Diversity Management Paradigms: Aldway - Case Study Example

Diversity at Work - Case Study Name Institution Diversity at Work - Case Study Introduction Over the history, Australia has existed with less emphasis on the composition of their workers. However, with increasing ageing in Australia and dominance of traditional workers, managing diversity within firms is gradually becoming important. McKay, Avery and Morris, (2009) argued that that to sustain current economic development, organizations will require employing more non-traditional staffs to manage diversity and to recognize its advantages. Mor Barak (2014, p.235) described diversity management as voluntary organizational practices which are formulated to build significant inclusion of staffs from different cultural settings. Aldway is one of the Australia firms which have operated with less focus on workers’ composition in the past. However, it now finds itself in a different labour market structure which encourages diversity (Steers, Nardon & Sanchez-Runde, 2013, p.57). Therefore, this paper will discuss current policy and environment of Aldway, and identify the rationale for workplace diversity which the company seems to emphasize. In addition, the paper will identify common barriers to the inclusion of workers from diverse backgrounds and recommend approaches to managing diversity within this organization. Analysis of the current policy and environment of Aldway Diversity Management Paradigms Research shows that that labour market structure in Australia has greatly changed over the years. Kamal and Ferdousi (2009, p.159) opined that managers now recognize the need for diverse workforce not just as a marketing tool but also as an approach of empowering the society especially women, people with disability and particular ethnic groups. In reaction to the increasing diversity within the labour market in Australia and across the globe, around the world, Aldway formulate specific programs and policies to improve recruitment, promotion, inclusion, and retention of its workers who have different needs different from ones from privileged stratums of the society (Mor Barak, 2014, p.235). While the company has made a great stride towards creating and inclusive workplace, it has not been 100 percent successful. A review of the policy showed that there was an increase in number of women to 45 percent but just in the lower management level. Similarly, the data showed that people from Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island background and individuals with disability had a slightly increased presence at lower levels. Human resource paradigm and multicultural organization paradigm can be used to analyse the current situation of Aldway to see where it fits. Human resource paradigm argue that traditional human resource practices have a tendency of producing and creating homogeneity within the workforce due to A-S-A cycle (attraction-selection-attrition) (Mor Barak, 2014, p.240). The theory claims generally, job seekers are attracted to firms which look to bear the values same to theirs. However, if the new members find that there is a dominant culture and he or she does not fit they tend to leave. The theory actually depicts situation at Aldway. Human resource paradigm also has several approaches which can be used to analyse diversity management policies used by organizations. Some of the approaches consist of diversity enlargement, diversity sensitivity, cultural audit and strategy for attaining organizational outcomes. Mor Barak (2014, p.241) postulated that diversity enlargement is a strategy which emphasizes on raising the representation of people from different cultural or ethnic background in an organization. Aldway formulated a policy which with an aim of raising the number of women, people with disability and people with Torres Strait Island or This policy set a general goal to increase the numbers of women, individuals from an Aboriginal background to correspond with their population proportion. The policy is often set with an assumption and in this case the company presume that new workforce would adhere to the already set practice and organizational culture and not intervention or training would be required (Mor Barak, 2014, p.241). Nevertheless, this is not often the case because job seekers normally have various diversity including cultural, gender, ethnicity and religion among others. Diversity sensitivity is highly used practiced by Aldway. Kellough (2006, p.110) stated that diversity sensitivity is a strategy which uses training to overcome difficulty of diversity, sensitizing on discrimination and stereotype and improving communication. In Aldway case, the management chose to train members responsible for hiring new employees while ignoring the new employees. The diversity sensitivity focused on effective interview and job placement (Kellough, 2006, p.110). The assumption integrated in this training is that improved sensitivity to the diversity will enhance performance of the recruiting panel. However, the process may not achieve a positive overall performance for the organization because the training was not aligned with the corporate objectives and long term policy. Aldway is using cultural audit as an approach to managing diversity. Konrad, Prasad and Pringlr (2006, p.67) contended that the audit is often done through focus group and surveys to see if determine the hurdles faced by the staff from different backgrounds and adjust organizational practices and culture accordingly. Aldway conducted a study to check if the implemented