Managing Diversity - Research Paper Example

? Managing Diversity Introduction The modern business environment is observed to become increasingly competitive undergoing constant alterations owing to globalization. This certain fact is in turn growing to be a major challenge for the survival of the organizations in the current day context. The rate of globalization is rapidly escalating, simultaneously triggering the need of increased communication in between the people with varied beliefs, backgrounds and cultures compared to the earlier times. Individuals are no more considered to exist in a limited marketplace as the factor of globalization makes them an integral part of the global economy and is believed to face competition from almost all the continents. Owing to such reasons, it becomes necessary for profit as well as non-profit organizations to entail and accept diversity so as to attain increased creativeness along with becoming open to different types of alterations. Capitalizing as well as maximizing on the element of diversity is developing to become quite a significant issue related to management in the present times (Rosado, 2006). Diversity refers to the concept of comprehending, recognizing, accommodating and assessing along with commemorating about the dissimilarities that exists among individuals with regard to class, gender, mental stability, sexual-orientation, status related to public assistance, age, ethnicity, physical competence, race, and spiritual application. The issues associated with diversity are presently regarded as significant and are even anticipated to gain augmented significance in the upcoming days owing to the growing dissimilarities in the population. It is considered to be imperative for the organizations to concentrate on the element of diversity and seek for different ways in order to become completely comprehensive organizations. Diversity is believed to entail the prospective of reaping increased productivity level accompanied with competitive advantages. In this context, managing as well as assessing diversity is learnt to be a vital constituent associated with effectual people management which is competent of enhancing the productivity of the organizations (Rosado, 2006). Concept of Managing Diversity The international environment of business, increased requirements owing to the intense competitiveness and demographic alterations calls for the requirement of diversity. In this regards, managing diversity has been referred to the practice related to learning which paves the path towards overall organizational competence. The development of this competence is measured to be immensely important in a modern organization for the reason of effectually acting in response to the issues as well as prospects that are triggered owing to the existing socio-cultural form of diversity with regard to a particularly distinct social system. Management of diversity is believed to take place by pursuing a definite order of steps with the aid of which individuals as well as organizations progress from lack of knowledge. This is again associated with the definite topic till the stage or a level where the activities with regard to diversity manipulating the organizations, their consequences and their workforce is comprehended (Cox & Beale, 1997). Managing diversity is also referred to the constant process which helps in setting free of the different talents along with proficiencies that is brought into a particular organization, society and community by its respective diverse population with the aim to build a completely inclusive along with wholesome environment. This particular environment is believed to hold increased significance as it helps in effectively managing the differences along with making the most of the entire latent of all the involved individuals which proves to be beneficial for all from a cultural perspective (Rosado, 2006). Diversity is stated to be a budding notion in the current phenomenon. This specific term is believed to be both particular being centered on a definite individual and being contextual which is explained with the help of societal constructs (Moore, 1999). The notion of diversity has also been explained as one of noticeable dissimilarities differentiating a particular individual from another. It is also referred to as an explanation which takes in a wide assortment of evident as well as hidden qualities. The attributes or features related to diversity have been grouped into four different categories which are personality, internal, external and organizational. Personality is believed to entail traits, competencies and proficiencies. The internal feature of diversity is stated to entail facets such as race, intelligent quotient (I.Q.), gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. The external feature associated with diversity is believed to entail aspects like nationality, parental or marital status, culture and religion. Finally, the most significant feature of diversity that is the organizational feature is stated to entail aspects like department, position and non-union or union (Howland, 2001; Simmons-Welburn, 1999). The inclination towards explaining the concept of diversity was found to support a wide definition which was considered to fall further than the degree of evident differences which for numerous individuals were observed to be quite closely associated with the assenting action (Jones, 1999). The explanation of diversity also helped in the revelation of quite some significant factors associated with it. Initially it could be well comprehended from the explanation of diversity that it is believed to be an allocation of different characteristics. The other factor that forms a part of the notion of diversity is stated to be the interpersonal element which implies to the collective working procedure of individuals and the application of their different respective dissimilar characteristics. In the similar context, the organizational aspect is regarded as the other factor of power differential that is further believed to prevail among the members of definite groups along with the other existing members of a particular organization (Knouse, 2008). Diversity is referred to a particular notion or idea which has conventionally been