Ways of Managing Workplace Diversity - Essay Example

? Managing diversity Task: The rising proportion of individuals from diverse cultural settings has heightened the need to devise appropriate ways of managing the workplace diversity. The rise in cultural diversity has resulted to actions illustrating cases of inequality. Sources have indicated that the practices of inequality began in the 21st century in the UK. Afterwards, they spread to other countries around the globe and have become an enormous challenge (Dickens 2007, p. 470). The literature further indicates that no country possesses equal opportunities for both genders in the work place. According to Acker, the term inequality refers to disparities in the way the powerful in a working organization exercise their authority (Acker 2006, p. 445). For example, they may make decisions, offer promotions, and provide job security in favor of some individuals. It is thus evident that such inequalities have resulted to discrimination and dissatisfaction in the workplace. Therefore, both the developing as well as the developed states has realized the necessity of managing the diversity. However, despite the support of the above by the majority, some have argued that it does not offer anything new compared with the traditional “equal opportunities” (EO) policies (Dickens 2007, p. 475). There are many dimensions upon which one can address the issue of diversity that has become highly prevalent in the workplace. Sources have revealed the existence of workers from dissimilar cultures, religions, genders, sexes, and physical abilities. The diversity in the workplace has culminated into discriminations and inequality thus the need to manage it. For a long time, different countries have been championing for equal opportunities in the working environment. In facilitating the process of bringing equality to these states, they have enacted a number of policies, which govern all activities carried out in the workplace. Among the enacted policies was the EO policy, which aimed to, provide equal access to job opportunities irrespective of the procedure applied in identifying diverse social groups (Sonia 1997, p. 12). The EO policy, developed and used by employers in diverse forms of organizations, focuses on several issues. The policy mostly ensures adherence to the equality provisions of different organizations. According to some scholars, such policies endeavor to discourage diverse categories of discriminations present in the workplace. Additionally, the policy provides access to equal opportunities for different categories of social groups. The traditional EO policies addressed numerous varieties of equality. It aimed to create a working environment whereby respect withholds (Sonia 1997, p. 16). In addition to creating an outstanding working environment, the policy aimed to prevent, as well as to curb the escalating cases of discrimination and victimization. The equal opportunity policies also provided disciplinary proceedings for those involved in the discriminatory, as well as the harassment practices. The equal opportunity policy has been in use in places such as the UK, and the US (Sonia 1997, p. 18). Recently, the concept of diversity management heightened; therefore, need to note its difference from EO policy. As opposed to the EO policy that views people as members of different social settings, diversity management views individuals as having different needs, as well as requirements. Dissimilar individuals will interpret the phrase differently, but its most appropriate interpretation is that it integrates many policies, even those addressing the issue of equality (Barak 2010, p. 25). The process of diversity management focuses on altering an organization’s cultural, as well as their working processes. Moreover, sources have revealed that the process of managing diversity in an organization aims at enhancing an organization’s efficiency (Walsh 2007, p. 31). An organization that depicts an escalation in the discrimination and inequality occurrences fails to function effectively. Therefore, once such incidents do not exist in an organization, efficiency rate heightens. The diversity management is itself a challenge experienced by an organization as it endeavors to provide equal chances for persons originating from different settings. It entails the sensitization of all individuals found in the workplace about their differences in the line of gender, race, as well as their nationality. The sole reason of managing diversity is augmenting an organization’s productivity. In the process of managing diversity, peoples differences can be the source of talents that when properly harnessed creates an appropriate working environment (Barak 2010, p. 26). Sources have shown the tourism and the hospitality as the most diverse and multicultural industries. For instance, it is evident that most of the multinational hotels are in different countries, and individuals from diverse cultural setting work in them. For example, in such hotels, the individual, in the receptionist, could be an Australian, the accountant could be a Chinese and the chief financial officer could be an American. Thus, as many have argued, managing diversity is a new paradigm due to a number of reasons. As opposed to the equal opportunity