diversity policy was effective. The data from such study showed that the initiative was partially successful. The program raised the number of women from 25 % to 45% at the lower management levels. The policy also slightly increased number of people with disability and people from the Torres Strait Island and Aboriginal decent at the level management levels. The audit also revealed that there was high employees’ turnover with regards to Torres Strait Island and Aboriginal people as they felt existing culture were still dominant. In carrying on the audit, the company can address the problems resulted from the dominant group and can also improve recruit of non-traditional employees in the top and middle levels of the organization (Konrad, Prasad and Pringlr, 2006, p.67). Multicultural organization paradigm is another model that can be used to analyse the current state of an organization with regards to diversity management. There are three categories of organization under this paradigm including monolithic organization, a plural organization and multicultural organization. According to Mor Barak (2014, p.244) a monolithic organization is defined an organization which is cultural and demographically homogenous. In other words, having several workers from one cultural or ethnic group and having minimal presence of people from different cultural groups. In case, minority group are not in top leadership positions. Aldway fits in this classification because its workforce is dominated by traditional employees with Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and people with disability as minority. Similarly, after implementing the new diversity policy, the number of women in the organization has increased but at only at the lower levels of management. Since the dominant culture holds the top position in the organization, most decision tends to favour them instead of minority group. At the moment the company is implementing diversity in its attempt to be a multicultural organization. Mor Barak, (2014, p.245) points out that multicultural organization is one which is typified by a culture and practice which values cultural diversity and incorporates every qualified member of the society with desired ability irrespective of their gender, race and ethnicity. Various rationales for increasing diversity The rationale for adapting diversity management has emerged as an important strategy for contemporary managers (Ewoh, 2013, p.109). Aldway is just of the organizations which have strongly embraced this strategy. The adopting of diversity management has been prompted by various reasons including diversity as a reality, diversity as the right thing and as an approach which create good business sense. Mor Barak (2014, p.246) claimed that diversity has become a reality which companies have stay with. A research carried out in 2000 by Hudson Institute Workforce has laid down statistics which is a pointer that by 2020 most organizations will have embraced diverse workforce (Mor Barak, 2014, p.246). The studies are supported by the fact that globalization is opening boarders and people from different cultural background are cross boundaries to work and interact. The report also predicted that more women and minority will join the labour market. Organization such as Aldway is already embracing the realities in an attempt to increase the diverse workforce. From ethical and moral reasoning, organizations implement diversity management because it is the correct thing to practice (Mor Barak, 2014, p.247). The centrality of this reasoning is the concept that it brings equal opportunity employment irrespective of people’s race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, and gender. Aldway is currently implementing diversity management to bring more women, people with disability and people of aboriginal or Torres Strait island to the workforce. Diversity management is a practice in moral perspective to provide all potential workers with comparable remuneration for positions of the comparable worth. Kawar (2012, p.107) supported this perspective by claiming that equal jobs and compensation are a concept of affirmative action initiative. Another rationale for embracing diversity management is because it creates a great business sense (Mor Barak, 2014, p.247). Companies which implement diversity policies like Aldway practice it because it brings them a competitive edge. With diversity management, Aldway stand a chance to reduce cost of operation, have workforce competition, reduce lawsuits resultant from discriminations, have a good market opportunity for different consumers, enhances innovation and creativity and improves brand image. Effective diversity management means reduced employees turnover which as results reduce cost of frequent hiring and training of new employees. In addition, Mor Barak (2014, p.247) posited that having employees from different cultural bring different ideas and concept thus enhancing innovativeness of an organization. Based on the information from the case study, it is apparent that Aldway in emphasizing on the diversity management as moral reasoning and the correct thing to do. The aim of the company is to break cultural barrier and to give everyone an opportunity irrespective of their cultural background (French, 2005, p.37). In particular, the aim of the company has been to bring more women, people with disability and individuals from Torres Strait Island or Aboriginal decent into the labour market and it this way they are empowered. Aoun (2007, p.68) affirmed that the effect of this rationale is that