Diversity Management as Beneficial For Employees - Essay Example

Managing Diversity Introduction The expansion and development of an organization is dependent upon diversity and changes in management practices. It is examined that diversity has led many organizations to progress by leaps and bounds. The spectrum and horizon of organization is expanded by diversity. Organization focuses on various factors of diversification such as product diversity, employees, management practices etc. The intention of the organization for diversification remains to maximize profits and increase productivity. It is examined that the effects of diversity are beneficial for the organization, but not for employees. The major factor of this argument prevails that employees had to work even harder and fruits are solely enjoyed by the organization (Wrench, 2005, p. 75). The purpose of this study is to evaluate that either diversity management is beneficial for employees too. What sorts of benefits an organization gains by diversity and how it is damaging for employees. Critical in depth analysis of diversity management impact on employees and organization is discussed by gauging relevant reviews of research analysts. The key objective of this research work is to clarify ambiguities about diversity management. Critical evaluation and conclusion of this research is decisive to present the real market review. Impacts on Organization Organizations tend to diversify in order to expand business operations and activities. The motto behind this move is to generate revenues, build stronger human resource management department, systemize operations and explore new markets. Diversity can be very beneficial if it is done in the right way. Diversity management ensures that greater productivity through employees can be gained (Ivancevich and Gilbert, 2000, p. 83). Engaging people from diverse cultures and giving them the opportunity to work in the organization depicts that organization is an equal opportunity firm and is against racism. Positive image of organization is spread in the market. Problem solving in management decisions are some of the fruits of diversity management. Creativity and innovation is practiced which brings new revolutionary ideas for the firm to expand its operations. Moreover new products are formulated and every employee tries its best to be a useful asset for the firm (McKay and Avery, 2005, p. 334). Diversity gives organization an opportunity to compete globally as they are employed with staff from all around the world. Globalization of business is fundamental for an organization. Employment of diverse cultural individuals brings different perspective to the firm. New business and organizational strategies are build which are indispensable. The conflict of ideas would give management a chance to examine new perspectives and ways of resolving an issue (Yang & Konrad, 2011, p.24). Teamwork of different nationals would prevail global harmony, understanding and respect for others. The homogenous mixtures of various individuals would eventually develop a blend of novelty, improvement, exclusivity and exceptionality (Shen & Monga, 2009, p.238). Effect on Employees The circumstances of diversity for organization are promising but the situation of employees is quite different. The blending of different nationals would create conflicts within the employees. There are several norms and values which are highly respected in one culture. Those values many not be tolerated in other cultures would eventually create conflicts and resentment environment would prevail in the department (Adra and Fleming, 2011, p.190). Supervisors favor employees of same ethnicity and nationality which creates injustice and inequality. For instance the organization has African and American employees and the supervisor of operations department is an American. Nepotism element arises when the supervisor does not promote hard working African employee and prefer an American due to his race, color and ethnicity. There are several corporate examples which portray such circumstances. Moreover the nature of organization also plays an eminent role. Chinese organizations always have Chinese employees as high officials and dignitaries. Although they claim to be a global firm and equal opportunity organization but these cases are very common. This things de motivates hardworking employees as they do not get value for their efforts (Greene & Kirton, 2009, p. 71). Employees have to adopt an entirely new ideology and organizational structure which is often difficult to digest. Adjustment of employees in an offshore organization takes time. The local employees discourage and depress the new employee by passing race, color and ethnicity remarks. Diversity in an organization is good but managing diverse population is a hectic job. Every culture has differences and it is not important that every employee would respect others by their respective religion, race, color, tradition and cultures. Miscommunication among the employees is also observed. For example Japanese corporate culture has different ways of agreeing to a business decision and American has rather formal ways of dealing with such scenarios. Japanese employee working in an American organization may mislead fellow employees due to his previous management practices (Magoshi and Chang, 2009, p.34). The culture of giving employees voice attention is not practiced in some corporate environments. For instance Chinese employers are introvert and do not ask employees for input in managerial and business decisions. American employers give the chance to split out ideas. An American working in Chinese company would face this difficulty as Chinese management considers this ethically and morally wrong (Greene & Kirton, 2009, p. 93). Strategic Initiative Organizations should tend towards diversity management by taking adequate strategic initiatives first. To increase productivity and diverse workforce, strategic planning is the name of the game. Continuous learning for employees through training