The Developing Strategic Planning and Making a Quality Decision - Essay Example

Moving along with the development, progress and globalization, the people today shifts from one place to another to find his success. This changes the society’s demographics, thus, significantly changing the demographics in the workforce of organizations. This is one of the challenges that organizations today face, and will face within the next five years as the society drives itself to further improvement of its organizational management. Organizations have come to accept diverse races, cultures and perspectives within their workforce. This is quite a challenge, especially since there is still a mainstream culture that exists within the society that the organization is working in. Although there is a mainstream culture, the existence of minor races, cultures and perspectives in the workplace should still be considered when working on the initiatives, management and policies within the organization. Diversity in the workplace also comprises the differences and similarities that characterize the people within the organization. Different lines of business, functions and fields are also defined as diversity. With this, the management should consider diversity and equality in the course of its management planning, development of policies and initiatives, and leadership style to be successful in developing their people to their optimum level. This will increase the performance of their people and their organization, as well. To address this issue, a management process that can help alleviate problems in cultural differences is the diversity management tool. This process focuses on developing a strategic planning and making quality decisions in the midst of differences, similarities and tensions within the organization (Thomas, 2005). Leaders should have a mindset that accepts diversity within the society and within the organization itself. By accepting that in uniting the differences of the people, the organization will better function according to its vision. The first step in doing this is to think of diversity in the context of race and gender. This will empower the leaders to broaden diversity management to other mixtures within the organization, such as the different departments and lines of business, that have a strategic significance (Thomas, 2005). The strength of an organization lies in the unity of its people, and there is, in fact, unity within diversity. A workforce that is adaptable to change and diversity can be the source of a competitive advantage against other organizations (Jacobson, 2000). As the leaders design strategic plans to coordinate the differences of the workforce, it will create more opportunities and developments within the organization. Putting the people where they work best in depending on their background and point of views will encourage growth and development within the individuals as they are placed in projects that they do best in. People want to take part in the planning of the organization’s projects. With the strategic diversity management, the organization will be able to place people where they work best and, thus, create a healthy competitive working environment. When leaders and their groups are placed in departments and fields they work best in, they will be able to contribute better for the organization. In creating a unity between the departments, the leaders should be able to keep an open mind to the solutions and initiatives presented by other departments as they have different take on things. Staging talks, meetings and awareness plans are important to create an open mind and transparency of work creating good working relations. This is important as different departments may not be able to understand what the other is saying or pointing out. The challenge is to create unity within the leaders to establish unity within the entire organization (Sobol & Ramirez, 2006). Without the unity in the top management, the workforce will not be able to establish an open mind on diversity, thus, creating even more conflict and tension within the organization. And this may lead to the group’s downfall. Results-based leadership also works to address the diversity issue. This style aims to focus on the results of the performance of the workforce. This sets the tone and the pace of the organization to work together as a team as it entails the entire workforce to deliver the results needed to improve the productivity of the company. With this comes incentives and performance awards that helps motivate the members, thus, boosting their level of performance. Effective leaders are able to motivate their members through performance and results (Ulrich, et.al., 1999). Leaders that use this kind of style associate their personal attributes with the results of their performance, therefore, emphasizing that competency, ability to motivate and other leadership characteristics are important in delivering the desired results. With this, the leader is able to send the message that the individual performance and attributes of the group is important in fulfilling the task and giving out the desired result of the project. This recognizes that individuals have different personal attributes that contributes to the success of the project. Coupled with a strategic diversity management, the leader will be able to unite his members and create a cooperative spirit within the team as it emphasizes that results should be the main focus of the team. The challenge in this is opening up opportunities for the members to step up, be recognized and develop the members’ potentials to become future leaders (Intagliata, 2006; Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, 2003). Also, results-based leadership has the danger of being robotic since it focuses on the results and not on the people. That is the reason why a strategic diversity management is important to deliver results and to address the issue of diversity within the group (Kavikondala, 2006). There will always be tension within the group because of the different attributes, personalities, beliefs and backgrounds of the people. What is needed to be fostered is the ability of the leader to recognize these differences and use them to unite the members in order to deliver the desired results. This does not only address the issue of diversity but it also allows the organization to function well because it looks at the individuals as different people who can give various contributions for the organization depending on their specialty and competencies (Tucker & Thomas, 2006). Creating shared values that will be the binding factor of the organization is important in strategic diversity management. Leaders should not only stress the differences, and how it can benefit each and everyone within the organization, but also the common values of each member (Kouzes, 2007). Leaders should be able to recognize the value and potential of each member through their differences and similarities. The challenge of this is to gain consensus that will unite the diverse workforce (Kouzes, 2007). To address this issue, the leaders of the organization should be able to establish a culture that accommodates its people. It does not mean that it will insert all values of their members but instead establish a culture within the organization that fosters unity within diversity (Avery, 2004). This can only happen if the leaders understand how their workforce are able to understand their responsibilities and roles in bringing the success of the organization. The organization cannot be successful if its workforce are divided by tension and conflict as this will diminish their capabilities of working well with each other. It is important that leaders be able to establish the importance of the differences and similarities of the workforce and how it benefits the organization. In that way, the organization will be able to prevent discrimination. With a results based leadership, transparency and diversity management, the organization will be able to bring out the best in its people, hone their talents and deliver results that will promote productivity through cooperation. Works Cited Avery, G. (2004). 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