it improves the image of the company as consumers perceive it as an organization which is committed to solving societal problems. Common Barriers to the Inclusion of Workers from Diverse Backgrounds Although there are attempts by the organizations to implement diversity policies, such initiatives face numerous barriers including discrimination and prejudice, perception about the job security, lack of management support (Mor Barak, 2014, p.245). The attitude of the employees has been an obstacle to implementation of inclusion of the employees. The same has been replicated at Aldway and has seen an increase in employees’ turnover. The case study point out that even though people of Torres Strait Island and Aboriginal background and people with disability were highly employed by the Aldway, there had been the tendency to leave or resign from the organization as compared to the people from the dominant culture. The reason for this is that people from minority feel embarrassed about their situation and about their ignorance concerning other cultures (Mor Barak, 2014, p.247). Lack of support from the management pose a big threat to implementation of the inclusion policy. In particularly, lack of training makes not tradition unable to integrate to the organizational culture. Perception about the job security makes is a hurdle to inclusion policy. Ewoh (2013, p.113) argued that non-traditional employees normally feel that job seekers from dominant groups may take away their jobs. As such, this can lead to high employee’s turnover. For Aldway, cultural training and mentorship can be used to reduce the barrier. Cultural training and mentorship makes the nontraditional employees learn new culture and assimilate the dominant culture in the organization (Kellough, 2006, p.53). In that way, they get along with all members of the organization. Similarly, Aldway can improve the situation by employing more nontraditional employees at the middle and top level management levels to motivate them and make them feel valued (Mor Barak, 2014, p.245). Recommended Strategy to Managing Diversity Based on essay, it has been found that despite implementing diversity policy Aldway is still struggling with high employees’ turnover and imbalanced workers’ composition. The result is a manifestation that the current policy has not been effective enough to help the firm become a multicultural organization. Therefore, using inclusive workplace models, this research paper recommends various strategies that Aldway can use to improve on the management of diversity. One of the significant models in the creating a successful inclusive workplace is value-based model. According to Mor Barak (2014, p.238), value-based model holds that an inclusive organization is one which is managed by a collection of values which guides its practices. Such values differ from micro (level one) to macro level of an organization. Mor Barak (2014, p.238) claimed that to improve inclusion at the level one, the paper recommends constant cultural audit, cultural training and mentorship, career development and planning. Steers, Nardo and Sanchez-Runde (2013, p.41) contended that constant cultural audit can be an effective way of creating an inclusive workplace. This exercise is often carried by external consultants who get information from the studies such surveys and determines areas where nontraditional workers differ from a dominant. Such areas can be improved through training and mentorship. Aldway can create an inclusive workplace by organizing workshops and seminars to enhance skill building, diversity awareness and assist workers value diversity (Kellough, 2006, p.87). Creating career planning and development program for people with disability, women, and Torres Strait Island and Aboriginal people enables equal promotion opportunities and to raise representation with the managerial levels (Wehman, 2003, p.133). Conclusion Managing diversity in organization has been a challenge to most managers over the years. In the information age and intensification of globalization these managers find themselves dealing with people from different cultural background on a daily basis. This is an indication that contemporary executives must just find a way to manage both tradition and nontraditional employees to create an inclusive workforce. Management theorists have formulated paradigms through which organization can use to analyze their policy in an attempt to become an inclusive company. The analysis of two paradigms shows that Aldway fits into the human resource paradigm despite showing some features of the multicultural organization paradigm. The paper has also studied some rationale for adopting diversity management at Aldway. Diversity as reality, diversity as a good thing and diversity as great business sense form the ration for embracing diversity management. Despite the progress, Aldway, diversity management has not been affective and the paper concludes by recommending constant cultural audit, cultural training and mentorship, career development and planning as some effective strategies in creating an inclusive workplace. References Aoun, G. (2007). Report of an international forum on managing diversity. Equal Opportunities International, 26(1), 67–70. Ewoh, AI.E. (2013). Managing and Valuing Diversity: Challenges to Public Managers in the 21st Century. Public Personnel Management 42(2), 107–122. French, E. (2005). The importance of strategic change in achieving equity in diversity. Strategic Change, 14, 35-44. Kellough, A. 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