and development sessions is essential. Employment of newly appointed diverse national employees should undergo training sessions first. Training session should indulge employees in mentoring, shadowing and other essential learning activities. Understanding corporate management culture of the organization is the intention behind this activity. Liberal change, radical change and transformational change are the three major areas of strategic initiative planning (Özbilgin & Tatli, 2008, p.42). Liberal changes discuss that firm should ensure that it is an equal opportunity organization. Employees must be given confidence to work freely and attain their righteous rewards by working hard. Skills of employees must be encouraged and promotion of employees must be done on equal basis. Watching over ethnicity, race and color should not be the motto of organization while promotion but only performance should be judged. Fair labor market practices prevalence is the agenda of liberal change. The radical approach discusses that balanced workforce should be deployed in the organization and there should be transparency in the reward system. The aim of radical approach is to benefit employees in every possible way. The announcement of quotas in the firm is one of the main points of this approach. Radical approach is more practical than liberal approach (Cadotte, 2011, p.1068). Transformational change focuses on recruitment and selection of employees thoroughly. Young employees tend to work more motivationally and enthusiastically in the firm while old employees are not that sharp. This approach illustrates that old employees should be replaced by the younger blood for short term business success. However there is no match for experience hence expertise of old employees is beneficial. Transformational change is more organizational friendly rather than employees (Bassett, 2005, 170). Critical Evaluation The above illustrated points and reviews of professionals and experts demonstrate that diversity can be beneficial for employees too, if necessary actions are taken at the workplace. It is a matter of common observation that human being is more or less biased and this behavior is engraved in him. To make an organization a real equal opportunity firm; evaluation through performance scores should be measured and the hard worker should get reward for his services. Nepotism abolishment is imperative and essential as this de motivates employees. Organization however also faces problems due to diversity and eventually make things work by implementing strong rules and regulations (Choi, 2009, p.624). Diversity is important for every organization and employees too. Employees get a chance to collaborate with different cultural individuals which not only transfers knowledge, wisdom and intellect but also eradicates barriers among cultures. Conclusion Diversity management is not that bad at all. The argument that diversity is damaging for employees has not strong basis as it gives opportunities to employees to compete equally and enthusiastically. Verily the fruits of diversity are cherished by the organization mostly but employees get a chance to interact and gain vital information. Diversity management has so far demolished barriers among nations and people have come closer to each other. The misconceptions and ambiguities about certain races and cultures have been also eradicated. An atmosphere of mutual harmony and respect can be seen. World has become global village due to diversification. There are black sheep present in every community so diversity management can be destructive too, but the ratio is very minimal. Suggesting diversity management as immoral and unethical due to the presence of certain black sheep does not mean that this system is wrong. Focus on the positive aspects of it must be also kept in mind. There have been several cases around the world where transfer of knowledge, power and technology has brought useful results for companies and countries. Successful firms like Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, and Coca Cola have employed diverse employees who get attractive salary and packages. Thus diversity management is the name of the game for company’s success and triumph. References Wrench, J. 2005, Diversity management can be bad for you. Race & Class, 46(3), 73-84. Ivancevich, J. M., & Gilbert, J. A. 2000, Diversity Management, Time for a New Approach. Public personnel management, 29(1), 75-92 McKay, P. F., & Avery, D. R. 2005, Warning! Diversity recruitment could backfire. Journal of Management Inquiry, 14(4), 330-336. Yang, Y., & Konrad, A. M. 2011, Understanding diversity management practices: Implications of institutional theory and resource-based theory. Group & Organization Management, 36(1), 6-38. Shen, J., & Monga, M. 2009. Managing diversity through human resource management: an international perspective and conceptual framework. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(2), 235-251. Adra, S. F., & Fleming, P. J. 2011, Diversity management in evolutionary many-objective optimization Evolutionary Computation, IEEE Transactions on, 15(2), 183-195. Greene, A. M., & Kirton, G. 2009, Diversity management in the UK: organizational and stakeholder experiences (No. 21). Routledge. Magoshi, E., & Chang, E. 2009, Diversity management and the effects on employees’ organizational commitment: Evidence from Japan and Korea. Journal of World Business, 44(1), 31-40. Özbilgin, M., & Tatli, A. 2008, Global diversity management: an evidence-based approach. Palgrave Macmillan. Cadotte, M. W. 2011. The new diversity: management gains through insights into the functional diversity of communities. Journal of Applied Ecology, 48(5), 1067-1069. Bassett‐Jones, N. 2005, The paradox of diversity management, creativity and innovation. Creativity and Innovation Management, 14(2), 169-175. Choi, S. 2009. Diversity in the US federal government: Diversity management and employee turnover in federal agencies. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 19(3), 603-630. Read More