The Role of the Diversity of Workplace Play in China - Dissertation Example

?Contents Executive Summary 2 2.Introduction 3 2 Background 3 2 1.Diversity 3 2 2.Equal Employment Opportunity 4 2.2.Aims and Objectives 4 2.3.Methodology 4 3.Literature review 6 3.1.Diversity 6 3.2.Diversity at the workplace 7 3.3.Importance of diversity 8 3.4.Diversity in China 9 4.Methodology 11 4.1.Research Strategy 11 4.2.Data Collection Method 11 4.3.Data analysis 12 5.Data analysis 13 5.1.Primary Findings 13 Question 1: 13 Question 2: 15 Question 3 17 Question 4 19 Question 5 20 Question 6 21 Question 7 23 6.Conclusion 26 7.Recommendations 28 7.1.Limitations of the research study 28 References 29 Appendix 33 Questionnaire 33 1. Executive Summary Diversity has become an important aspect for organizations in order to gain competitive advantage. Organizations across the world have started focusing on having diversified range of employees and this research study analyzes how the organizations in China use the concept of diversity. This research study analyzes diversity in the Chinese organizations and the role of diversity at the workplace. This research study identifies the benefits that the organizations can have by having diversity at the workplace. The researcher has used primary as well as secondary data to collect information regarding the topic under study. Primary data is collected using online questionnaire from different employees working in Chinese organizations. On the other hand, secondary data is collected from books, journal articles, and published papers. So, both primary and secondary data collection methods have helped the researcher in conducting a better research. 2. Introduction This research study focuses and analyzes the diversity of human resource in organizations and the role of diversity in the organizations particularly in Chinese organizations. The research study analyzes the overall situation at the workplace in different businesses in China in order to analyze how important businesses consider diversity of human resource. The research study identifies the impact on the workplace because of diversity and diverse human resource. Discrimination in the workplace can impact the quality of human resource as well as the productivity of the human resource thus it is important for businesses to have a diverse workplace in improving productivity. The research study collects primary data from a number of employees that are working in China in order to analyze whether the organizations in China focuses on diversity in the workplace or not. 2.1. Background 2.1.1. Diversity Diversity in an organization has been defined as an organizational culture that does not have any kind of discrimination on the basis of the gender, age, language, employment, caste, disability, religion, culture, geographical background, and other discriminatory factors of the employees (Esty, 1995). 2.1.2. Equal Employment Opportunity Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has been presented about discrimination of employees at the organizations. This federal law is aimed to protect the employees from discrimination at the workplace on the basis of religion, sex or national origin and other discriminatory factors. Equal employment opportunity (EEO) is defined as offering equal opportunities and equal treatment is given to all the employees in the organization without any kind of hassle or discrimination. It has been found that diversity has become an important aspect today for businesses as organizations that have diverse employees are more innovative, creative, plan things better, manage their operations in a better way and several other benefits. Thus, considering the benefits of diversity in an organization, businesses have started focusing on having human resource that belongs from different backgrounds. 2.2. Aims and Objectives The aims and objectives of the research study are as follows: Do organizations in China focus on having diversity of human resource at the workplace? What is the role of diversity of workplace? What is the impact and benefits of diversity at the workplace in organizations in China? 2.3. Methodology The data collection method used for this research study is the combination of primary research as well as secondary research. Primary research is conducted by gathering data through online questionnaire from different employees that are working in different organizations in China. By collecting data from employees in China, the researcher is able to gather data regarding the diversity at the workplace in different businesses operating in China. Besides the primary data collection method, the researcher has collected secondary data. Secondary data has been collected from different journal articles, books, published reports, and websites. Therefore the research study uses a combination of primary and secondary data. Thus the primary findings are compared with the secondary research and this has allowed the researcher to compare whether the primary findings are in accordance with the secondary findings or whether the primary data disagrees with the primary findings. 