Management Diversity and Equal Opportunity - Article Example

Management Diversity and equal opportunity. The massive changes in economic and business approaches since the late nineties have led to the internationalization of business entities. Possibilities of business expansion to an international level and liberalization of business strategies of leading countries has put forward many options towards diversity with in the working groups, day to day business operations and the procedures and practices involved. This diversity poses various challenges in terms of maintaining equal opportunities within the team. The human resource management operations are forced to get amended in order to get across the challenges raised by the possible diversity in terms of maintaining equal opportunity within the working team. Valueing and managing diversity requires policies, procedures, relationships and practices that will ensure fairness and equality. (Rice K,2007) However on the other side the scope these diversities in the business environments can be made use to effectively improvise the organisation's performance. In totality, the success of an organization in adapting to the diversity would directly depend upon the equal distribution of opportunities in terms of responsibilities, benefits, career opportunities and personal respect among the team. Diversity in Modern Business Scenarios Advancement in technology, travel options, communications and liberalization of international business regulations has incorporated numerous possibilities of conditions with diverse natures within the work environment. This trend was found to increase in the early nineties. The transference of a command driven economy to a market driven one, sheltered markets to competitive ones, domestic trade to international trade and the trend of monopoly to the trend of competition has extensively made possible the chances and demand of diversity in the business setup and processes involved. However these chances and demand are expected to have an upward trend in the coming years as well. In the modern business scenarios, diversity has been observed in the following areas. Cultural Diversity A modern definition of culture is "the shared ways in which groups of people understand and interpret the world (Fons & Charles 1997,p.3-4). A diversity in the interpretation and understanding as defined by Fons & Charles is being experienced in the human resources of business entities mainly due to the resultants of globalisation namely in- sourcing and out-sourcing. Moreover the policies on exchange of manpower among different nationalities promoted by the shortage of skilled manpower in many countries have led many companies to hire people belonging to different countries with diverse cultures. International educational opportunities are also increasing the availability of multi-cultural man power. The diverse understanding of business procedures and varied interpretation of management scenarios by this multi-cultural workforce adds complex cultural diversity to the work environment. Inter personal relationship The modern work groups hold much diversity in their inter-personal relationship attitudes. Although this may vary from person to person, the range of the diversity is much high with reference to the modern work groups which includes staff from different countries and cultures. Christopher & Diana (1996, p75) have mentioned seven factors concerning to the human relationships including time, space, odors, frankness, intimacy of relationships, values and expression of emotions. When an employee or a group from a particular part would insist on punctuality, others from different part of the globe would not pay much importance for time. Space is also viewed differently by different people. When some need to be close to their colleagues some others would prefer to keep a distance. Frankness is another factor which can bring in diversity in inter-personal relationships among the staff. High-context cultures are more frank than low-context cultures. (Lesikar R & Flatley M 2002,p.442). Intimacy among the staff also brings in diversity in the team as some may limit themselves to strict social and some times economic classes whereas others would like to interact without restrictions. The definitions on the role of the women in the work group, relationship in between superior and subordinate all can be expected to be diverse within the team. The attitude towards work, value for authority, work quality and honesty also can differ with in the workgroup. Members of the team may respond differently to the emotional expressions as well. Language Diversity An international workforce can expect a wide diversity in languages. Even though there may be a common language acceptable to the company, the capacity of each staff would differ with reference to the expertise in that language. Even the same language can have Grammar and Syntax differences in different regions. Adding to the language diversity, the same words or phrases may mean different in different cultures. Diversity in Capacity and Knowledge standards As workforce would include people educated from different countries and universities of differing standards, their capacity and knowledge standards also will have wide diversity. Though the intake process would have involved standardized screening techniques, as the definition of these standards itself is different for different educational scenarios, diversities are still sure to be present. Challenges and scopes in equal opportunity distribution in terms of Management Diversity The realization of diversities in the business scenarios poses a number of challenges in front of Human Resource Managers. Ashwatappa (2002, p.563) has broadly identified the following challenges which are faced by the