Intro to Third Sector - Article Example

? Intro to third sector Introduction Workplace diversity is essential for the success of any organization. Any business that strives to maximize their production must have a variety of people working for them irrespective of caste, creed, gender and religion. This bounder less behavior should be exhibited by the senior management of the organization on a daily basis. A very important question that arises in this regard is how much the leaders of change and diversity embrace the issue. The manner in which the senior management and the human resources department of an organization would approach and deal with the issue would determine how much the problem would be solved on a long term basis. The leaders of diversity should be passionate enough to understand the issue and they themselves should have a faith on what they intend to preach. An organization that is at a height of its success must have diverse human resources and the employees should experience a sense of fulfillment while they are working in the organization. In order to manage the diversity issues the senior management must stress or lend their focus on deciding the policies or their implementation that will impact upon the working culture. They must focus on the needs that will meet the requirements of the workforce and will contribute in maximizing the productivity. Therefore some of the skills required for the decision makers are an understanding of the diversity concepts as well as acceptance of them, recognition that the concept of diversity is in built in every aspect of the management process, a rough understanding of their own culture or identities, the willingness to change or break through the challenges that exist among the different diverse groups. So it can be stated that diversity is an integral part of the process of management. Some of the challenges that might be faced by the decision makers are how to make the work more appealing to the workforce so that they do not feel monotonous, the recruitment process should be diverted and can be directed to target workers from different cultural backgrounds, eliminating the bias if any from the interview and selection process. There are some advantages or bottom line benefits from promoting workplace diversity. One thing should be kept in mind that retaining of employees can be more difficult than selecting them. This is more true in case of companies which has offices in different parts of the world and the isolated employees or the minority group may feel disconnected. IBM is such an organization that practices diversity leadership and encourages workplace diversity, non- discrimination and work life balance in the organization. Since its inception the company has presented several examples of this open-mindedness and the culture of the company is such that it makes a statement to the entire world about the way any business should be run. Discussion Instances of courageous diversity leaders are not uncommon in the world in different fields. For example Jackie Robinson being a sportsperson could preach the message to the entire community that people should take players in a team based on their talent rather than the color of their skin. It is the performance that matters to the individuals rather than the ethnicity and background from where they come from. There are many cases in IBM which proves that the company promotes the diversity in the behavior of the senior management and the employees. There are different cases of diversity that the companies face. First of all, there is gender discrimination in most of the organizations. Despite comprising half of the human population of the world, the companies do not hire women in a consistent ratio compared to men. Discrimination exists in cases of promotion of women. Most of the top executives of the companies are men. Very few women are actually allowed to take part in the decision making process in the top management. Secondly, the world at present is a global village where people from different backgrounds and ethnicity work. Harmony should be maintained people of different religious beliefs and an environment of cultural symbiosis should be upheld. Thirdly, the coexistence of GLBT people be supported and an organization should have polices for each and every community irrespective of their presence in the organization. It should not be approached only as and when the problems arise. Thirdly, the culture of an organization should not vary from country to country and across continents. Uniformity in the culture should be maintained across the strategic business units in different continents. A person who is working in the American office of a multinational company should experience similar organization culture and attitude from the co-workers as the person who is working in its Asia Pacific business (Childs, 2005). The information technology and consulting company IBM has been trying to promote this diversity in the workforce throughout its inception. The leaders of IBM in different era of its business have encouraged the agenda and have been instrumental in formulating policies that serve the interest of all the communities of the world irrespective of caste, creed, gender and religion. For fulfilling the needs of the customers in the most dedicated way the company aims at having a work life balance for the employees. The leaders not only promote diversity in the daily business and the culture of the organization, they also make sure that the employees are encouraged to carry forward the ideas that are presented by their guides through tolerance for other communities. The company is an equal opportunity employer that does not put women, disables or the dark-skinned in the background. The company aims at getting the best talent for the company that would bring innovative ideas and responsibilities in all the work that they deliver. Personal Reflection In the article the author has presented issues relating to discrimination at workplace and how different organizations tackle the issue. I feel that the issue can been carried forward in the writing in a nice way citing the case for IBM. IBM is a unique example of an organization that practices the promotion of equal opportunity among the people of different backgrounds. The policies that the company has formulated also shows that the change and the diversity leaders really want to implement these ideas at every level of the organization rather than keeping it in the theoretical form only. In my opinion it is an extremely mature case study that investigates the different issues and provides and insight to the readers and the other business about how to practice the cultural diversity through proper leadership, formulation of policies and inculcating the appropriate behavior in the organization culture and the employees. Summary It may be summed up by saying that the examples organizations like IBM and their leaderships have portrayed to the entire world should act as a guidance and encouragement for the organizations already existing or planning to be set up. The promotion of the ideas should not be restricted to internal scope of the organization but the message must be spread through the adopting of corporate social responsibility measures that would be beneficial to people outside the organization as well. Companies should set goals for them to achieve this and all the employees of the organization should try to attain the goal. Unless they aim very high they cannot reach their desired levels that can actually change the way the world is perceived at present. The cooperation of people from all the spheres of the world and from various caste, creed, religion and sexual orientation is essential for the success of this agenda. Reference Childs, J. T. (2005). Managing Workforce Diversity at IBM: A Global HR Topic That Has Arrived. Human Resource Management, Vol. 44, No. 1, Pp. 73–77. Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/Education/hreducation/Documents/44-1%20Childs.pdf. Read More