3. Literature review 3.1. Diversity Esty, et al. (1995) have defined diversity as acknowledging, accepting and valuing the differences among employees that are working in an organization from different class, gender, ethnic background, cultural background, religion, physical abilities, mental abilities, and other discriminatory factors. Green, Lopez, Wysocki, & Kepner, (2002) believe that globalization has a major influence on the organizations as globalization has influenced businesses to have more diverse workforce today. Jehn et al., (1999) believe that nationality is one of the important factors and organizations that accept and acknowledge the difference in nationality is also an organization that focuses on diversity. Globalization has changed the way how businesses across the world are operating. Globalization has allowed businesses to expand their offerings to different parts of the world wherever there is an opportunity. So businesses today are able to capitalize on the opportunities regardless of any geographical borders in order to maximize the profits. Green, Lopez, Wysocki, & Kepner, (2002) have stated globalization has encouraged businesses to become a part of world economy and businesses today do not operate in isolation. The same is the case with the human resource. Employees are now expanding their reach and they are moving to different parts of the world in order to maximize the opportunities they can have in their career. Human resource focuses to maximize the profits or their earnings on the basis of their skills and knowledge. This has resulted in more diverse employees working in organizations and people from different race, religion, culture, geographical background and gender are working in an organization. This has resulted in organizations to have human resource of diverse nature. 3.2. Diversity at the workplace Green, Lopez, Wysocki, & Kepner, (2002) believe that diversity has become important for businesses today. Moreover, Green, Lopez, Wysocki, & Kepner, (2002) believe that diversity would become more important in the coming years. Price (2007) has also emphasized on the importance of diversity in the organization today. According to Price (2007), diversity is an invaluable asset for the organization that can help in gaining competitive advantage. Redman, & Wilkinson, (2009) have stated that managing the diversity at the workplace effectively is a key component for the success. Price (2007) said that businesses in America cannot ignore diversity at the workplace. Redman, & Wilkinson, (2009) has also commented that if organization is able to manage the diversity at the organization effectively then it could help in improving the productivity. Different researchers have conducted numerous researches on diversity and its positive as well as negative impact on organizations. However, Pelled, Eisenhardt, & Xin, (1999) believe that there are more positives and benefits of having a diversified workforce in the organization. Moreover, Bell (2007) and Stewart (2006) believe that diversity is useful for organizations and particularly organizations that focus on team structure. Bell (2007) and Stewart (2006) believe that while working in teams, an organization is benefited if it has a diversified workforce as diversity allows the team to be more creative and open for new ideas. Organizations that discriminate the employees at the workplace are not able to provide a good and productive working environment. Esty, et al., (1995) believe that discrimination at the organization can not only hurt the morale and motivation of employees but at the same time it can hurt the working relationship of employees with the other employees as well as with the management. Green, Lopez, Wysocki, & Kepner, (2002) have stated that the negative attitude of the management with the employees can hurt the overall organizational culture. Moreover, they have further commented that the management should not discriminate or show any kind of negative behavior at the time of hiring, retaining, or even terminating. 3.3. Importance of diversity Diversity has become an important aspect for businesses today. Businesses that have diverse employees are able to do well than the businesses that do have diverse employees. There are number of benefits and importance of having diversity at the workplace. Diversity is not only important for the organization but it is also important for the employees working at the organization as well. Webber & Donahue (2001) have said that there is a strong relationship between the diversity of employees and the team performance. Harrison, Price, Gavin, & Florey (2002) have commented on the statement and findings of Webber & Donahue (2001) as they believe that there are different factors and conditions that influence this relationship of team. Pelled et al., (1999), on the other hand, believe that diversity is important particularly when the tasks assigned to the team are complex and non-routine. Organizations that hire employees from different cultural backgrounds and from different backgrounds are able to have a vast range or pool of employees and thus they are able to hire the best available talent without any kind of discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender or any other discriminating factor (Greer, & Virick, 2008). Moreover, when organizations are offering employment opportunities to everyone then it allows the organization to have not only the best talent, but this highly talented employees are able to work freely and without any kind of stress as they do not have issues and conflicts such as discrimination at the workplace (Bratton, & Gold, 2009). In addition to this, such organizations are also able to create an extended pool of employees that can help in coming up with better ideas and ways to solve issues (Guest, 1990). Thus, diversity can help the organization in a number of ways. John (2002) has said that the use of diversity at the workplace is critical and if the management is able to use it effectively then it could have long lasting benefits which can help the organization in gaining competitive advantage. 