Dealing with Diverse People in the Workforce - Case Study Example

Dealing with Diverse People in the Workforce Problem Statement Diversity, when referred to in business terms may mean a lot of things. An organization’s workforce may be referred to as diverse for many reasons as well. Diversity may occur because of the differences of opinion because of the differences in personality, in age, in educational attainment, in status in life and even in culture. Mostly, as observed on different business companies, the main reason of such diversity is the existence of a much distinct group of races making up a single workforce for a company. How could all these happen? As mentioned in the introduction, many people have already transferred from place to place and a lot of those people, the so-called immigrants, have already decided to stay and work on the foreign lands they have gone to. Hence, the main effect of this social move on achieving success on other places, the employment of the multicultural population has been the resort to supporting the lives of the said immigrants. Hence, the workforce of every company making up the business industries are at times having the same worries on how to face the challenge of dealing with and managing people who are widely different from each other. Understanding this particular factor suggests that Lael Matthews is indeed facing a particular management dilemma that practically subjects her to a decision that needs to be made abruptly and systematically understanding the fact that this particular decision would directly affect the organization as a whole. Having this responsibility established right upon her shoulder, it could be observed how important her decision is going to be in connection with the growth of the organization that she is standing for. To know how complex the matter is, the definition of the entire situation shall be presented below. The Situation There are three managers vying for the promotion that is to be given to only one particular candidate. Among the candidates included three major personnel which included Liz, Roy and Quang Yeh. All particular individuals have had their own chances of serving the organization for quite some time and had been able to find ways to improve the progress of the business for some certain ways in their own remarkable ways. Liz, for example, is a 34 year old African American woman who has a child and has at least served the company for at least 4 years. She has been noted though to have a high energy level. Practically, the basic reason behind the nomination of Liz for the promotion is the fact that she is an African American woman and that her promotion would boost the confidence of the people working for the organization. Her promotion is likely to have a direct effect among the member of the organization’s workers no matter how diverse they are; giving them a sense of realization that if they do well, they would be given a chance to be promoted to higher positions as well. Then again, the record of Liz with regards the incompetence that she has in connection with the need to manage people is rather a dense relation to the actual sense of the promotion giving a rather wrong impression to the system in the long run. Roy on the other hand is a 57 year old man who has a fine family background giving him a better chance to focus his performance towards his job. As for a fact, he had been noted to have a great record in terms of being effectively able to motivate his team towards gaining a better sales record for the company for the past years that he had been serving the organization for at least twenty years. It has also been through the record that this is Roy’s last chance to be promoted within the company. Quang Yeh meanwhile is an Asian female who is 27 years of age and is single. She has served the organization for at least three years. However, although served the organization for quite a short time compared to those who were nominated first in line, she was among the top ranking managers in the business who was able to make huge changes for the progress of the entire organization. Likely, this reputation led her to becoming one of the icons that was noted to have a great influence to her people because of her meticulous way of management style. True, all the nominees had great reasons to be chosen as candidates for promotion. Hence, considering their competencies and the reasons behind their being nominated to the position shall give Lael better chances on choosing the right person for the entire organization. Hence, to be well guided through the process, the applicable suggestions from a well-known business entrepreneur could be carried into consideration. A Practical Guideline for Decision-Making As mentioned earlier, management of a diverse workforce has been one of the biggest problems that concern the human resources department of any type of company present in the business industries. Hence, it is just reasonable to say that at some points, some management teams may find it a difficult task as well. However, the author, John riddle says otherwise. According to him, “these are all factors of management that should be considered by good managers even before entering an organization” (113). Hence, this definitely means that avoiding diversity in the workforce may be impossible but giving a resolution to it is not that impossible. After all, there is still a common ground among the working force of each company no matter how diverse they may be it is that they are humans, which makes them capable of being dealt with and managed well. In this regard, John Riddle has suggested several points of consideration when dealing with such business problems. In general terms, he summarized the ways by which a good manager could handle the difficulties of dealing with a diverse workforce. The said suggestions are as follows: Concentrate on the strengths of the employees. When a manager discovers the tasks where the employees usually excel in, they should be assigned to them as they are expected to be more productive on those fields of the job. Understand the abilities and the potential of each employee present in the organization. These potential assets of the employees could as well be used by the company itself in aiming for the goals that it has set up for the future. Allow communication lines t be open at all times. It is very important for managers to be good listeners. The ability of hearing what the employees want form the company as well as to how they could be of bigger help to the