The Advantages and Disadvantages of Diversity in the Workplace - Essay Example

DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE By Diversity in the Workplace Introduction It is prudent that indeed business skills and other core competencies are concentrated on particular groups of persons. Ideally, in the corporate world you will find that certain types of business or technologies are prevalent in a given group of individuals. It is because those skills that enable that kind of business to flourish are engrained within that particular group. Conversely, the cohesion that is created by like-minded people or rather people who share the same skills, knowledge, competencies tend to form a more formidable business organization as opposed to the one developed by a diverse group of individuals. Evidence from real life situations has enough proof to affirm the notion that indeed business skills or any other competencies are concentrated in a particular group. The example of Google being an idea of American geeks not only supports the argument but also cements the notion that if by any chance the founders of Google included persons outside the California geeks then the aftermath would have been something less than the largest internet search engine that we have today (Thomas, 2005). Diversity in the workplace is crucial since the firm will benefit from a pool of talent from varied personalities whose contribution will enhance the quality of ideas that will be contributed to the process of decision-making. Furthermore, it increases specialization and division of labour in the organization since each has his/her competency. Thus, in order for the firm to leverage from the varied skills of its personnel, it will allocate duties based on personal competencies of the employees thus increasing the overall performance of the company. The motivation, in this case, is the competencies that the individuals bring on the table rather than their composition. Critics of this argument claim that diversity is an essential element in the workplace as it brings together a mix of talents, ideas, and skills that when combined will realize better results. However, it is worth noting that teamwork can also be made possible between the particular groups that possess the desirable business skills. It is prudent to understand the fact that despite desirable business skills concentrating on specific groups of people it does not imply that the individuals are level in all other aspects. Each among the team has his/her distinctive competency on top of the particular business skills that brings them together. It is from their secondary diversity that they can form a group that is going to flourish given the fact that they share a number of aspects that forms the basis of their cohesion (Paludi, 2012). Conversely, in diversified workplaces the primary intention is to have a pool of individuals from various groups to satisfy the aspect of heterogeneity in the organization despite the fact that the individuals may be disjoint to one another in the process of achieving the objective of the organization. The fundamental motivation of any business firm is to have a team of members that share common traits, skills and competencies that can create cohesion in order to attain the set goals. Diversity in the organization will lead to the emergence of sub-groups within the larger team in terms of race, gender, age, etc. Thus derailing the achievement of the objectives of the firm as the sub-groups will often distract cohesion hence disintegrating the cohesion within the firm (Cornelius, 2002). Advantages of Diversity in the Workplace A diversified workplace has different perspectives that will tend to solve issues better and more efficiently. People come from various backgrounds with varied experiences, thus when they come together as a group in a workplace setting they tend to have multiple perspectives in handling matters regarding the job since the different situations that each has undergone will give an informed advantage of what steps to make to ensure the best results are obtained (Fegley, 2006). The businesses that have employed diversity in their workplace tend to have a broader coverage that stretches to all areas where its staff comes from. It is from this premise that a diversified team of employees will be in a better position to handle a broad range of customers thus enabling the firm to expand its operations beyond cultural and racial barriers depending on its employee composition. Ideally, due to the various ideas and perspectives that a diversified workplace possesses the firm will be in a better position to adapt changes that might occur in the business environment since different ideas will come up to ensure it fits in changing business dimensions (Crosby and Stockdale, 2003). Disadvantages of Workplace Diversity Diversity in the workplace means a combination of people from various races, age groups, educational backgrounds just to name but a few. The idea enhances a risk of discrimination among the employees as they will be able to distinguish themselves depending on the prejudices that differentiate them from each other. In so doing they will eventually form sub-groups under the larger team and thus works against each other to pursue their individual goals and in the long run the cohesion of the firm will have been lost hence leading to business failure (Weiss, 2007). Conversely, there will be problems with internal communication since organizations that have a diversified workplace will be prone to barriers occasioned by race and language and thus leading to disjoint between the modes of communication between various employees. The communication techniques that are utilized for conventional interaction might not apply to people from particular cultural backgrounds; thus it will be difficult for the business to engage its team in effective communication to achieve its mandate. Furthermore, diversity will lead to resistance to change as some group of people that are not like minded may opt to cling to the traditional methods of operations in an organization thus acting as hindrance to new ideas or techniques that may be introduced with the aim of enhancing efficiency in the firm (Daly, 1998). Examination of G4S UK and China Mobile G4S is a United Kingdom based company that mainly deals with offering security solutions to firms that perceive security to be a core competency in their operations. Diversity and inclusion is one of the objectives that the company implements thus issues of inclusivity in its employees is highly regarded. The company works to attract the widest pool of skilled manpower and talent to make its human resource composition