3.4. Diversity in China Diversity in the workplace has become an important part of organizations in China as well. Although, there is little diversity found in the organizations in China in terms of race as most of people working in China are from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore and other adjoining areas. So, most of these people belong from different geographical regions and cultures. Moreover, most of the people speak Chinese language and there is little difference in terms of the language as well. However there have been a number of researchers conducting in order to analyze the diversity of human resource working at the organizations in China. Researchers have concluded that there should not be any broad or generalized strategies for Chinese organizations. There is diversity in Chinese organizations in terms of the lifestyle, personalities, education, cultural backgrounds, work experience, family background etc. Thus this makes the workforce diverse. Zhou and Zeng (2008) have commented on this statement as according to them, these cultural differences in the Chinese organizations have made the managerial decisions complex. However, Zhang, Dolan, & Zhou, (2009) have commented that the decision making in the Chinese organizations have a major relation with the cultural values of China. The society of China is slowly but gradually is converging into a western culture. Understanding the Chinese culture is difficult and complex in nature. Tsui et al. (2004) believe that there is still a lot of research to be done in order to analyze the values of Chinese culture and more theories need to be developed. Chen (2007) has said that theories that have been developed from the Chinese context are more generalized to the world as the population of China is almost one third population of the world. 4. Methodology 4.1. Research Strategy Research strategy is defined as the strategy that the researcher adopts in order to conduct the research (Sekaran, 2006). Research strategy provides the guide way to the researcher in order to conduct the overall research (Saunders, Thornhill, & Lewis, 2009). So, if the research strategy is defined appropriately by the researcher, then it facilitates the researcher in conducting the overall research. Research strategy is the actions that the researcher takes to achieve the objectives of the research study (Patton, 2002). Research strategy defines a systematic way in which the aims and objectives of the research are conducted (Sekaran, 2006). In order to conduct this research, the researcher has defined the research strategy properly. The research strategy adapted by the researcher has helped in conducting the research and achieving the aims and objectives effectively. 4.2. Data Collection Method The researcher has used primary data collection method as well as secondary data collection method in order to gather the data for this research. Different researchers believe that the use of both these data collection methods help in gathering better knowledge and insights about the research topic under study (Jankowicz, 2005). Moreover, Bernard (2011) believes that a better research can be conducted if the researcher uses both these data collection methods. Glass (1976) has defined primary data as the data that has been gathered particularly for this research study by the researcher. On the other hand, Stewart (1993) has defined secondary data as the data that has already been collected but it is used by the researcher for this research. Primary data is collected from online questionnaire by the researcher. The researcher has used online medium in order to collect responses from different parts of China and people that are working in China. Thus, use of online questionnaire saves time and cost for the researcher in collecting primary data (Maylor, & Blackman, 2005). The researcher has collected data from different people that are working in organizations in China and a total number of 60 respondents have been selected for this research study. In contrast to the primary data, the secondary data has been collected by the researcher from different sources such as published reports, websites, journal articles, published papers and books. Thus, this has enabled the researcher in analyzing the primary findings with the secondary findings. 4.3. Data analysis The primary data collected by the researcher is analyzed using Microsoft Excel. It is critical to analyze the data properly using systematic techniques in order to make sure that the findings of the researcher are appropriate (Goddard, & Melville, 2004). The researcher has collected the data and excel is used to create different graphs to represent the information and data collected. 5. Data analysis 5.1. Primary Findings Primary data collected has been analyzed in this part of the research study. The questionnaire has been filled by a total number of 60 respondents from different parts of China. The findings from the primary data have been presented below: Question 1: Do you think diversity is important in today’s competitive environment? a. Yes b. No c. It has its pros and cons According to the primary data collected, it has been found that 29 of the respondents out of 60 respondents have said yes when they are asked whether diversity is important in today’s competitive environment. On the other hand, 17 respondents have said No on the same question. In addition to this, 23% of the respondents have said that diversity has its pros as well as cons. So, it can be said that the diversity is important in today’s environment as most of the respondents have agreed with the question but it must be dealt and managed properly. The following graph shows the response of the respondents on the first question of the questionnaire: Question 2: Do you think diversity can result in improving the productivity and creativity? a. Yes b. No c. To a certain extent The other question in the questionnaire is aimed to analyze whether diversity results in productivity of employees and in making the organization creative or not. The findings of the results reveal that there is a direct relationship with the diversity and productivity as well as creativity. 57% of the respondents believe that diversity results in higher productivity and creativity. On the other hand, almost one fourth of the respondents have said that diversity does not result in improving the productivity of the organization as well as it does not result in making the organization creative. In comparison to these findings, one fifth of the respondents have said that diversity can lead to higher productivity and creativity but only to a certain extent. So, it can be concluded that productivity and creativity can be achieved with diversity at the organization. The responses have been presented graphically below: Question 3 Do you believe that organizations in China focus on diversity? a. Yes b. No c. There are only some organizations that focus on diversity When the respondents were asked whether the organizations that are operating in China focus on diversity or not, then mixed results have been obtained. 