Managing a Diverse Workforce Around the World - Research Paper Example

Managing a Diverse Workforce Around the World It is an indisputable reality that managing a diverse workforce around the world always presents huge challenges for the managers and which if handled inappropriately, can create potentially nasty pandemonium at any workplace. The catch-22 is that while diversity is one of the major products introduced by globalization that helps in improving a company’s productivity, it can also be held responsible for causing conflicts and discrimination when the challenges brought on by it are taken less seriously. That is why benefits can be gained only when efforts are made by businesses to regard the positive side of the diversity and escape the negative consequences like prejudices, biased arguments, workplace stress, and misunderstandings. Businesses manage to maintain reputation before the customers by striving to make diversity the choicest business imperative. Businesses hasten to invest heavily in diversity by making it an essential element of the talent management techniques practiced fervently for some years now. This is because this phenomenon not only is capable of influencing the employers and employees working for an organization, but it also inflicts huge impact on the customers, suppliers, market reputation, and external stakeholders. This paper basically aims at acknowledging the challenges faced by organizations when managing a diverse workforce and discussing some possible proposals regarding the situation. Presently, there are a lot many employees recruited in different organizations to work and they come from many different racial and ethnic backgrounds. They naturally drag along their cultures with themselves too and if leaders hesitate in making it their business to step in to look where one culture might crush the values of another culture either by mistake or with intention, big issues can develop and the ultimate consequences signify a major drop in the annual productivity rate. Therefore, developing the right kind of environment that is positive and healthy from the start is highly important in order to manage a culturally diverse workforce. It remains the job of the leaders to make the workforce understand that certain things which might be acceptable in one culture might appear to be truly inappropriate for workers coming from a different cultural background. Communication and teamwork if used together can combat the challenges raised by mismanaged workplace diversity. In the present global marketplace, conflicts originate often when the workers happen to be extremely self-involved and oblivious to the cultural circumstances around them due to which certain ideas might be presented by them that antagonize the cultural values of other workers. A culturally diverse workforce should not only be open to communication but it should be willing to collaborate. When the leaders invest wisely, the payoff might just turn out to be astounding. This is especially important as the payoffs literally affect every area of a business. In addition to better recruitment and employee retention as mentioned earlier, there is enhanced customer loyalty, stronger market position, innovative ideas, creativity, better attitudes, language skills, intuitive global understanding, and improved proposals to complex issues (Andrade, 2010). That is what results when the leaders decide to make a wise investment in developing a diverse workforce which is to be maintained later on by relying on teamwork and mutual collaboration as such a strategy helps in tacking the diversity challenges. It is increasingly important that the employers and managers inculcate this thing about how not being able to relate with cultural diversity can wreak havoc for an entire organization very earlier on their minds. This is because acknowledging an issue often serves as the first step to designing a solution. As discussed earlier whenever diversity is not respected at a workplace, one finds oneself entrapped between two opposing ideas as a result of which mental distortion speeds up and dissonance increases. In context of such frustration developing as a result of mismanaged diversity, the cognitive dissonance theory is worth mentioning as a worthy proposal to the complex challenge. Cognitive dissonance has multiple practical applications and is basically a motivator which may either inspire the people working for an organization to expand their thinking visions or get even more limited in their thoughts and absolutely refuse accepting or adding new cognitions. Cultural diversity is an acclaimed product of massive globalization and one of the most effective means of addressing this issue is through cognitive dissonance theory as it can help significantly in making people broaden their horizons and accept new cognitions. Resistance to diversity develops when the people refuse to accept or respect new ideas which can be reduced by effective cognitive dissonance instruction. This can in turn lead both the leaders and workers to maturely contemplate the challenging or conflicting diverse cultural perspectives and sort out any distressing conflict that may arise on cultural grounds or that is based on racial discrimination. Without getting familiar with cognitive dissonance and acknowledging its importance as a worthy tool, confusion at a workplace can exacerbate and people running different kinds of businesses may be virtually unable to handle contradictory ideas and change the conflicting cognitions or add new cognitions. The effectiveness of this theory is such that it inspires one to seek and discover truth and see the issues of diversity and politics with as much objectivity as possible which is increasingly important in the present times (Jean, 1999). The