observed to be utilized from both wider as well as narrower aspects (Wiesner, 2001). A wider perception related to diversity is believed to entail inferences regarding the existing organizational culture along with an approval towards the difference. However, the narrow perception associated with diversity is stated to concentrate on eradicating the inequitable behaviors on the basis of personal characteristics. A wider comprehension of the concept of diversity is therefore observed to have an effect on a particular organization at every individual stage, while the narrower explanations seem to entail ideas similar to Affirmative Action (AA) as well as Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) (Steger & Erwee, 2001). According to Stine (1998), an assortment of differences has been believed to exist between diversity, AA and EEO. The concept of EEO was explained as providing individuals with a reasonable likelihood to accomplish something without having to face any kind of unfairness on the basis of dissimilar job elements like race, nationality, age and sex (Stone, 1998). The notion of AA is believed to relate to the idea of plans that require organizations to make use of special endeavors for the reason of hiring, employing along with supporting and encouraging women as well as members belonging to minority groups (Stone, 1998). To be specific, AA is observed to undertake a practical approach towards attaining impartiality and fairness in workplaces and engages an adjustment for difference compared to the assimilatory practice that is considered to be steady with EEO. The idea of diversity management is observed to entail the aspect of going further than the adjustment related to individual disparity to a particular situation where the culture of the organization is transformed in order to respect as well as value it (Stone, 1998). It was stated by Gardenswartz & Rowe (1994) that the idea of diversity stands for a large amount of individual disparities and resemblances prevailing among individuals. With this concern, diversity is stated to possess the potentiality to take in numerous human features such as age, national origin, ethnicity, race, creed, religion and sexual orientation (Gardenswartz & Rowe, 1994). The features depicting diversity can be well comprehended from the Four Layers of Diversity Model depicted below: Source: (Gardenswartz & Rowe, 1994) Diversity has been represented in the four different concentric circles, where personality forms the central part and is referred to as the inherently unique facet that is considered to provide individuals their particular respective style. This central facet is observed to seep into the other different existing layers. The internal factors that can be observed to shift from that central part are usually referred to as the fundamental dimensions related to diversity. These are considered to be the facets that appear quite challenging to be controlled such as age, race, gender and sexual orientation. The subsequent stratum of factors, majority of which are stated to be regarded as secondary aspects, are believed to be a consequence of external manipulations that are observed to be brought for the reason of putting up with the society along with an individual’s personal level of experiences. The final or the fourth stratum is known to entail the organizational manipulations associated with the elements such as the type of work done, the location of work, seniority and the position in the organization. Therefore, these mentioned four different stratums are considered as valuable to structure an individual’s diversity filter (Gardenswartz & Rowe, 1994). According to Gardenswartz & Rowe (1994), diversity was expressed to be similar to an onion, consisting of layers which if peeled away would expose the core. It was further stated by Gardenswartz & Rowe (1994) that the four different stratums related to diversity were the organizational facet, external facet, internal facet and most importantly the personality (Gardenswartz & Rowe, 1994). Furthermore, the organizational aspect is believed to depict the outer most stratum, which is stated to entail characters including the union affiliation, seniority, work field or content, management status, work location, functional level categorization and divisional department. The features related to diversity with this particular stratum are elements that are considered to fall under the management of that particular organization where an individual works. The individuals are also considered to be able to manipulate this definite stratum to a limited degree as the management is found to be in possession of the organization where an individual works. Notably, the subsequent stratum is regarded as the external facet (Gardenswartz & Rowe, 1994). The external facet is observed to depict those particular features that are considered to deal with the element of life selections made by a particular individual. The individuals are learnt to practice and enjoy an increased degree of control on those referred features compared to those involved with the organizational facets. The features present in this specific stratum are the recreational habits, educational background, appearance, marital status, income, personal habits, religion, work experience, status and geographic location. Meanwhile, the stratum where a specific individual is learnt to enjoy and practices the minimum degree of control is internal stratum (Gardenswartz & Rowe, 1994). In case of the internal stratum related to diversity, an individual is believed to possess no degree of control on the aforementioned features. These arrays of characteristics such as race, gender, age, physical competence and ethnicity, are learnt to be allocated at the time of birth. Time and again the stated features were stated to be the triggering factors of discrimination and prejudice. It has been already mentioned in the earlier part of the research study that personality was stated to be the central part of this level in relation to the Four Layers of Diversity Model. Personality is explained as the attribute as well as the steady features with regard to an individual which are perceived to be ascertaining specific reliabilities in the way in which that individual would