Diversity Training in Organizations - Research Paper Example

Diversity Training in Organizations al Affiliation The issue of organizational diversity has existed for decades and with each moment, challenges are faced. This paper reaffirms that diversity training is fundamental in creating awareness within an organization. The approach is based on how organizations value diversity and a business case. Diversity training provides an avenue for discussion and a strategy for a safe environment. This topic has not been frequently discussed by scholars and is therefore relevant in the current global environment. Beginning from various definitions and understanding of diversity training, the step by step discussion creates awareness of what the topic entails and informs the reader on the reasons as to why and how diversity training should be embraced. To have in-depth information, the paper has obtained relevant information from available books and scholarly articles. Even though diversity training is much applicable to current organizations, there are many challenges that have not been resolved thus it acts as detrimental a diverse group in a work environment. Whichever the case, organizations ought to appreciate the diverse nature of employees. Keywords: organization, diversity, training, employees Introduction Diversity has been a developing conception. The term specifically focuses on an individual through societal assemble. According to Kreitz, “many current writers define diversity as any significant differences that distinguishes one individual from another- a description that encompasses a broad range of overt and hidden qualities” (2007, p. 2). Discrimination in any workforce can be discouraging. It is the aim of any business to eradicate any form of discrimination within the workforce and create an environment that appreciates diversity (Awang, Shafie & Pearl, n.d.). It is quite important knowing that diversity does not necessarily cause differences. Gopta’s definition of diversity says it all “diversity is generally defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing & celebrating differences among people with respect to age, and ethnicity, and gender, physical & mental ability ” (2013, p. 36). Organizations are forced to use varied ways of managing diversity. Training is one of the strategies and it varies from one organization to the other. The definition given by an organization depends on how it understands diversity. The workforce diversity has become a major force in the working environment and has called for an immediate focus. Douglas observes that it has become necessary to have diversity initiatives to handle the demographic shift (2007). Diversity training is becoming an important component in workplaces and has reached a point whereby it is no longer observed as a social requirement, but rather an economic strategy with an intention of making business more competitive, and therefore the current managers are more interested in implementation of diversity initiatives in order to retain a workforce. The relevance of having diversity programs and trainings in organizations is to maintain a competitive working environment through enhancement of organizational workgroup and individual effectiveness (Lobel, 1999 as cited in Douglas, 2007, p. 1). The employees begin with making an awareness training, whereby people are sensitized on different values and norms of different backgrounds. This is based on gender, race, and age, social and economic factors. Other organizations go as far as handling diversity into social harassment (Douglas, 2007). The rate at which organizations have devoted their time to handle such issues has demanded both huge amounts time and finance, and employees may therefore be required to attend the trainings throughout their careers. Although diversity training has become a force worth noting due to the rising popularity in business entity, its’ resulting consequences on employees have not been worthy and some organizations have failed to take any measure. It calls for rigorous analysis for the organizations to know the effectiveness of their training. According to Douglas, “companies now realize they must attract, retain, and promote the full spectrum of people to keep the business running and competitive” (2007, p. 13). A report produced by researchers showed that organizations with diversity training programs reported better performance than their competitors (Herring & Henderson, 2014). Importance of Diversity Training Diversity training can bring many benefits to a company and the employees; it makes it possible for many considerable gains to be achieved. The management can be able to assign duties effectively to employees and at the same time, be able to carry out effective evaluation. The employees are made to have self belief and know their responsibilities. Through that, their participation in all sectors of economy will not be questionable. According to Herring and Henderson, “diversity training programs are associated with such positive outcomes as enhanced business performance, greater business productivity, and assessment of fairness in the job promotion process” (2014, p. 75). The employees can also be able to provide effective ideas and innovation through teamwork. As the employees motivation and innovation increases, job satisfaction is also on the rise. Professional commitment increases due to their full commitment to achieving success. There is an adverse improvement in the environment due to the increased communication and sharing of information. Through the diverse talent brought together, productivity gets a major boost; the employees are able to appreciate the efforts of each colleague, who makes a different kind of contribution in the workforce (Herring & Henderson, 2014). As the client relation improves, the company will be in a position to save finances. The customer’s loyalty is harnessed, which means customer conflict is reduced. In terms of competition, the company is at the pole position of offering healthy market competition both locally and internationally. The company will also be in a better position to cope with global dynamics. The primary aim of diversity training is based on the business needs and the perception of competition. Diversity initiatives have shown great importance making the manager see the connection between diversity management and underlying issues. This training is supported by the fact that many organizations need to retain effective workforce, as well as attract skilled workers. Diversity training creates an environment where the entire body of employees feels valued and appreciated and this contributes to their morale. It is worth noting that workplace diversity when not appropriately handled leads to conflicts and misunderstandings between employees. As argued by Elsaid, “conflict occurs due to differences of perception, ideas, behaviors, interest, attitudes, religious differences, political differences and unjustified distribution of resources” (2012, p. 164). Diversity Trainings Diversity training can be grouped into various sections such as awareness based training, skill based training and integration type. Diversity training may also take the form of educational training initiatives which prepare the concerned group with constructive participation as members of society; “the workplace initiative focus on cognitive and attitude outcomes” (Romanenko, 2012, p. 76). Awareness based diversity training: Diversity training is one of the exposures that employees get to encounter. It can be critical depending on how the