Human Resource Managers. This section of the essay describes these challenges on equal opportunity distribution and also suggests the methodologies to ensure equal opportunities. Globalisation Market capitalism guides every economy on the earth: goods and services flow across borders more freely than ever; vast information networks instantly link nations, companies and people. The result is twenty first century capitalism. (Wayne1998 p.642). The internationalisation of business has put forth diverse challenging situations in front of the Human Resource Managers in terms of unfamiliar laws, languages, practices, competitions, attitudes, management styles, work ethics and more (Ashwatappa 2002, p.564). Globalisation has demanded the Human Resource Managers to handle more diverse functions in taxation and also coordination of different departments with varied cultures and work practices. The heterogeneity of the work involved also has become more complex just as in the case of coordination of multiple salary currencies. More research and involvement on the differential personal needs of the staff including their housing and welfare is also much challenging. In the event of managing these diverse operations and to maintain the equality in opportunities among the team is quite a demanding job. In order to maintain equality in opportunity distribution in recruitment, leadership, allowances, remuneration and staff welfare with relevance to a diverse work group requires appropriate organizational policy and procedure preparation. However the process of globalisation is in turn a matter of scope for Human Resource Managers as it would enable them with the choice of a wide selection of manpower. This process has also equipped the managements with better connectivity with its counterparts across the globe which is within itself a scope for equal opportunity distribution. Globalisation has provided the personnel mangers with sufficient choices of capacity building processes for their staff as required by the opportunity sharing demand. Diversity with in the team enables the management a wider thought process with differential insights on varied market requirements which in turn is a possibility of distributing responsibilities and accreditation in accordance to the diversity in the team. Organisational restructuring The diversity in the work force often demands restructuring of the organisational procedures and policies. This is often interlinked with the restructuring like takeovers, mergers and joint ventures which happen while the multi cultural staff comes in. This challenge would be diverse as it includes changes in roles and assignments, transfers to new locations, changes in pay scale and other benefits, changes in the position hierarchies and changes in corporate culture. Proper strategies on promotions, transfers and opportunity management should be formulated. The study of strategic management emphasises on monitoring and evaluating environmental opportunities and threats in the light of corporation's strengths and weaknesses.(Donald H 1998,p.5). Ashwathappa K (2002, p.40) has explained the methodology of strategy formulation. In terms of opportunity distribution the strategic management would involve analysis of opportunities, threats and constraints and the formulation of strategies with relevance to this. Further these strategies have to be implemented and the same has to evaluated and control activities has to be taken so as to ensure that the opportunity distribution was equal and the organisation's objectives are achieved. Reorganising the institutional structure would increase the growth opportunity and the dimensions of the manpower. The Human Resource Managers also gets to avail the opportunity of faster decisions and faster market response as a result of corporate restructuring. The scope of better communication with in the work environment and outside it would be resulted due to this process. A reduction in manpower cost is one of the salient scopes of such reorganisations. These scopes in a diverse management condition further increase the chance of equal opportunity distribution. The workplace has to aim towards being a representative of the community it serves and should meet whole of government requirements for target groups. (Palamara A, 2008) Changes in Personnel Demographics A change in the average age of the staff, more presence of women and an increase in their role can be expected in diversified scenario of business. Human Resource Managers would be further challenged to address the welfare of increasing number of working mothers. The increased level of awareness among the staff would demand the capacity building of Human Resource Managers and the staff of personnel department to have capacity building accordingly. However the vigour of the youth would substantially contribute to the human resource of a company. The increased awareness is also a choice which can positively contribute to the innovation process. These added advantages of diversity in Personnel Demographics, plays a vital role in equal opportunity sharing. With the increased awareness and young vigour, the team would be more prone to realisation of responsibilities. The increased capacity of the team would enable responsibility and leadership sharing as well. Changes in Employee Expectations It should be taken to notice that as the diversity in the team increase so is the diverse chances awaiting the qualified staff outside the organisation. This realisation would enable the employees to expect more benefits and a better work environment. The expectation on equal treatments, basic rights and exposure would really challenge the Human Resource Managers. This challenge would persuade the Human Resource Manager to restructure the profile of the workers and to discover