organization could be used as a resource of ideas for the company as well. Make the employees feel that they too have a sense of authority in the company. However, this type of authority should not overstep that of the administration’s. It should be clear that this authority could only be exercised at specific times and places when it is permitted. This may often refer to an ‘open door’ policy that deals with an easier type of agreement between the employees, which could give them a chance to affect how the organization is being managed. They are then allowed to give suggestions; however, no suggestions are implemented unless approved by the administration. Make sure that all employees understand the business goals and objectives. It should always be remembered that a well-informed employee, whether young or old, is a productive employee. A manager should always remember that he is supervising people with feelings who are valuable members of the organization, hence, treating them with great respect at all times no matter what culture they come from is one of the most important virtue any manager could post as an example for his colleagues. Treating everyone fairly and sensitively is the key to creating a fine working environment. It should be remembered that because of the different clutters of the people, they all have different preferences; they have different personal obligations and other more. Considering the fact that dealing with multicultural workforce also involve dealing with their differences of belief, a manager could as well consider fairness at all times to be able to set a common ground for everyone else in the organization. Keep everyone else busy and going all the time. Feeling one’s worth is usually measured on the things they are able to do for the organization in a day. In this manner, it could be said that regardless of one’s difference from the others, being able to do something for the company and being of worth to the organization makes an employee feel that even though there are differences, he still belongs to the organization he is working for. Keep employees informed of the ins and outs of the organization. Keeping employees in the dark when some changes within the organization arise may give them the notion that they are not given importance by the administration of the company. Acknowledge the employees’ efforts, years of work, talent, creativity and good job attributes. Doing so would help everyone else strive for the best while they are working in the company. It could be noticed that the suggestions listed in here are general. Putting these suggestions into good use have mostly caused several companies to achieve unity beyond diversity in their own much diverse workforces. Hence, as Jones commented in his book “Contemporary Management”, “diversity is a normal part of modern management. Being globally distinct, it could not be avoided that dealing with different people every day is a challenge to the modern managers today who aim to be ethically specific with the job that they are aiming to complete. ” (180) The Decision After a long time of deliberation and consideration on the different issues that are connected with the choice of personnel that needs to be completed by Lael, she is rather suggested to go for progress. A decision that would not only affect the person that has been promoted, but the entire organization as well; a decision that would bring about change in the organization and progress for the entire business that the organization pursues. She is then required to choose the person who would likely be able to handle challenge without any particular eminent distraction and with rightful focus to the goal. She needs to pick the one who would be able to push the people to the level of competence that they all have for the sake of the organization’s progress; someone whose service and performance could still be improved for later progressions. In this case, the nominee that is most capable of completing all the tasks noted above is Quang Yeh. Putting aside the fact that she is going to be married to the son of Lae’s supervisor, her record proves that she is capable of taking on the challenge of managing the needs of the organization. It could be observed too that her age allows for more improvement hence suggesting that if there is anything that she needs reminding of, like for example her being too strict at some point, could be well instilled in her as she accepts the promotion. The training that could be given to her to be more balanced could set her almost-perfect process of managing into a better level of concentration geared towards the success of the organization in business. Conclusion The certainties of dealing with diverse people in the workforce are around ninety-nine percent. Considering that we are living in a culturally diverse society, it could be argued that a diverse workforce is indeed a challenge to many business managers today. However, at first, this fact may seem a big problem, on the other hand, if the managers are able to see the common ground of everyone else, which is being human, the said managers would recognize the possibility of making diversity a source of further progress for the company. Mixing up the talents and the abilities of the employees for the goal of the organization would surely help the company reach its peak potential. Having given the suggested decision herein, it could be noted that progress is a very important matter that needs to be considered in picking the right person for a particular position. And in this case, the record of the candidate chosen has been given careful attention hence suggesting that record competence is more important than years of service. Besides that, the personal background of the individual has also been given careful assessment as to how it would practically relate to her performance. Quang Yeh was indeed a budding leader who is expected to do more for the organization in the years that shall come. References: Riddle, John. (2001). Business Management. Adams Media Corporation. Avon, Massachusetts. Adams, Bob. (2000). Managing people: Lead your staff to peak performance. Adams Media Corporation. Avon, Massachusetts. Hiam, Alexander. (2001). Motivating and rewarding Employees: New and better ways to inspire your people. Adams Media Corporation. Avon, Massachusetts. Martinez, Esdras. (1998). Buisness Managements theories and practice. Rex books Publishing. Manila, Philippines. Jones, Gareth R. (2004). Contemporary Management. Irwin/McGraw-Hill; 4th edition. Read More