act in any kind of a provided situation and also over time (Rees & Porter, 2008). The aspect of personality with regard to an individual is believed to be manipulated by the other existing three different levels with respect to the model. The other stratums aid in providing a beautiful shape to the opinions, behaviors and characters in the process of an individual’s interaction with the rest of the world. All the above mentioned stratums related to diversity is believed to undeniably pose some degree of manipulation in an organization, among which a few is learnt to create of have increased degree of manipulation compared to the others (DiTomaso, 1999). Benefits of Managing Diversity The appropriate management of diversity is observed to gather individuals from different backgrounds that consist of significant proficiencies that are competent of encouraging organizational development as well as competitiveness (Nowak, 2008). The advantages related to managing diversity could be observed in a number of areas including strategic benefits, exploring and exploiting the fresh markets and employee associations. In an environment which is considered to be diverse and facilitates the communication in between individuals along with efficient distribution of ideas, organizational development as well as sound health is believed to prevail largely. The barter of thoughts is learnt to trigger an ambiance related to cultural recognition which entails organizational potentiality of directing towards enhancements with regard to the employee relations (Golembiewski, 1995). When it is supposed by individuals that their respective thoughts and cultures are being appreciated then it helps in triggering a greater feeling of ownership within the organization. Apart from the constructive employee relations, the concept of diversity also aids in offering a strategic benefit with regard to the organizations (Shakhray, 2009). It was also found that diversity even possesses the potential of directing towards superior consequences with respect to decision making (Cardinal & Brown, 2007). The elucidation for the reason of superior decision making with regard to a diverse team is learnt to be their respective move towards the issue with substitute opinions and viewpoints. This definite factor is learnt to facilitate for a broader variety of prospects that is capable of being produced by a definite homogenous group (Kirton & Greene, 2010). It was stated by Wong (2001) that diversity facilitates in bringing collectively the various experiences as well as viewpoints that are regarded to act as mediums or rather catalysts for the reason of productivity followed by innovation. The strategic benefits that are offered by supporting diversity in the organization could be considered to be the impulsion or force with the intention of penetrating into the fresh markets and also fresh customers which were inaccessible earlier (Wong, 2001). Numerous organizations, including Toyota, IBM and Coca-Cola along with many other companies have been found to be triggering the concept of managing diversity with the intention to explore probabilities of exploiting the inaccessible customers as well as markets. For instance, Coca-Cola was found to make use or rather implement the management of diversity for the reason of building a fresh market with respect to the Hispanic society for a fresh soft-drink that was produced by the company. One more instance which can be cited in this regard is the case of Longo Toyota operating in the field of car dealership was learnt to hire sales personnel who were capable of communicating with different languages in order to cater to the diverse base of clients. Workforce diversity is considered to possess sound competence in aiding an organization with the help of offering fresh markets that were not previously developed along with making certain of the preservation and holding onto the present markets (Washington, 2008). Therefore, the concept of managing diversity needs to be considered as an integral part of every organization and comprehending its importance along with entailing it in all the possible facets related to operations needs to be given prime significance. Diversity is believed to bring in disparities and with it comes the prospective for issues as well as relationships. However, diversity is also believed to introduce or rather bring with it the prospective for fresh viewpoints, inspiration and extended manner with regard to solving issues which can prove to be significant in case of meeting up to the requirements of the complicated as well as active work environments (Thomas, 2006). Managing along with dealing with employee diversity as well as individual disparities in a successful way helps organizations to attain competitive advantages to a large extent. Therefore, the concept of managing diversity could be referred to as a structured, methodical and inclusive or complete managerial procedure for the reason of building the atmosphere of a particular organization. This environment is believed to facilitate the entire workforce or rather the personnel along with their resemblances and disparities to help in adding to the competitive as well as strategic advantage with regard to the organization. It helps in giving rise to an ambiance where no individual is barred based on factors that are considered to be discrete from production (Thomas, 2006). With regard to the present business environment, which is observed to undergo a constant alteration, the individuals are regarded as the most noteworthy cause and resource related to competitive advantage. Every individual is learnt to bring in an exceptional amalgamation of heritage, religion experience, background, gender, education along with various other factors to their respective workplace. It is in this context that their respective diversity is stated to depict a massive foundation of fresh thoughts and vivacity (Lawsson, 2009). Providing a free and effectual rein to the productive aptitude, creativeness and energy with regard to a diverse collection of employees for the reason of taking the complete advantage of organizational effectiveness needs to be considered as the primary objective in relation to managing diversity. Organizations are believed to be