Maintenance of Programs That Value Diversity in My Organization and Their Effectiveness - Essay Example

? Questions-Communication M3A1: The Implementation and Maintenance of programs that value Diversity in My Organization and their Effectiveness Diversity is described as the range of visible and non-visible differences that are seen to exist between different people. By effectively managing this diversity and working towards harnessing these existing differences, it is possible for organizations to be able to create a productive environment in which talents are seen to be fully utilized, everyone feels valued and the set organizational goals are adequately met. Diversity within an organization can take a number of different forms such as diverse cultures, religions, nationalities and job groupings (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002; Mor-Barak, 2011). In my organization, the implementation and maintenance of programs that value diversity is generally undertaken using a number of approaches, key among them is review and re-writing of policies so as to create a division within the organization tasked with prompting inclusion and workforce development (Mor-Barak, 2011). This division is mandated to undertake a special recruitment policy that is designed to seek to promote diversity within the organization. To this end, training programs are conducted to promote the adoption of diversity among the employees. The division also implements a variety of internal mentorship and internship programs that are designed to prepare some of the internal candidates both for competition with outside job applicants and upward mobility to prevent their being marginalized by the special recruitment program (Mor-Barak, 2011). The diversity valuing programs practiced by my organization are seen to be quite effective at increasing both the awareness and valuing of diversity in the workplace. They are designed to increase the organization’s diversity via the special recruitment policy while simultaneously promoting the competitiveness of the existing employees through the internal mentorship and internship programs (Mor-Barak, 2011). However, there are a number of changes that can be made to increase the overall effectiveness of these programs. While increasing the awareness and integration of diversity within the organization is seen to be primarily dependent on employees at every level of the organization working at fulfilling their roles, it is also critically important for the organization’s leadership to increase both the amount of resources and the level of guidance and support it lends to these programs (Mor-Barak, 2011). Reference: Mor-Barak, E. M. (2011). Managing diversity: toward a globally inclusive workplace. Los Angeles: SAGE. M4A1: The communication style used by a past leader in my organization, its relation to his leadership style and its suitability to our workplace and culture When I joined my organization, my direct supervisor primarily used to employ the use of an assertive communication style. His role of directing the new recruits on how to perform their duties necessitated that he used the style to ensure that he was able to portray himself to be in authority when working with the recruits (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). The assertive communication style is seen to have been quite appropriate to the supervisor a suitable to our workplace as it perfectly complemented his transactional leadership style. In line with his leadership style, the manager used to provide us with a number of pre-agreed tasks to perform and would then punish or reward us depending on how these tasks were performed (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). In the event that one of us would continually fail to adequately perform the assigned task, the supervisor would then undertake to provide more intensive and closely supervised training to the employee and would then encourage the employee by providing the employee with bonuses if they managed to register performance improvements. However, the communication style used by the supervisor could have been drastically improved if the supervisor undertook to try and listen more to the input provided by the recruits (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). The supervisor would often overlook our input as he believed that we could not be able to make any significant contribution that would help improve his tried and tested technique of training new recruits. In my opinion, the ideal good leader should be able to effectively listen to the input that is being provided by his employees and take it into critical consideration as this will show that he values the input of others (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). A good leader should also be capable of changing his communication style easily to adapt to different situations and individuals, an example of this is that a leader should be able to adapt between the use of an inspiring style when dealing with stockholders and an authoritative style when dealing with employees (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). Reference: Shockley-Zalabak, P. (2002). Fundamentals of organizational communication: knowledge, sensitivity, skills, values. Allyn and Bacon. M5A1: A scenario where communication problems happened to affect decision outcomes During a recent product launch by the company, the client for whom we were handling the product launch called in provide some crucial last minute instructions on the launch date and his call was handled by one of the marketing assistants in the company. However, when the assistant passed on this information to his superior, the bureaucracy of the system caused a critical delay that ended up affecting a key decision that resulted in our company missing out a key detail that was required by the client (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). The managerial team working on the launch ended up launching the product on the wrong date and the client was only made aware of the premature launch when he saw the product’s advertisement on the television. The client was very dissatisfied and made a personal visit to the company where he was engaged in a long talk with the managerial team in charge of making decision on the launch. The communication bureaucracy in the organization is seen to have critically affected the decision as to when the product was to be launched (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). The client had requested for a two week postponement as his lawyers finished drawing up and filing some key legal requirements. However, the premature