concept of diversity emphasizes on making the workers feel included like they are important elements of an organization with the potential to shape the future. New attitudes and processes are introduced and encouraged when diversity is respected. Making the employees feel included is important because this way the loyalty, compliance, and commitment that a worker has for the company he/she works for could be excessively increased. “Hiring a diverse workforce helps them stay in compliance with employment laws and build workplaces that are more inclusive and help employees reach their full potential” (Herzog, 2009). When the leaders follow an authoritarian leadership style and refuse to accept any new idea or suggestion, the workers start losing their motivation and absenteeism rate shoots up which negatively affects both the market position and customer satisfaction. Moreover, it is important to command and convey orders as clearly as possible as not everyone comprehends things in the same way and at the same level. Diversity issues form a major factor in the chain of command which is why certain commands are not well understood even by the most dynamic and talented diverse workforce when the leaders fail to address the challenges on score of diversity. Therefore, applying the proper diversity and inclusion management techniques remains highly important as “it increases market share and create a satisfied diverse customer base by relating to people from different backgrounds” (Andrade, 2010). A diversity and inclusion strategy is important for creating a workplace culture that identifies and values similarities and differences in addition to making the workers develop a healthy attitude towards the jobs assigned to them. Diversity management is riddled with myriad challenges of all kinds and while diversity could be rewarding on one hand, it could also be exhausting and challenging. The challenge of “getting the newcomers to mix with the long-serving staff members” (Herzog, 2009) is worth discussing here. This mix can only be made possible once the new entries understand and believe that they are as valued by the employers as the other staff members regardless of culture, race, religion, language, gender, and color. This challenge can be handled satisfactorily if the managers feel responsible enough to instill this idea in the minds of the workers that each of them is an asset to the company individually. If such a workplace culture is developed, then only gains such as high retention rates and innovative ideas could be experienced. This is why building and managing a diverse workforce is considered so important. The Human Resource professionals can help much regarding the challenge of not being able to respect and understand different perspectives. This problem caused by mismanaged diversity can be handled by compelling both the managers and employees to develop a patent tolerance towards new ideas regardless of the background of the one who suggests any new idea. It is important that the leaders remain open to all cultures and customs if they wish to develop a sound dynamic workforce and a strong revenue baseline. Many challenges can also be handled by encouraging the workers to celebrate their individual cultures and customs (Herzog, 2009) as such a strategy can help much in curbing any false notions one might have like being valued less at a workplace because of one’s background. Cultural diversity is an obvious feature of the American society for the past many years now. Maintaining marketplace stability has become more difficult now than ever which is why diversity management has also become an important issue presently. One of the demands of diversity management as mentioned earlier is making the workforce feel valued and included at the workplace. Thinking along these lines is important because otherwise the employees can stop perceiving themselves as an asset for the company and diversity can take a wrong turn. That way, the highly talented professionals will become more mobile investors of their individual capitals. They will “view themselves not as assets, but as investors in their organizations” (Gratton & Ghoshal, cited in Al-Awamleh, 2009, p. 9). The negative shift in diversity management also affects the nature of the psychological contract which refers to the mutual perceptions and obligations between the employers and employees and tells the employees about what they are expected to do and what they should expect from their jobs. It is claimed that when the diversity management challenges are not resolved effectively, the nature of the psychological contract is negatively influenced so that “the workers are more able to pick and choose between employers based on issues such as life balance, diversity policy, and the extent to which they will have a voice” (Berger, cited in Al-Awamleh, 2009, p. 9). The antagonistic relationship between employers and employees shifts to one which reflects harmony and understanding when efforts are directed at developing a safe diverse culture instead of curbing it by less appreciation and minimal reward. Organizational performance is increased when diversity is managed in such a way that individual goals are turned into organizational goals and efforts are directed at achieving those goals. That can only happen when the employees coming from diverse backgrounds think of themselves as an asset for the company they work for. Diversity issues are to become even more important in the future than they are now with increasing differences in the US population. With women presently driving the diversity in organizations all over the US, it is important to acknowledge that organizational restructuring and review of the management practices is totally unavoidable. The number of single