new methodologies of hiring, training, remunerating and motivating employees. These changes would improvise the work culture in totality and would positively affect the delivered results as well. When these change process is done through proper strategic management methodology it would aid proper sharing of opportunities. Greenberg J (2004) has suggested the use of a customisable employee satisfaction survey that provides comprehensive reporting as a handy tool to investigate on the efficacy of opportunity distribution. Inter-organisational Relations Strategy Increased and diverse institutional relationships of the organisation would demand the capacity building of the staff. Human Resource Managers will have to research upon the peculiar natures of the relative organisations and prepare the personnel accordingly. This capacity building process has an increasing demand in the business scenario as the crew has to be ready for global adaptation and deliverance. The Inter-organisational Relations Strategy has to be formulated with relevance to these demands. A proactive Inter-organisational Relations Strategy would enable the personnel department to convert the challenges into opportunities Ashwatappa (2002, p.568). The diversity in the team would come handy in managing the organizational relationships. A diverse collection of skills and experiences allows a company to provide services and communicate on a global basis.(Greenberg J, 2004) This resource utilisation would in turn aid the possibility of distributing opportunities with in the team in equality Result based performance The performance of the staff ultimately aiding the success of the ventures of the company has to be ensured by the Human Resource Managers. Managing and coordination of the staff becomes challenging when the diversity of the team comes into play. The magnitude of the challenge become more extreme as the ethical and social aspect of the performance also has to be ensured. It is the business organisations which make goods and services available, provide jobs, generate wealth, and lend stability and security to the people. Failure of organisations will affect the society, particularly the lowly placed people in the social hierarchy. (Ashwatappa 2002,p.570).Though this responsibility is the onus of each and every member of the work force, the diversity management among the team becomes crucial in order to address the social and ethical responsibility of the staff's performance delivering positively towards the organisation's successful performance. A consciousness on results, ethics and social impacts would not only be beneficial in terms of Human Resource Management, but also in terms of the corporate social responsibly of the organisation. An integration of the efforts of the team into a result based one would pose tremendous growth opportunities for the organisation which is directly related to an improvisation in human resource management. This integration would bring in unity in the thought process of the team which would help them understand the ethics in the distribution of opportunities. The result based approach would help them to identify opportunities by themselves minimizing the chances of inequality in distribution. The integrative policies in totality would bring in transparency in the opportunity distribution process as well. Attitude and Focus When a huge variety is involved in the human resource, the challenge of the personnel department and its manager would be to integrate their attitudes and to focus them in a single direction. Moreover each one in the team needs to mould their attitude and focus according to the changing global economic and business scenario. They may also need to develop a work culture to address the heterogeneity of the team environment This challenge if handled properly would take off a major burden from Human Resource Managers as it would replace the control system over the staff into self responsibility. A team with proper attitude and ethics would hear more to their moral responsibilities than to the official check systems established. It can also put on ease the communication systems, as the interpersonal communication would be improvised. Sharing of capacity, responsibility and leadership would automatically happen in such an environment.(Nair N & Oommen P 1994,p.M.1). When the attitude and the focus of the team are unified, the chance of opportunity inequality nullifies. Conclusion Modern business scenarios face with immense diversity in terms of Human resources and operation. The diversity in culture, inter personal relationships, language, capacity and knowledge standards pose numerous challenges on maintaining equality in opportunity distribution. However when these challenges are strategically dealt, the diversity of the team turn out to be beneficial in improvising the manpower resources. When the diversities are reflected in the form of Changes in personnel demographics, Organisational restructuring, Globalization, Changes in Employee Expectations, Inter-organisational Relations Strategy, Result based performance, Attitude and Focus, thee the process of maintaining equality in opportunity and treatment requires a careful approach. These challenges when dealt upon strategically would act as a scope for evolving improvisation methodologies with regard to the manpower. This strategical approach would involve process to ensure that the workplace environment fosters fairness and equity in employment and does not tolerate discrimination and harassment.(Palamara A, 2008) In totality, diversity though is challenging in terms of equality management, it poses acute chances of manpower development which in turn would affect the organisation and its activities in a positive way. 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