Managing a diverse workforce - Term Paper Example

Term Paper Topic Affiliation: Introduction The topic under discussion is “An analysis of the challenge of managing a diverse workforce in a global organization.” George and Jones, (2011) in their book “contemporary management” discuss how the challenge of managing a diverse workforce in an organization or a company that has gone global is as a result of the management lack of effectiveness and adopting change. The paper will discuss in detail the specific challenges managers of global organizations face when it comes to managing their workforce which is diverse. This diversity is in terms of different cultures, nationality, personalities and even gender (George and Jones, 2011). The benefits of this research topic are aimed at assisting the managers of such organizations that are global in getting tips of how to manage their challenge, console such managers that they are not the only ones facing such a challenge and hence they are not necessarily incompetent in their management and tailor their own ways to manage such a challenge depending on the organization’s culture, mission and vision. It is expected that the findings of this research will be available to almost all (if not all) managers of global organizations or those aspiring their organizations to go global someday. Following the recommendations of this research topic, it is expected that once put into action, the information will also help in solving the other challenges like increase productivity and in the end enable the organization have a competitive advantage over their competitors. Okoro, E. A. and Washington, M. C. (Spring, 2012). “Workforce Diversity and Organizational Communication: Analysis of Human Capital Performance and Productivity.” Journal of Diversity Management, Vol. 7(1), pp. 57-62. This article explains one of the main challenges of managing a diverse workforce in the 21st Century where the organizations have gone global is communication. According to the authors, globalization of the organizations brings with it ethnic and racial diversities which pose the challenge of how to harmonize these diversity of the workers. Their solution is to have open and effective communication channels which will lead to an ongoing feedback system, cultural harmony and appreciation of each other in spite of the differences. According to Likert’s management theory, the manager needs to employ a consultative management behavior allowing consultation with the employees to avoid stereotyping or cultural bias. The same concerns are also voiced by Henry Fayol’s management theory in which he states one of the roles of a manager as that of Esprit de corps (a manager should always aim to harmonize his team). Following communication improvement in the organization, the article’s conclusion is that the diverse workforce will lead to high level performance and expand its markets even further in the global economy. Kundu, S. C. (July-December, 2001). “Managing cross-cultural diversity: a challenge for present and future organizations.” Delhi Business Review, Vol. 2 (2). According to this article by Kundu, the challenge a manager faces with a diverse workforce is the lack of fairness and equitable treatment of all the diverse people working in the organization. This is brought about by the bureaucratic structure that many organizations have. This bureaucracy leads to managers leading based on power and not authority which according to Max Weber’s management theory is different. Weber defines power leading to a manager using force to lead his or her employees which may end upbringing about irrationality and animosity in the organization. Authority on the other hand involves exercising legitimate power that is agreeable by the subordinates and is not excessive. Kundu in his research explains how the only way to end and or prevent the challenge of unfairness and unequal treatment of all the diverse employees in the global branches of the organization is to redefine bureaucracy and change the work culture to suit the diversity in the workforce and hence ensuring that the different global branches work as a whole unit and hence increase its productivity. Pathak, S. and Haryana, F. (January, 2011). “Managing cultural diversities in Internationalization of business.” International Journal of Enterprise Computing and Business Systems, Vol. 1 (1). This article explains that the major challenge of a diverse workforce in a global organization is the conflict of interests of the employees in the different offshore organization offices due to the differences in cultures. This conflict of interests if not quickly and effectively addressed by the management will lead to the erosion of the organization’s culture and eventually the downfall of the organization. The suggestion provided in this article is that the management should work together (cooperation and coordination) to tackle these cultural differences brought about by the diverse workforce and bring about unity and uphold the organizational culture which should be the basis of all the branches of the organization. In order to achieve this, the managers need to be guided by Mayo’s human relation theory where the managers become social first with their employees by understanding their cultures and then coming to an understanding if how they will co-exist and work for the betterment of the organization and the achievement of the organization’s mission and vision. Shore, L. M., Chung-Herrera, B. G., Dean, M. A., Ehrhart, K. H., Jung, D. I., Randel, A. E. and Singh, G. (2009). “Diversity in organizations: Where are we now and where are we going?” Human Resource Management Review, Vol. 19, pp. 117-133. The authors of this article have divided the workforce diversity into six different categories which comprise diversity and analyzed each and how it presents a challenge to the management in a globalized organization or company. These six discussed categories are: age, gender, race, sexual orientation, culture and disability. The authors explain that it is through identifying the specific challenges associated with these categories of diversity that management can find effective solutions to the overall problem of workforce diversity and find solutions to it. Each of these categories is accompanied by a theory explaining it. The overall conclusion is that these categories are associated with negative predictions where global workforce management is concerned. Gwendolyn, M. (March, 2002). “Meeting the leadership challenge of a diverse and pluralistic workplace: implications of self-efficacy for diversity training.” Journal of Leadership Studies. Gwendolyn in this article insists that in the wake of the 21st Century where globalization is the new way to expand businesses in order to increase its performance and productivity, diversity is an issue that needs to be addressed. Unlike the previous articles, this article presents a different challenge and solution of having a diverse workforce to the managers. The author’s research has unearthed that in as much as diversity is proving to be a challenge, leadership of the organization also participates a lot in strengthening the diversity issues in the organization. This therefore means that diversity training for the leaders (managers) of the organization has to take place so that they can be well placed to handle diversity issues even as their companies continue to expand globally and meet even more categories of diverse people. The training will empower and give authority to the managers. References George, J. M. and Jones, G. R. (2011). Contemporary Management (7th Ed.). New York: McGraw- Hill Irwin Gwendolyn, M. (March, 2002). “Meeting the leadership challenge of a diverse and pluralistic workplace: implications of self-efficacy for diversity training.” Journal of Leadership Studies. Kundu, S. C. (July-December, 2001). “Managing cross-cultural diversity: a challenge for present and future organizations.” Delhi Business Review, Vol. 2 (2). Okoro, E. A. and Washington, M. C. (Spring, 2012). “Workforce Diversity and Organizational Communication: Analysis of Human Capital Performance and Productivity.” Journal of Diversity Management, Vol. 7(1), pp. 57-62. Pathak, S. and Haryana, F. (January, 2011). “Managing cultural diversities in Internationalization of business.” International Journal of Enterprise Computing and Business Systems, Vol. 1 (1). Shore, L. M., Chung-Herrera, B. G., Dean, M. A., Ehrhart, K. H., Jung, D. I., Randel, A. E. and Singh, G. (2009). “Diversity in organizations: Where are we now and where are we going?” Human Resource Management Review, Vol. 19, pp. 117-133. Read More