reflective and connective with the customer base that it is serving. Over the years, the company has implemented strategies that are meant to enhance a diversified staff structure by incorporating people from all divides to come up with a comprehensive inclusion formula that will be emulated by other businesses. In that light, G4S has implemented training on diversification and integration to make its employees aware of the new developments and the need for diversity and inclusivity in the organization to spur performance. Relatively, it has made some initiatives to promote cultural understanding by creating an on-line portal through which its employees and the general public can access information and offer feedback regarding workplace diversity policies that it is implementing. The organization has done a number of publications that emphasize on the same notion (Konrad, 2006). G4S has also developed an assessment tool that assists businesses to develop approaches that are driven by diversity in their workplaces. The tools can be used to assess the current situation of the firms concerning workplace diversity and provide relevant interventions that can be done to correct the situation. That notwithstanding, in line with its inclusivity objective the company has implemented procedures and policies that facilitate investigating and reporting on any irregular behaviours that seek to undermine workplace diversity within the ranks of the organization. The plans are set to streamline all organizational structures within the firm to encourage and promote inclusivity and divert in their composition. China Mobile is a state-owned mobile service provider in China that is arguably the largest telecommunication service provider in China. In essence, China just like the entire Asia-Pacific region has not fully embraced workplace diversity in terms of human resource composition. There is evidence that demonstrates the diversity gap that exists in a number of companies some groups are notably missing out or rather are not represented by employees in the enterprise. Despite being a state-owned firm China, Mobile has not fully incorporated all the vulnerable groups in its personnel as it can be demonstrated how its human resource is composed. Diversity is critical to the business, and this can be manifested by the various backgrounds of people that hold various senior posts in the firm. However, with the dynamics in the business environment the company is slowly adapting to a more diverse employee base as in the recent yeas it experienced a number of foreigners and employees from marginalized groups joining the business. It is a positive step since with that trend the firm will achieve a diverse workplace in the next few years. To ensure workplace diversity China Mobile has aligned inclusivity management with its business goals and leadership priorities to ensure all the operations of the company are aimed at creating an all-around team that includes various groups of individuals working together towards a common purpose. The company established the Chief Diversity Officer a division that was mandated to facilitate diversity and inclusiveness in the organization to ensure people from all backgrounds who met the requirements of the company were included to achieve a heterogeneous composition of the enterprise thus promoting varied ideas and talent. Additionally, China Mobile has established a number of operations within the company’s structures that are meant to train the indigenous employees on the need to accommodate and embrace diverse groups of employees for the benefit of the company in the long run. The manner in which diversity in the workplace is implemented by the two firms tends to be similar since both emphasize the need for inclusivity to steer performance in the respective organizations. China Mobile just like other Chinese companies is lagging behind in terms of workplace inclusivity since little efforts have been done to implement the same. However, recent progress that has been noted in the firm are impressive since the policies and strategies that have been incorporated into the company’s operations will assist a blend between inclusivity in its leadership systems as well as aligned with its business goals thus any activity that is carried out in the firm should have some basis for enhancing diversity in the firm. On the other hand, G4S has only implemented support services such the provision of on-line resources and training activities that are meant to enlighten its employees as well as other business on the importance of the practice in relation to business success. In a nutshell, both companies have made efforts to transform their organizational structures to meet workplace diversity in various aspects and they are keen on the same resolve as inclusivity has been identified by both firms to be a key management objective (Bond, 2007). Conclusion In a nutshell, diversity is a crucial element in the workplace as it provides a broad range of skills and competencies to the organizations that can be fused to realize a functional unit within the firm. Diverse personalities are always associated with a broad variety of skills that can be utilized in the various departments in the company to ensure performance is enhanced. Similarly, diversity will also provide different ways of solving problems or any inherent issue that can come up in the organization thus improving flexibility since decision-making will be prompt. In essence, diversity in the workplace is an advantage to the firm as it will hand it an e edge over other players in the market. References Bond, M. A., 2007. Workplace Chemistry: promoting diversity through organizational change. Hanover, University Press of New England. Cornelius, N., 2002. Building workplace equality: Ethics, diversity and inclusion. London, Thomson Learning. Crosby, F. J., & Stockdale, M. S., 2003. The psychology and management of workplace diversity. Oxford, UK, Blackwell Pub. Daly, A., 1998. Workplace diversity: Issues and perspectives. Washington, DC, NASW Press. Fegley, S., 2006. 2006 workplace diversity and changes to the EEO-1 process: survey report. Alexandria, VA, Society for Human Resource Management. Konrad, A. M., 2006. Handbook of workplace diversity. London [u.a.], Sage Publ. Paludi, M. A., 2012. Managing diversity in todays workplace: strategies for employees and employers. Santa Barbara, Calif, ABC-CLIO. Thomas, K. M., 2005. Diversity dynamics in the workplace. Australia, Thomson/Wadsworth. Weiss, J. T., 2007. Transgender Workplace Diversity: [policy tools, training issues and communication strategies for HR and legal professionals]. North Charleston, S.C., Book surge. Read More