37% of the respondents have said that the organizations in China focus on having diverse range of employees belonging from different cultures, geographical locations, different lifestyles, different family status, different educational background and experiences and several other differentiating factors. In addition to this, 35% of the respondents have said that there are only some organizations that focus on the concept of diversity. On the other hand, the remaining 28% of the respondents have said that organizations in China do not focus on diversity. So, it can be concluded that there are a number of organizations in China that focus on having diverse employees belonging from different backgrounds but still there are some organizations that do not follow the strategy of having diversity at their workplace. Question 4 Do organizations in China follow the concept of equal employment opportunity? a. Yes b. No c. Somewhat Equal employment opportunity is one of the most important concepts followed by organizations in United States. However, in China there are a number of organizations that do not follow this concept as one fourth of the respondents have said. On the other hand, almost one third of the respondents have said that the organizations in China focus on equal employment opportunity. Moreover, 43% of the respondents have said that the concept of EEO is somewhat followed by organizations in China. The responses of the respondents have been presented below: Question 5 Do you think diversity can help in gaining competitive advantage to Chinese organizations? a. Yes b. No c. To a certain extent Price (2007) stated that organizations can achieve competitive advantage by focusing on diversity at the workplace. The findings of the primary data conclude that more than half of the respondents believe that diversity is helpful and it can help the organization in gaining competitive advantage for the organizations operating in China. Moreover, one fourth of the respondents have said that diversity can result in gaining competitive advantage to a certain extent. So, the findings of the primary research are in accordance with the findings of secondary research conducted by Price (2007). It can be concluded that diversity can help the Chinese organizations in gaining competitive advantage. Question 6 Do you think there are more positives of diversity than negatives in organizations in China? a. Yes b. No c. It depends how the management uses diversity at the workplace There have been a number of researches conducted in order to analyze the positives and negatives of diversity and whether there are more positives of having diverse employees or there are more negatives of following the strategy of diversity. 40% of the respondents believe that there are more positives of following the strategy of diversity at the organization. On the other hand, 27% respondents are of the view that it depends how the management uses diversity at the organization as if the management handles the diversity effectively, then it will have more positives and less negatives whereas if the management does not use it effectively then it will have more negatives than positives. One third of the respondents believe that negatives are more than the positives of diversity. Question 7 Rate the following benefits in terms of importance of diversity at the workplace: (1 is the least important and 5 is the most important) Least Important Not So Important Somewhat Important Important Very Important Improved decision making Improved productivity More creative Organizations can have more skills from more employees and hire the best talent Extended pool of thinking There are number of benefits of diversity at the workplace. Organizations that have diverse range of employees are able to do better than the organizations that do not focus on diversity. Therefore diversity is important in today’s competitive environment and is required in order to be successful. Different factors have been analyzed and their importance is analyzed in this question of the research study from the respondents. Improved Decision Making 35 respondents out of 60 respondents consider improved decision making as an important benefit of diversity at the workplace. Out of these 35 respondents, 15 respondents consider this as very important benefit and the remaining 20 respondents consider this as important. In addition to this, 14 respondents consider improved decision making as somewhat important benefit. On the other hand, a total number of 11 respondents consider improved decision making as not beneficial. So, overall it can be said that diversity results in improved decision making. Improved Productivity Productivity of the organization is enhanced if the organization focuses on diversity. The primary findings have revealed that 38 respondents agreed with this as they consider the improved productivity as an important benefit. 17 respondents consider this is very important benefit of diversity whereas 21 respondents consider this as important benefit. Moreover, 11 respondents have said improved productivity is somewhat important benefit of diversity. 11 respondents do not consider improved productivity as important benefit of diversity. More creative 11 respondents highly believe that organizations that focus on diversity are more creative. Moreover, 17 respondents believe that organizations that focus on diversity are creative and it is an important benefit for organizations that focus on diversity. On the other hand, 24 respondents consider creativity as somewhat important benefit for these organizations. 