Advantages and Business Imperative of Diversity Training Programs - Essay Example

DIVERSITY TRAINING PROPOSAL In the past, the work environment for business organizations man that employees especially those that are different or new must fit in. This kind of work environment, however, is starting to be displaced by new model having been found to be ineffective. Today, there is an increasing expectation that all individuals in an organization must learn to value diversity. Such attitude in people and in organizations has been proved to have positive benefits for organizations especially in terms of the capability of the workforce to deliver better output and better attitude towards work and the company they are working for. Advantages The importance of diversity as an integrated element in the corporate strategy rests on the fact that operating from the premise that a corporate culture that is supportive of diversity of thought, perspective, and experience, enables a business organization to attract, motivate and retain the best employees and talent in an equally diverse global workforce. We see the efficacy of this strategy in the success stories of companies such as Hewlett-Packard, who have benefited by leading its sector in terms of innovation, competitive advantage and profitability. According to Susan Segal-Horn, diversity also exposes an organization and the workplace to multiple stimuli that allows it to develop diverse capabilities, and provides it with a broader learning opportunity than is available in a work environment without it. (p. 335) Enforcing diversity trainings enable teamwork among the workforce that would produce and encourage a group capable of asking new questions, perceive new insights and conceive new solutions. Here, being different is not something to be ashamed about but, in fact, something that is to be valued. With the training, employees are acquainted with this concept and expected to change their attitude towards diversity and tolerance. Indeed, it would be very difficult for a group to think about new ideas, think new thoughts, visions and mental models of how things work when members all share the same profile, background, thinking styles and experiences. Writing in this context, Robert Johnson and Douglas Bate, stated: An “outsider” added to this group will likely introduce a new way of looking at something, which will help the group break out their old patterns and consider new ideas. When the entire group is made up of “outsiders,” the possibilities for new thinking increase exponentially and expertise on the team will significantly enhance the group’s creative potential. (p. 86) Business Imperative The diversity training program of the North Carolina State University outlined several factors why diversity training could be financially beneficial to a company. To quote: 1. Return of Investment: Diversity initiatives can improve the quality of an organization’s workforce and can be the catalyst for better return on investment (ROI) regarding human capital. 2. New Customers: Employing resources that mirror the customers, benefits an organization. Diverse employees can understand customers, identify their needs and suggest potential new markets and new services. (p. 4) It is important to underscore that the training is not merely an opportunity for the company to be politically correct, just be simply sensitive to a broad representation of employees or in order to avoid age, racial or gender discrimination suits. Instead the diversity training should be considered as a creative process, with a goal to identify markets, products, and business models especially those that are not yet in existence. A full understanding of diversity, hence, becomes a necessity before a cross-cultural diversity training program could be developed and implemented. Diversity Issues With the above factors in mind, we now have a clear background and direction in regard to the development of a diversity training program for both the employees and the companies’ leadership This paper is proposing a training program that would cover all possible issues such as basic diversity awareness, affirmative action, equal opportunity, intercultural communication and dialogue, as well as the relationship of diversity to corporate culture, innovation and competitive advantage. The training that would be developed out of this issues would be designed according to three sets of training modules: 1) as part of the orientation of new employees; 2) the 6-day Diversity Training Certificate; and, 3) as a refresher course in the future for the reinforcement of the company integration of diversity into the corporate culture. Training Current Employees I am proposing a mandatory 6-day diversity certificate program for current employees. With the consideration of the fact that there had been no such training in the past, a comprehensive module should be created within this timeframe exploring, three basic diversity areas, namely: Knowledge. This aspect in the training would discuss the historical developments of diversity in the workplace, the causes of exclusion, cultural differences, and other related subject areas that would enable the employee to be aware about the issue, including the achievement of self-awareness in the context of his or her attitude towards diversity and the relationship of the concept to competitive advantage and innovation. This could take up to 1 day of training. Attitudes. After the comprehensive training on “knowledge” emphasis should now shift on concepts such as warmth, empathy, willingness to affect the environment and flexibility, among other behaviors that would foster diversity in the workplace. A specific model that is suggested to be introduced in this area is the Sensitivity Model. According to Frank Dukes, the goal of this program is generally not to develop agreement on specific issues; rather, it is to develop insight about the origins and power of one’s own identity, and understanding of and respect for the identity of others. (74) This area must also focus on applications and outcomes to reinforce the theoretical issues covered. This is the reason why it needs at least 2 days to complete. Skills. This part of the training would now