more and more being erected on the element of intellectual capital in comparison to machines and buildings. Frequently expensive misinterpretations are observed to be triggered or rather initiated by the managers as well as the employees in general for the reason of being unsuccessful to identify and prevail over the typecasts with respect to one another. Discriminations and unfairness that are performed by the managers or the employees are learnt to threaten the aspect of internal way of working with regard to team productivity along with hampering the aspect of external customer contentment as well (Barak, 2010). An increasingly widespread mistaken belief with regard to diversity is believed to be its existence as AA or EEO in a fresh form. However, it is stated to be untrue as these three concepts that is AA, EEO and managing of diversity are not regarded to be jointly exclusive and is learnt to ideally encourage each other. Demarcation of the disparities, however, is supposed to be vital in deriving constructive responses from the individuals for social as well as moral reasons. Conversely, managing diversity is believed to serve economic reasons. Diversity in the workplaces is stated to be the assortment of disparities existing among individuals within an organization. Diversity is not only considered to be the factor or aspect of the way individuals recognize themselves, but it also entails the aspect of the manner or way they recognize or view others (Kreitz, 2007). Managing Diversity & Human Resource System The spectacular increase in the field of international activity owing to the rising globalization have resulted in augmenting the level of concentration related to the Human Resources Management (HRM) in the organizations functioning throughout the borders. The four different kinds of activities related to human resources entails finding, developing, allocating and valuing respective employees. In this context, finding entails the aspects of planning, employing and choosing of employees. The activities related to developing of employees holds to the practices as well as policies that are learnt to be connected with the training of employees for the reason of present and upcoming jobs with due consideration to development curriculum, formal as well as informal kind of training along with career management (Hasenfeld, 2009). The facet of allocation entails problem associated with promoting, transferring, staffing and demoting employees. Finally, the activities related to valuing of employees engage rewarding for the reason of maintaining strong associations, evaluating the advantages and expenses related to the employees and also appraising the employees. HRM has been recognized to be a collection of distinguishing practices, behaviors, processes and functions that are intended with the purpose of luring, directing and holding on to the human resources of a particular organization. Furthermore, it has been broadly identified that the chief functions related to HRM entails the process of selecting and employing, performance management, training as well as development and pay (Hasenfeld, 2009). Owing to growing globalization, the workforce of organizations are learnt to include individuals from various backgrounds, religions along with other basic differences. Therefore, it can be considered as necessary in this respect that a variety of techniques should be developed for the reason of enhancing diversity management with the help of HRM. In this regards, strong and increased focus was observed to have been delivered on the field of management philosophy which is believed to be dedicated to AA, EEO along with realizing and implementing diversity at all the strategic stages (Hasenfeld, 2009). Effectual diversity management calls for the requirement of traditions related to inclusion which would help to give rise to an environment of work which would take care of the participation, teamwork and cohesiveness. The culture and practice of diversity requires to be integrated in the mission, vision and business strategy along with the HRM strategy of an organization. The development related to the culture of diversity entails the necessity of noteworthy assurance or dedication towards leadership and resources. Therefore, the effectual management of the diverse workforce in an organization would help in building a harmonious atmosphere of work as a result of which the productivity as well as the efficiency of the employees would also increase. On the other hand, the poor degree of diversity management by the HR system would result in decreased level of job contentment, high rate of absenteeism as well as turnover (Hasenfeld, 2009). In case of diversity management, two important and major paradigms were identified in this respect among which HR forms one of the parts. The model related to HR is learnt to entail four various approaches. The initial approach is referred to as diversity enlargement which concentrates on the augmenting depiction of individuals from various cultural as well as ethnic backgrounds that form the workforce of a particular organization. The chief purpose related to this approach aims at altering the culture of the organization by way of altering the demographic inclusion of factors related to the respective workforce. The supposition underlying this particular approach indicates that the sheer inclusion or existence of augmented amount of employees ranging from various backgrounds would assist in directing towards an alteration in the culture which would further help in delivering the yearned outcomes. The other approach is referred to as diversity sensitivity which focuses on the aspect of providing training related to diversity and which is intended towards sensitizing the employees and making them aware towards the elements of discrimination and stereotyping along with encouraging group effort and communication. The assumptions underlying this approach points to the fact that segmented degree of sensitivity towards the dissimilarities would help in enhancing the performance (Hasenfeld, 2009). The third approach in this context is referred to as cultural audit. This approach commences with the help of recognizing the obstructions that are believed to restrict the development with regard