policy concentrating on issues of discrimination in the workplace due to the diversity in culture, race, sex, as well as disability, managing diversity aims at taking advantage of such differences. The civil rights of 1964 played a crucial position in enhancing access to equal working opportunities. As a result, cases of diversity became prevalent in organizations. Thus, it became necessary for organizations to devise strategies utilized in managing such diversity in those organizations (Gilbert, et al 1999, p. 62). The necessity of managing diversity has been associated with placing an organization at a competitive edge, in terms of cost and market, which have facilitated the performance enhancement. An organization’s high performance augments productivity thus realizing a high profit. In addition to the above stated benefits, empirical research has revealed its capacity to reduce workplace frustration. The workplace frustrations may mount due to unequal treatment of individuals from diverse backgrounds. Therefore, enforcing rules that enhance equal treatment is the sole way of reducing reports of such frustrations. Long before the invention of diversity management, an organization’s human resource department was mandated to ensure that the workplace locale was conducive for business (Gilbert, et al 1999, p. 64). Thus, diversity management is a new paradigm since it not only endeavors to enforce an organization’s legal specifications, but also looks into the workforce’s wellbeing. A number of companies in different locations globally have seen an increase in their turn over after incorporating a diverse team. For instance, Avon Company noted a substantial growth in its output after they incorporated Hispanic Americans in the management team. Those organizations that are reluctant in addressing the issue of diversity are likely to face many challenges. The key reason behind this is due to globalization. As globalization takes the central stage in the business world, there is an immense need for organizations to devise ways of creating markets at varied countries (Gilbert, et al 1999, p. 66). The traditional EO policies are different from diversity management since they aim at enhancing equal opportunity, but diversity management utilizes the organization’s diversity in enhancing its productivity. However, a large proportion of individuals argue that the managing diversity does not provide anything different from the traditional EO policy. For a long time, individuals from diverse settings have viewed managing complexity as alternative, more effective way of management in the organization. However, different individuals in the recent past have been unable to note its difference with the traditional EO policy. The sole reason for such an argument is that statistics have revealed just a few organizations that have benefited from the practice of managing diversity. Therefore, its activities are indicative that both aims to enhance the levels of equality depicted in such organizations. Multitudes of theorists have revealed the difficulty encountered in managing diversity prior to the provision of adequate attention on the issue of equality. Therefore, they tend to believe that the issue of equality is a prerequisite to improving productivity in an organization (Walsh 2007, p. 308). As a result, they fail to note any significant difference between the traditional EO policies and managing diversity. However, after an informed scrutiny of the two, it is clear that a difference occurs. This is because one of them endeavors to eliminate the cultural diversity while managing diversity utilizes such diversity to augment an organization’s productivity. The issue of equal opportunities has raised many questions and feelings in many organizations globally. Therefore, the issue of globalization has brought different cultural groups to such countries. Therefore, organizations have been fighting the discrimination highly practiced due to differences race, and religion among other factors. However, the most common form of inequality is evident across the gender. The recent advancements in focusing the issue of inequality resulted to the idea of managing diversity. Although a large proportion fails to note a difference between it and the EO policy, sources have depicted the ability to utilize the diversity of the workforce in augmenting production. References Acker, J 2006, Inequality regimes: gender, class, and race in organizations, Gender and Society, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 441-464. Barak, M 2010, Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace, SAGE, Thousand Oaks. Dickens, L 2007, The road is long: thirty years of equality legislation in Britain, British Journal of Industrial Relations, pp. 463–494. Gilbert, J et al 1999, diversity management: a new organizational paradigm, Journal of business ethics, vol. 21, pp. 61-76. Sonia, L 1997, Two routes to managing diversity: individual differences or social group characteristics, Employee Relations, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 11 – 26. Walsh, J 2007, Equality, and diversity in British workplaces: The 2004 workplace employment relations survey, Industrial Relations Journal, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 303–319. Read More