8 respondents do not consider this as beneficial factor for organizations that focus on diversity. Hire the best talent Almost two third of the respondents believe that organizations that have diverse employees are able to hire the best available talent. 11 respondents have said that it is somewhat important benefit for such organizations. 10 respondents consider this as not an important benefit for these organizations. Extended pool of thinking available Organizations that hire diverse employees are able to have an extended pool of employees. 14 respondents consider this as very important benefit of diversity whereas 27 respondents consider this as important benefit of diversity. 11 respondents consider this as relatively important benefit. On the other hand, 7 respondents consider this as not so important benefit and 1 of the respondents have said this as the least important benefit. 6. Conclusion This research study analyzes about the diversity at the organizations operating in China. The findings of the research study have revealed that there are a number of organizations that have realized the benefits of having diversity at the workplace. However there are still some organizations that do not focus on diversity. Employees that are working in China belong from different cultural backgrounds, educational backgrounds, geographical backgrounds, lifestyle, family backgrounds, experience, and other factors however most of the employees belong from same kind of race. Employees in China belong from Singapore, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and other adjoining areas. Thus, there is little racial difference or diversity. So, diversity at Chinese organizations is in the form of lifestyle, experience, family background, educational background, geographical background but not the racial differences. There are a number of organizations in China that have diverse employees however there are still some organizations that have not realized the benefits of diversity at the workplace. Diversity has become an important aspect of organizations that are operating in today’s competitive environment. Diversity allows the organization to avail different benefits and organizations that focus on diversity are able to do better than those organizations that do not have diverse employees. Organizations around the world have started focusing on having diverse employees as they have started realizing the benefits of diversity at the workplace. However, it is important to use the diversity of employees effectively in order to be successful. Thus, the role of diversity is important at the workplace however the strategies and policies adapted by the management is critical in making it successful. Diversity at the workplace is beneficial for the organization as it has number of benefits. Diversity at the workplace allows the organization to have diverse range of employees belonging from different backgrounds. This allows the organization to have an extended pool of employees and talent and thus the management can hire the best available talent for the organization. As the organization will hire the best available talent, thus it will help in improving the productivity. Diversity also results in improving the creativity level of the organization. Moreover, as the organization will have extended pool of employees thus it will have better employees and more analytical skills which will help in improved decision making. Diversity also helps the organization that focus on team structure and team work. Diverse employees can do better in a team and can be very helpful in solving complex tasks and projects. Therefore there are number of benefits of diversity at the workplace that can help the organization in gaining competitive advantage. 7. Recommendations 7.1. Limitations of the research study The limitations of the research study can impact the findings of the research. Thus it is important to identify the limitations of the research study and discuss them (Pelissier, 2008). One of the limitations of this research study is that the researcher has used only one primary research data collection method. Thus, using more data collection methods the findings could have been further improved. In addition to this, there are only 60 respondents consider for this research study, so by increasing the respondents the findings of the research can be enhanced. References Bell, S. T. (2007). Deep-level composition variables as predictors of team performance: a meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 92, no. 3, pp. 595. Bernard, H.R. (2011). Research Methods in Anthropology, 5th edition.  AltaMira Press Goddard, W., & Melville, S. (2004). Research Methodology: An Introduction, 2nd edition. Blackwell Publishing Pelissier, R. (2008.) Business Research Made Easy. Juta & Co. Bratton, J. & Gold, J. (2009). Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, 4th edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Chen, C. (2007). Chinese management workshop. 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Do you believe that organizations in China focus on diversity? a. Yes b. No c. There are only some organizations that focus on diversity 4. Do organizations in China follow the concept of equal employment opportunity? a. Yes b. No c. Somewhat 5. Do you think diversity can help in gaining competitive advantage to Chinese organizations? a. Yes b. No c. Somewhat 6. Do you think there are more positives of diversity than negatives in organizations in China? a. Yes b. No c. It depends how the management uses diversity at the workplace 7. Rate the following benefits in terms of importance of diversity at the workplace: (1 is the least important and 5 is the most important) 1 2 3 4 5 Improved decision making Improved productivity More creative Organizations can have more skills from more employees and hire the best talent Extended pool of thinking Read More