discuss and teach employees skills so that the organization’s diversity objectives would be achieved. Such skills include communication, conflict management, dialogue, identifying stereotypes and eliminating it, sensitivity enhancement, prejudice reduction, among others. As with the other diversity trainings cited in this paper, resource persons would be the main source of information and skills. Specialists in diversity training, psychologists, among other authorities in the subject, hence, must be invited to conduct the training. These specialists could use, for the trainings to be efficient, six modalities in order for the participants to take in and process information successfully: 1. visual such as videos, slides, graphs, photos, demonstrations – the methods and media that allows the employees to learn through their eyes; 2. printed exercises and activities that enable participants to absorb the written word; 3. lectures and audiotapes – the aural method that allow participants to simply listen and take in information through the ears; 4. interactive activities that provide opportunities to talk and exchange ideas, opinions and reactions with fellow participants; 5. hands-on activities, model building – those that require the participants to handle objects or put things together; 6. role plays and physical games that involve psychomotor skills and movement from one place to another. (Lawson 2002, p. 10) New Employees Diversity training for new employees should be included in the orientation program. It must be underscored that this is separate from the Diversity Training Certificate and, hence, could only be short and implemented according to the orientation module. The goal of integrating this training is for the new employees to understand how diversity forms part of organization’s culture and how it works. In addition, it would enable new employees to reflect on their behaviors in the new work environment and discern where they fit within the awareness aspect in the company’s diversity initiatives. This training could take up about 3-6 hours of discussion covering issues such as: 1) the diversity objectives of the company; 2) how it forms part of the corporate culture; 3) the benefits of diversity for employees; 5) existing diversity rules and regulations; 6) an overview of the employee Diversity Training certificate. In addition, the Diversity Awareness Profile or the DAP should be utilized here. This model has been introduced by Karen Stinson (2007) introduces the concept of diversity and provides the language that can help new employees to think about it and talk about before and during the diversity training. (p. 2) This diversity program will technically serve as a preliminary training or workshop for the more institutionalized employee certificate program and so it would be used, as with the refresher trainings, to reinforce it. Refresher Training for All The diversity refresher trainings can be used as a tool in order to refresh the concepts discussed in the employee diversity training. This refresher diversity training is imperative because these reinforce the desired attitudes and behavioral changes once the employees returned to the workplace after the training. Furthermore, tracking and encouraging specific diversity activities reminds the workforce that the company is serious in its diversity initiatives. The issues to be covered here would be varied and would depend greatly on a series of diversity examinations, which would determine weak spots or problematic areas. These gaps would henceforth need to be addressed or reinforced. For instance, if the examination found that an employee displays heightened prejudice, then he would be subjected to a refresher course emphasizing issues, concepts and workshops classified under “attitudes” and “skills” contained in the Diversity Training Certificate. In addition, employees are allowed in these trainings to see their progress and determine the areas wherein they need help or coaching. New diversity trends, of course would also be covered. Employees could be subjected to these refresher activities at least once year and could span from 3 hours to 2 days, depending on the diversity examination results. This area in the company’s diversity training underscores the need for a permanent diversity training officer in the Human Resources department who would oversee and facilitate the employees training from the orientation, assessments, to the refresher trainings. Assessment Finally, diversity training is not going to be effective if there is an absence of a mechanism that would assess and evaluate the success of the training. Evaluation would always take the last part of the training modules. However, training should not be measured just by the review at the end of a training program. McLean-Conner stressed that a more rigorous measure should be used such as the one that emphasized on learning cycle time. (p. 32) For instance, how long after completing training does it take for an employee to manifest diversity values? Bassi and Russ-Eft (1997) suggested a comprehensive training audit that starts from the beginning of the training, as the baseline, then proceeding with the periodic audit with the help of a continuous report from the diversity training manager so that the progress is tracked and the issues requiring additional resources are identified. (p. 66) References Bassi, L. and Russ-Eft, D. (1997). Training and development practices: leadership development, conflict management, diversity training, technology training, behavioral modeling. American Society for Training and Development. McLean-Conner, P. (2005). Customer Service: Utility Style. PennWell Books. Dukes, F. (1996). Resolving public conflict: transforming community and governance. Manchester University Press. Lawson, K. (2002). New Employee Orientation Training. American Society for Training and Development. NCSU Office of Equal Opportunity. (2002) Diversity Training Proposal. NC State University. Retrieved 12 Jan, 2009 from http://www.ncsu.edu/odi/initiatives/DiversityTrainingWorkshopProposal.pdf. Segal-Horn, S. (1998). The strategy reader. Wiley-Blackwell. Stinson, K. (2007). Diversity Awareness Profile (DAP). John Wiley and Sons. Read More