to the employees with various backgrounds and create hindrances in workgroup collaboration. The interferences that are considered particular to the problems and requirements of the organization are then tailored. This particular audit is learnt to be typically carried out by external consultants who are believed to gather information and facts with the help of focus groups as well as surveys and recognize areas with regard to those employees who are regarded as different compared to the governing group experiencing a feeling of being barred from delivering results in relation to their best possible abilities. This particular approach would prove advantageous as well as helpful for assessing the performance of the HR systems entailing the criteria of stakeholders’ and field metrics (Hasenfeld, 2009). The final approach is referred to as the plan for attaining organizational outcomes. This approach is also referred to as a complete structure of diversity management related to HR. Furthermore, it is believed to concentrate on the aspect of managing diversity for the reason of attaining the organizational objectives. The application of this particular strategy aids the managers in recognizing the relation between the purposes underlying diversity management and the preferred organizational as well as individual results or consequences (Hasenfeld, 2009). The organizational strategic options are perceived in the background of environmental forces, for instance the altering labor market, global economy, the change of focus towards a service oriented company and the governmental as well as the legal stresses. An appropriate assessment of the environmental drivers possesses the competence of supporting the organization to ascertain the definite advantages that is likely to be attained from its implementation of diversity management along with the ways those are associated with the general business strategies. It is worth mentioning in this context that this particular approach would help in designing policies as well as processes to encourage the altering environmental factors and the organizational goals. Therefore, the above mentioned approaches or the sub-systems intent to effectively manage diversity by way of relating to each other and enhances the overall HR system along with the organizational performance (Hasenfeld, 2009). Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) intends to make certain that any individual, irrespective of his/her color, sex, national origin, race, disability, age or religion, is provided with an equal prospect for a particular job which would be based on the qualification criteria of that individual. The idea related to Affirmative Action (AA) goes further from EEO by making it necessary for the employer to undertake extra endeavors for the reason of employing and encouraging those individuals falling under the protected group (Hasenfeld, 2009). The activities related to AA thus entail definite actions with the intention to get rid of the current consequences related to the previous discrimination. Therefore, the employers need to structure a strong program related to AA so as to minimize the legal risk related to HR issues in the management. The employers require conducting surveys regarding the current minority as well as female employment in order to ascertain the locations that can be preferred for developing programs related to AA. Subsequently, timetables and objectives are structured for the reason of enhancing the utilization of males, minorities and females. With regard to this context, the employers are then required to assess and monitor the complete system related to HRM in order to recognize the hindrances in the course of EEO. The employers are also required to focus on the aspect of external recruitment along with internal growth related to superiorly qualified female as well as minority employees (Dessler, 2011). The professional references and resources, considered to be crucial while managing diversity, is the encouragement of a workplace for individuals which could be regarded as safe to communicate. Thus, the HR managers are required to exercise and develop policies such as mentoring programs with the intention to offer the individuals or the employees with sufficient availability of prospects as well as information. It is worth mentioning that the AA and the EEO programs can be considered as ideal for the development of such a workplace (Dessler, 2011). Conclusion Diversity management with regard to HR is believed to have gained increased momentum owing to the business pressure which is becoming globally competitive, the altering structure of the labor force and the rising concern related to the significance of the HRM. Alterations in the society as well as in the workplace have been learnt to give rise to the aspect of diversity becoming a significant problem in the field of HRM. In this regards, the present personnel systems need to be assessed to employ and hold on to the diverse workforce. The culture of the organization also requires to be assessed with the help of evaluating policies as well as procedures related to HRM, official documents, employment and selection procedures, rewards systems along with succession planning. It becomes evident from the above made discussion that the proper management of diversity in an organization leads to increased productivity owing to the supportive as well as nurturing work environment where contributions of the workforce is valued. Conclusively, it can be stated that the appropriate diversity management helps in initiating improved interpersonal communication between the employees, receptiveness to the demographic as well as social alterations, a drop in litigation related to equal employments and an atmosphere of equality and justice (Pynes, 2008). References Barak, M. E. M. (2010). Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. United States: SAGE. Cardinal, L., & Brown, N. (2007). Managing diversity: Practices of citizenship. Canada: University of Ottawa Press. Cox, T., & Beale, R. L. (1997). Developing competency to manage diversity: reading, cases & activities. United States: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Dessler, G. (2011). 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