launch caused the product to become advertised even before it was made available for sale at the various outlets. In order to avoid such problematic communication in future, the company can implement strategies that will see it considerably reduce or even eliminate the immense communication bureaucracy that caused the communication problem (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). It can also develop a means via which customers can be able to provide specific instructions and information to the managers directly in the event that there are some last-minute changes to be effected (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). Reference: Shockley-Zalabak, P. (2002). Fundamentals of organizational communication: knowledge, sensitivity, skills, values. Allyn and Bacon. M6A1: Productive and Counterproductive Conflicts Productive conflict is essentially conflict within the organization that ultimately yields a number of positive results for the organization. Productive conflict within an organization is seen to aid in the improvement of the general level of decision-making, as it tends to cause the different parties to try to consider the various alternative perspectives available before the organization can be able to undertake any significant action (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). On the other hand, counterproductive conflict is seen to primarily be conflict that essentially proves to be detrimental to the productivity of the organization (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). When conflict within the organization festers and grows to result in unhealthy competition and rivalry. It is then seen to essentially be counterproductive. In our workplace, counterproductive conflict is seen to constantly emerge between the executive the managers and general staff members of the organization. Questions are always being raised in regard to the decisions and policies being implemented by all the different levels of employees in the organization. This has resulted in ensuring that all the employees in the organization maintain high productivity levels and that the company executives and managers always remain conscious of any policies and decisions that they make as they are constantly aware that the merits of these decisions and policies will be critically analyzed and questioned by the employees (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). Our organization recently experienced some negative conflict when two of the managers started competing for a post in the executive (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). The managers engaged in a number of negative strategies that saw them seek to try and undercut each other and a general sabotaging of each other’s work (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). This eventually led to a polarization of nearly the entire company with the two managers receiving support from two different factions. In future, it is possible to effective avoid the emergence of such a situation by undertaking to try and formulate strategies that will ensure that such negative work practices are discouraged and any person engaging in them is punished or suspended. Reference: Shockley-Zalabak, P. (2002). Fundamentals of organizational communication: knowledge, sensitivity, skills, values. Allyn and Bacon. M7A1: Gaining Employee Support It is possible for companies can employ the use of various strategies so as to be able to gain employee support. Ferrell & Hartline (2014), points out that until a company’s employees are able to finally get the strategy, communication cannot be considered as having taken place. Among the various communication strategies that organizations can be able to use to effect employee buy-in include the use of an open communication strategy among all the various employees regardless of their status or work level within the firm (Shockley-Zalabak, 2002). A key communication strategy employed in this respect is the elimination of communication bureaucracy within the organization, this will enable the employees to have easier access to the management and executive and as such, they will be able to directly suggest their proposals to the company’s management, as they see their ideas being taken into consideration and implemented. Employees develop a feeling of ownership towards the company and buy-in into the company (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). The use of the open communication approach towards promoting employee buy in is seen to have a number of advantages; key among these advantages is the fact that through the promotion of open and interactive communication, employees will be better able to understand the commitment and support of the top company executives. They will also be able to understand how their individual assignments and jobs eventually fit into the company’s overall processes (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). However, this can at times prove to be detrimental in the event that the employees do not understand the commitment or value the support of the top company executives, they will not buy into the company as expected (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). Reference: Ferrell, O. C. & Hartline, D. M. (2014). Marketing strategy: text and cases. Mason, OH : South -Western/Cengage Learning. Shockley-Zalabak, P. (2002). Fundamentals of organizational communication: knowledge, sensitivity, skills, values. Allyn and Bacon Conclusion The importance and value of communication to a company can never be over emphasized and it is essential that all organizations ensure that it is adequately promoted. Communication is seen to have a number of key benefits to organizations, these include; the fact that various Communication strategies can be used to promote diversity within the organization which necessitates that leaders within a company or organization should ensure that they adopt proper communication strategies to promote this diversity while enhancing their leadership. Communication can also be used to enhance productive conflicts while attempting to resolve the counterproductive conflicts within organizations. By enhancing communication, organizations will be able to ensure that they are able to achieve the desired outcomes for both themselves and their organizations. References Ferrell, O. C. & Hartline, D. M. (2014). Marketing strategy: text and cases. Mason, OH : South -Western/Cengage Learning. Mor-Barak, E. M. (2011). Managing diversity : toward a globally inclusive workplace. Los Angeles: SAGE. Shockley-Zalabak, P. (2002). 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