracting and I usually ask people to repeat themselves if I don't understand. Then again, it doesn't hinder the progress it just slows me down a bit. But I am respectful of such differences and must try my best to pick up on the message being delivered than getting caught up in the language, tone, and accent.

Current, I work in quality which is similar to regulatory and the best part of this department is that there is a fixed set of rules and procedures to follow, so different perspectives and voices don't affect or change things a lot. Rather, we must all must come to one set of mindset and that is to follow FDA's procedures religiously. Maybe people working in other fields will be affected more by human differences but not so much is regulatory.

As you mentioned when you work, you will get involved with different people with different background and personality. Having people with different background and experience helps the whole team and the project in general if you utilize the resources well. Diversity helps to build a strong team and progress or projects in my opinion. An example is I work with a different group of engineer and sales engineer, and the difference of personality helps me to build an idea and understand their working style which is different from a person to another. Also, It helps to know who is the key person to do something based on his past experience. Like I can approach more that one person for the same task, but having a different background on your team you will choose one that you know he/she will do the job faster and more efficient.

In response to the question,"What effect have human differences had on you as a being productive or counterproductive?", I believe that working with a diverse group actually allows for one to be more productive than the opposite. From my experience in working in collaborative group projects, I have found that the most of my successful projects came from groups with the most differences, whether it be culturally, religiously, or even personality-wise. I believe my success with working with such differences stems from the fact that, because we are all so different, our only common trait at that moment is the project.

Yet, this can all depend on the department you are working for. Like Karen had mentioned, in regulatory, there are many tasks that must be followed and many regulations to adhere to that there really is no room for human differences to affect productivity. However, I do pose this question: In what department do you believe would human differences have an effect on productivity?

Human differences are generally important in the life, human differences prevents products to be overstocked. In medical instrument projects, these differences gives variety of thoughts, which gives the needs from different perspective, so the design can be modified to cover all demands.
Also, people with different backgrounds are really essential in all project types to avoid known issues. In my opinion I would like to work on a medical device project that has these differences.

productivity might get negatively effected with having people from different cultural background. For example having different holidays, which might effect the project timeline. But other thank that from my experience it helped more as people have different experiences and can help others to think outside the box and see the different views. 

I would say I have had the opportunity to work with people from very different cultural backgrounds, not just in my current job but in college, and throughout my early education. I personally think it brings value to the team because you are exposed to different perspectives. It educates you to have an open mind and be mindful of the things you say (respect). I have never seen cultural differences as a hindrance, only a strength. I tend to focus more on the experiences people have, whether it's work related, or what hobbies they do, who they are when not at work. People who come from a differently regulated industry are full of such fresh perspective. I see it at my job all the time. We work with HCTPs and most medical companies are medical device or pharma which both are more stringently regulated. A lot of the people my company hires come from medical device, and they are always shocked at how certain things are very loosely regulated. Their knowledge has shown to be an asset when navigating areas of the HCTP world where we have to set our own criteria. Aside from work experience, I have met a lot of people with such interesting hobbies! There is always a new perspective, a new way of doing things. One is not necessarily better than the other. We just have to accept and appreciate these human differences. 

In my field, I have been lucky enough to work with people from very different cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, work occupations, and background. In my view, it is always a plus to engage with someone that is the most unlike you and learn from them in both the work setting and out of work. Of course there are people who are so far distinct that do not really interact and could be catastrophic if they do, but it has not been my experience. I think one of the best part of my previous workplace was the traveling and meeting new people in the different settings of the company and see how they contribute to the company in their respective position. You get to learn a lot and have a more well rounded foundation of how the company really works and how the work you do really helps people. I was able to see how our marketing team presents the device and testing we do in the laboratory, how clinicians use the results and how to pursue patient treatment. You get to see the work you do in a different way and the importance of enjoying what you do, rather than just doing a task.

In some cases I was able to interact with the patients we treated or delivered and how their life would change for the better. This was a bittersweet interaction because the patients that we worked with were terminal stage 4 prostate cancer patients and some of them were not strong enough to favor from the drugs. 

Being an International student myself, I have had the opportunity of working with other international students in projects developing CAD models of Medical devices. As said in previous lectures Communication is the key and effective communication while working with people from diverse backgrounds has been very productive. Their contributions towards the ideas of developing a medical device and taking it to a next stages reflects everyone's understanding about the medical device industry from their regions. And this Multiculturalism is certainly better and helped resolve conflicts quickly. At the end we all owe it to each other for coming out with the best idea which resulted in a win-win situation for everyone.

Its actually fun and interesting to work with people with diverse backgrounds and cultures as there is an exchange of thoughts. It helps an individual to learn new things and helps adapt oneself to diverse surroundings. During my internship, the plus point of having multicultural people to work with me taught me a new perspective, a better understanding of the ideas, and respect towards one another.

According to me it is very productive to have people from different backgrounds. I have started to experience this kind of situations very recently after I began my graduate studies in the United States as an international student. Having people from different backgrounds makes work more interesting and also very creative. I feel that there is some new idea or a new objective you learn from every person around you.When it comes to work environment or projects this happens on a regular basis. You get to hear new thoughts and get to know various perspectives about an idea which may help you at some point. This makes work easier and also builds up a great coordination between the teams when you have to work for projects.

Diversity is the bedrock of all successful enterprises. The more diverse your workforce the more honorable people a company will amass for their leadership and employee pool. An honorable person is selfless, forthcoming, and honest. Honor requires you to have faith, be trustworthy and to be a team player, not afraid to fail. Having a sense of duty, an obligation, a higher moral character, a patriotic calling and a strong code of ethics are all tenants of honorable, capable leadership. Honorable service means it is an expectation that our leaders have a moral compass that always points north. Respect is a noble virtue. It requires being disciplined, temperate, poised while never losing your bearing, staying true to who you are while simultaneously having humility. Having respect and consideration for others means exhibiting the right behaviors, leveraging higher ordered thinking while giving deference to higher authority. Respecting diversity of thought, remaining flexible, uniting in the mission, accepting no excuses but abandoning all private animosity if any unhappily exists encompasses this virtue. This is exactly what you will derive from a diverse group of people.