working mothers has increased and the concept of dual income families is also increasing at a fast pace. Also, the highest levels of employment participation than ever before by women is reported in the present times (Zweigenhaft & Domhoff, 1998). Therefore, managing diversity is not only restricted to identifying the differences in people in context of gender, color, or race, rather promoting inclusiveness, curbing discrimination, and valuing the differences form the areas where real challenges are faced by the organizations. Amidst resolving the challenges, the consequences of mismanaged diverse workforce should never be overlooked. Prejudiced notions, discrimination fueled arguments, and illogical legal actions by the out of control employees are some of the nasty consequences against which strict action should be taken. The organizations may also get challenged with a drop in productivity and high employee absenteeism. All these challenges originate when people show negative behaviors and false attitudes towards respecting diversity which not only damages the relationships but also hurts the morale of an organization. Managing behavior is stressed for handling challenges of a diverse workforce which definitely demands a lot of hard work and attention since it is not an easy job. Continuous and steady attention and care of the leaders is required in this regard as even a pinch of irresponsibility can sometimes result in blunder mistakes. Diversity and inclusion should be regarded as a strong strategic asset. (Dominion, 2012) The stats shown in the above figure represent the workforce of Dominion which is a Fortune 200 company committed to developing and maintaining a strong and diverse organizational culture. It is evident from the figure that 2011 witnessed the largest share of women in the management department which supports the claim made earlier in the paper that women are driving the diversity in US presently which is why this issue has become more problematic than ever in context of management. It is the job of the leaders to get their organizations free from gender stereotypes and any jealous or biased emotions that might plague the minds of the male workers. It is firmly believed at Dominion that a diverse workforce devoid of ethnic, gender, or racial stereotypes can contribute heavily to the future of the organization and should be thought of as a sustainable business enterprise which is how diversity is managed there. The business there is a big success presently because the leaders there hold a very positive approach towards recruiting employees regardless of their backgrounds and focusing more on gathering the best talent that is to be offered by attracting workers from diverse backgrounds. The leaders and front-line managers at Dominion do not balk at the differences that the diverse workers bring along themselves to the workplace, rather those differences are valued in addition to identifying them and the employees are made to believe that “the differences they bring to work strengthen the company through breadth of experience, perspective and talent” (Dominion, 2012). The healthy approach towards managing diversity as believed by those associated with Dominion and many other successful business enterprises is that respecting diversity should not be restricted to the workforce only, rather diversity should be valued and respected outside the organization also like in the supply chain and in the community. Managing diversity should also be about encouraging organizational change and ensuring equal employment opportunity but at the same time the changes should be implemented slowly in order to combat the possible challenges. Summing up, this much becomes clear from the above discussion that it is important to make every worker feel valued and included in the present diverse business age because otherwise he/she might develop false ideas that he/she is not given due importance because of belonging to another culture or race. Businesses can gain multiple advantages by embracing diversity and inclusion and many of them are largely related to the base line revenues which can literally be considered the make or brake of any business. The revenues can be significantly improved by managing a diverse workforce and the organization which refuses to acknowledge the effects of diversity out of sheer ignorance only suffer losses in context of profitability. However, managing a diverse workforce which could help an organization in strengthening its diverse customer base is not a very easy job. Diverse cultures, beliefs, and races need to be more respected now than ever as this is the age in which excessive interaction promises success to an organization by development of an interesting repertoire of different ideas. Innovation is promised by diversity if handled right and disaster is what promised when challenges are not tackled up front. References: Al-Awamleh, R.A. (2009). Developing Future Leaders: The contribution of Talent Management. HRfocus, 1-169. Andrade, S. (2010, March 26). 6 advantages of Workplace Diversity. Retrieved from http://saharconsulting.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/6-advantages-of-workplace-diversity/ Dominion. (2012). Diversity. Retrieved from http://www.dominioncsr.com/workplace/diversity.php Herzog, L. (2009). The Challenge of Managing a Diverse Workplace. Retrieved from http://www.hcareers.com/us/resourcecenter/tabid/306/articleid/821/default.aspx Jean, E.M. (1999). Cognitive Dissonance Theory.” Retrieved from http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/Papers/App_Papers/Jean.htm Zweigenhaft, R.L., & G. William Domhoff. (1998). Diversity in the power elite: Have women and minorities reached the top? New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Read More