organizations would want to achieve their diverse goals. It is normally referred to as the training offered to create awareness about the differences and the changes in the workplace. Awareness based training is among the most popular training aimed at increasing the employees knowledge and sensitivity towards diverse issues. The whole scenario is focused on creating awareness. Awareness diversity training promotes unity and acceptance among the employees of an organization by addressing cultural and structural issues. It is aimed at creating self-awareness to the participants through stereotyping and cross cultural intensification. Hodgetts and Hegar echo these sentiments by saying that “awareness-based training increases employees’ knowledge and sensitivity to diversity issues” (2007, p. 566). In many cases, the trainees are trained to familiarize with the demographic trends, as well as learn the benefits of varied workforce. They are then required to create more awareness on challenges faced by employees from different backgrounds. Through awareness training, the participants get to appreciate diverse cultural groups, values, behaviors and lifestyles. However, awareness alone may not be enough to change the behavior, skills as well as needs to be developed; blending of the two is desirable. Skill based training: this training intensifies skills developed in workers. This enables them deal effectively with diversity in workplace (Hodgetts & Hegar, 2007). Its focus is on changing the job performance. To achieve this, it has to lay emphasis on specific actions contributing to effective diversity management. Its main objectives are building interaction skills, reinforcing existing skills and promoting skill building methodologies. Skill based training encourages mutual learning, acceptance and understanding across cultures. This training can be directed towards employees, supervisors and managers. Skills trained need to be understood for proper application. Integrated based diversity training: it involves streaming learning objectives into training programs. The concept of integration takes place when diversity is implemented into training programs available within the organization, for example leadership programs and team buildings. The process of offering diversity training begins from assessing the employees through questions and investigations; it is a way of discovering knowledge and skills so that learning resources and methodology to be used for program is appropriate. Requirements analysis is one of the most important processes because it ensures that the issues of employees are understood first before anything else. The needs identified should be within the organizational goals. This is greatly significant and varies across many organizations. Every organization has its own culture shaped by the people who founded it, therefore understanding the organizational needs provide a basis of developing objectives that would meet those needs. This step is also particularly important because it gives the organization a direction and avoids unnecessary expenditures and failure to address the exact issue. In determining the needs, it is important that the organization carries out investigation on current practices and policies. To get relevant results, employees and managers need to be directly involved in the process. The process needs communication, involvement, time and dedication. Selection of a trainer is paramount because the issue at hand is very sensitive. It needs a person who is much aware of diversity issues, as well as the techniques that would lead to results. Although there are several diversity materials available for training such as videotapes and films, most organizations choose the use of consultants. Employees’ play a stake in choosing the trainer; a trainer needs to be the one whom can be respected by employees. Clements and Jones warns on the type of trainer to provide training, “trainers who delve into other people’s attitudes, values and beliefs when they are not skilled to do so can end up psychologically damaging the person they are trying to help” (2008, p. 9). Diversity training provides an opportunity to install an all inclusive environment whereby everyone can contribute to the growth of the organization. Diversity training undergoes several challenges and obstacles among them being time; time is an element dealing in workloads. Another barrier is the employee and management resistances. Some companies may not see the importance of diversity training because they already do well in the market, while others fail to have clear objectives. Diversity training is likely to encounter perception of threat related to social identity. This will likely affect both the dominant and non-dominant groups in the workforce. As suggested by Thomas, “non dominant group members, particularly those who belong to identity groups that have historically been marginalized, may be threatened by a diversity training program that ignore social identity difference” (2012, p. 32). It is assumed that the non-dominant groups leave their identity at the door and join the dominant group. The opposite may also occur; this is in the case whereby the diversity initiatives are meant to benefit the non-dominant groups, while ignoring the dominant one. Conclusion An organization becomes successful by becoming more adaptable, resilient and customer focused. Organizations that hire diverse workforces manage to withstand global challenges and are ready for market competition. Various researches and studies have linked diversity training and awareness to the success of organizations. A successful diversity approach is the one that creates a work environment that nurtures teamwork, enhances participation and increases cohesiveness to positively impact performance. Even with such advantages, the road to achieving diversity awareness is not simple and calls for an organized training team. It needs well formulated objectives with the right training staff. Reference List Awang, F., Shafie, Z. & Pearl, R. (n.d.) The Multicultural Organizations: Perceptions of Diversity Challenges and Initiatives. Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies. Retrieved from http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/131453.pdf. Clements, P. & Jones, J. (2008). The Diversity Training Handbook. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Douglas B. B. (2007).The Impact of Diversity Training in Organizations. Michigan: Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest. Elsaid, A. M. (2012).The Effects of Cross Cultural Work Force Diversity on Employee Performance in Egyptian Pharmaceutical Organizations. Business and Management Research, 1 (4), 162. http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/bmr.v1n4p162. Gupta, R. (2013). Workforce Diversity and Organizational Performance. International Journal of Business and Management Invention, 2(6), 36-41. http://www.ijbmi.org/papers/Vol%282%296/Version-1/D0261036041.pdf. Herring, C., & Henderson, L. (2014). Diversity in Organizations. London: Routledge. Hodgetts, R. & Hegar, K., (Eds.). (2007). Modern Human Relations at Work. Hampshire: Cengage Learning. Kreitz, P. A. (2007). Best Practices for Managing Organizational Diversity. Stanford University, Retrieved from http://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/getdoc/slac-pub-12499.pdf. Romanenko, A. (2012). Cultural Diversity Management in Organizations. Hamburg: Diplomarbeiten Agentur. Thomas K., M. (Eds.). (2012). Diversity Resistance in Organizations. East Sussex: Psychology Press. Read More