Managing Diversity: organizational commitment to valuing worforce diversity - Essay Example

?Topic: Managing diversity: organizational commitment to valuing workforce diversity Introduction As globalization results in an increasingly diverseworkforce in almost every company across the globe, there are factors such as age, race, ethnicity, gender, etc. that are increasingly determining the nature and composition of a workforce. Changing patterns of labour market demographics coupled with work cultures and competition have led to the focus on defining the unique business case for diversity where the management thinking is crucial for its success. This paper critically evaluates the concept of business case diversity and the organization’s commitment to value workforce diversity by identifying and defining the need for business case and diversity management through inclusion. While equal opportunity thinking is set to be challenging in terms of business performance, diversity at workforce is to be studied for its contribution to the organizational performance and value commitment. Business case diversity thinking Many of the countries have commitment to providing equal employment opportunities (EEO) in their organizations, but it is not common to see diverse workforce in almost all of the organizations. While equal employment opportunity ensures a moral imperative to end workplace discrimination, diversity at workplace is seen as a requirement to cater effectively to the diverse market segments. It is also observed that equal employment opportunity has not been successful in achieving its target of eliminating employment discrimination as inequities still exist in employer’s commitment to ensuring equal employment opportunity as well as the weak legal framework to ensure the success of this concept of EEO (Bendick et al., 2010). This has led to build an anti-discriminatory framework for employment that takes into consideration the business case as a conceptual tool to identify the workforce diversity that is set to be independent of moral and legal requirements. A business case diversity approach to managing human resources is essential as EEO concept aims to increasingly establish practices that solely focus on the profitability of the business rather than take a holistic approach of considering the external legal pressures as well as internal moral considerations (Bendick et al., 2010). ‘An Equal Opportunities policy can be defined as “a commitment to engage in employment practices and procedures which do not discriminate, and which provide equality between individuals of different groups or sex to achieve full, productive and freely chosen employment“ (Lean Lim, 1996: 34). Whereas, the concept of ‘managing diversity’ is generally seen as “proactively capitalizing on the different skills, qualities and viewpoints that a diverse workforce has to offer“ (EOR, 1999a: 14) (Riley, 2007). However, it is also noted that EEO initiatives alone do not yield positive outcomes for an organization and that diversity of workforce, to an extent, does help the firm achieve the desired targets. Also, it is seen that not all organizations implement EEO uniformly and also, there is a difference between what the EEO and alternately, diversity of workforce aim to achieve. As EEO aims to achieve equality in treating its employees, diversity of workforce aims to achieve a blend of diverse workforce that is efficient in delivering service to the diverse market as a whole. Also, while EEO increases the treatment quotient of the employee, it does not guarantee employee or employer commitment to business performance and fair treatment, which is EEO’s major concern (Riley, 2007). Managing diversity at workplace Within EEO organizational environment, diversity of workforce can exist to cater to the segmented market place. Diverse workforce is seen to enhance customer service to the increasingly diverse customer segment of the business where sales can increase as service is customized to appreciate customer preferences and diversity. The nature of business, customer composition, cultural and other diverse backgrounds all call for a management and organizational approach that is specific to the requirement. This is said to cater to the diversity in the business case. This also requires diversity in workforce which increasingly gravitates to operating within specific business contexts to improve performance and productivity (Riley, 2007). Employers are inclined towards introducing radical changes in their recruitment and staffing policies to include diverse workforce while complying with EEO commitments of the organization’s business and corporate strategies (Tatli and Dr. Ozbilgin, 2005). Organizations are increasingly catering to diverse customers spread across the globe and require skilled labour that needs to be retained through EEO initiatives and diversity management policies. The business environment is increasingly dynamic to accommodate change through adaptiveness, responsiveness, flexibility and teamwork through organizational networks. It can also be noted that virtual organizational cultures along with decentralised power, increased networking and collaboration are required to maximise competitiveness and creativity (Tatli and Dr. Ozbilgin, 2005). Further, diverse workforce is seen to increase market share, enhance customer relations, increase workforce quality, flexibility, skills, creativity and problem-solving while reducing cost of labour. Also, the success of business case diversity is determined by using a balance scorecard that predicts the economic value added by workforce diversity. This involves management’s commitment to manage diversity and organizational culture through effective business and corporate strategies based on the three perspectives: customer, internal and learning and growth perspectives. As diversity impacts business performance, it is imperative that management effectively manage diversity of its workforce (Tatli and Dr. Ozbilgin, 2005). Diversity of workforce requires that the management is committed to incorporating best practices, monitor workforce composition and labour market while taking time-bound actions to ensure accountability for business performance (Hudson and Radu, 2011). Internalization and inclusion While businesses implement rationales for competitive advantage, it enhances the productivity and profitability. Business case for diversity at workplace demands inclusion as a key agenda of the organizational strategy. It is seen that diversity and inclusion are the two aspects that business case diversity focuses on to improve performance. However, increased diversity can lead to increased differences among teams or alternately can enhance team dynamics when strategies are congruent. Organizations are also strengthening the impact on the business case diversity by internationalization of its resources through economic and human capital tools that help manage the business case effectively (Cowe, 2002). Internalizing of differences among an organization’s employees has its advantages in enabling inclusion of workforce in the business case for diversity. Employers need to identify a business case for diversity and engage the workforce to enable them to learn and grow while the management removes barriers for internalization and inclusion. The management needs to effectively identify the business case for diversity, match the labour market to the needs of the market and manage talent or skill for creating value to the customer, organization and the employees (Bendick et al., 2010). Sustainability A key to enhancing the business case identified is to develop value through sustainable approaches to the business case for diversity. Emerging markets provide the right platform for sustainable development of diversity based business cases as there is scope for economic and social development. As an organization’s primary goal is to improve business performance and profitability, sustainable efforts for business case diversity and implementation is crucial. Businesses have been able to exhibit positive outcomes in terms of financial and ethical considerations although the market remains increasingly competitive and volatile. Conclusion The study of a business case for diversity reveals that apart from equal employment opportunity, businesses need to implement diversity of workforce to effectively cater to the increasingly diverse customer base. The business case for diversity needs to be identified to match the skills of the diverse workforce to derive productivity and profitability for the organization. Further, while equal employment opportunity aims at treating employees fairly, it is diversity of workforce that ensures profitability for an organization. However, management’s commitment through effective corporate and business strategies to incorporate diversity of workforce and engage the same in the context of business case for diversity solely determines the productivity and profitability it can achieve through these management practices. It is also seen that diversity without inclusion of workforce does not yield profitability, and internalization of management goals through sustainable efforts can enhance the same and this requires that the management is committed to increasing productivity and organizational value through such initiatives. References Bendick, M et al. 2010. The business case for diversity and the perverse practice of matching employees to customers. Personnel Review. Cowe, R. 2002. Developing Value The business case for sustainability in emerging markets. SustainAbility and International Finance Corporation (IFC). Hudson, M and Radu, D. 2011. The role of employer attitudes and behaviour. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) programme paper: Poverty and ethnicity. Riley, R et al. 2007. The business case for Equal Opportunities: An econometric investigation. Department for Work and Pensions. Tatli, A. and Dr. Ozbilgin, M. 2005. Change Agenda: Managing diversity, measuring success. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. References Harvard Read More