Diversity Management Plan - Research Paper Example

 Diversity Management Plan Introduction: It is the policy of our organization to promote the Diversity Management Plan which enables our employees with equal rights and opportunities. The concept of Diversity Management Plan is actually a strategic approach towards an organization’s healthy environment and to reward the employees with all the incentives that they deserve regardless of gender, age, religion, nationality and disability. (Adler, 1980) Furthermore it would be the foremost target of the company to opt for the best qualified applicant without being biased and will be strictly selected on merit. Therefore it is essential for our organization to promote Diversity Management Plan for efficient and consistent results. The Board of Directors and the Management have also asked to maintain a Comprehensive Diversity Management Plan in order to guide the initiatives of the plan and also to get updated about how far the organization is able to achieve its diversity management goals. It is basically an approach to ensure the constant progress in reaching the goals including: (Adler, 2002) The importance of diversity of the staff A discrimination-free environment To show respect to every one To appreciate new ideas and inventions To give the opportunities to our employees to utilize their diverse talents so that the mission of the organization is well achieved. Diversity Management Plan: The goal of Diversity Management Plan is to facilitate the employees so that they provide their maximum potential in order to achieve the goals of the organization. This also includes the building of a friendly environment where employees are liberated to take required steps that would be fruitful for the organization. The diversity management plan is all about creating a workplace which eliminates the differences of community, religion, disability, nationality and all other non-merit aspects. The creation of such workplace brings diversity throughout the organization which ensures the proportionality of new ideas and inventions. Furthermore many organizations have observed that after the implementation of the Plan the employees are able to process the information effectively, solving problems and last but not the least contributing towards organization’s goals to a great extent. Our Vision: To create a workplace that respects the diverse talents of the employees and to give equal opportunities to the employees to excel which would increase the capacity of the organization resulting in efficient outcomes. Our Commitment: In order to achieve the goals of our organization, the Board of Directors and the Management have given the utmost priority in building of the Diversity Management Plan. The plan covers the employees, executives and each and every individual that are associated with the organization. The rights of each and every individual will be kept under consideration. We also expect the executives and employees to support the Plan and cooperate in building up a diverse environment that would be fruitful for everyone. We are committed to become the diverse employer of the talented, qualified and motivated employees thereby producing an effective workplace. And as promised, the organization will make sure about the incentives and rewards of the employees accordingly. Objectives: Respect the talent of every employee. Building highly qualified and devoted workforce. Strong communication within the organization. Appreciating the work of employees and rewarding them accordingly so that they work to their maximum potential. Motivating employees for new ideas and inventions. Keeping the suggestions and advices of the employees under consideration for the betterment of the organization. To value individual differences Not even a glimpse of sexual harassment will be tolerated Hiring of the applicants will totally be based upon merit regardless of age, sex, religion, nationality and disability. Commitment of Executives (Managers and Supervisors): The Managers and Supervisors of the respective department will be expected to lead their workforce from the front. It is their duty to prior the policies according to the Diversity Management Plan. This includes: (Alexander, J., Lichtenstein, R., Jinnet, K., D’Aunno, T., & Ullman, E. (1996)). Excellent communication within the Department No biasness among employees Create and maintain policies that would ensure diversity in the department. The work should be equally distributed amongst the employees according to their capacities and abilities. In case of any delinquent situation the leader should lead from the front as a role model of the department. All the above points should be followed strictly under any circumstances and in case of any mishap, the leader of the respective department will be held responsible and is expected to provide with all possible explanations. Commitment of Employees: The employees are also expected to participate equally in building up a diverse environment in the organization. It is very necessary for the employees to notice the following aspects: Respect the co-employees and value the individual differences between them Should be task oriented. The given task must be done at the given time without being delayed. Should obey the laws set in the Diversity Management Plan. If any employee is found disobeying the laws, strict and immediate action will be taken against him Proper justification will be required if any concerned employee faces a mishap within the department. Encourage diversity within the department If stuck by any problem technical or non-technical, the employee is expected to inform the leader of the department immediately so that the problem could be solved as quickly as possible. The organization therefore expects the employees to cooperate with the management so that the mission is well achieved. If by any means, the employees are found to go against the policies set by the management, the company will immediately fire the person without any hesitation. The Methodology: The Diversity Management Plan is an approach towards the achievement of Diversity Management goals and measures. The organization will appreciate the suggestions and reviews by the employees and the executives if any of the area has to be reviewed. The initial approach is to implement the plan and follow it as much as possible. It is very obvious that the plan is not an isolated one but will surely be revised once in every 3 years. (Ancona, D. G., & Caldwell, D. F. (1992)) The employees have every right to provide with their suggestions without the threat of retribution on the condition that they are giving an utmost priority to the current Plan. The management will make sure that each and every suggestion will be kept under consideration while structuring the revised Diversity Management Plan. As far as our initial approach is concerned, the staff should be sincere with the current plan and the management would also take almost every necessary step to build Diversity of the staff and most importantly build a diverse Organization. Present Diversity status of the Organization The Management Department has been assessing the organization’s recent achievements in order to meet up with the diversity management goals. This is the company’s recent diversity profile: Selection of the diverse applicants helped to generate efficient results The recruitment of diverse employees to the executive positions influenced other employees to work harder in order to attain senior positions The implementation of Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) helped to reduce the communication gap between the management and the staff. (Azevedo, A., Drost, E. A., & Mullen, M. R. (2002)). The programs of Equal Employment Opportunity(EEO) provided solutions to the employees in order to overcome their problems. (Behn, R. (1991)). The obligation on the leaders and the senior members to attend the EEO programs and the diversity management training helped to create awareness regarding diversity issues and to maintain diversity within the department. The announcement of immediate firing on any sort of harassment helped in building a discrimination-free environment. Goals: The aims and objectives of Diversity Management Plan are clearly and concisely defined. The progress towards the goal will be tracked endlessly at the organizational level. The management plans to achieve the following goals: No discrimination during the hiring phase of the employees based on religious, cultural or racial issues. No discrimination will be tolerated with in the workplace. Awareness related to diversity will be spread among the employees. Sexual harassment will be strictly prohibited and dealt severely. Diversity will be celebrated on the organizational level. Equal chances of promotions and incentives will be awarded solely based on the peroformance of the employee. In order to achieve the aforementioned goals, the following strategies have been devised to be implemented in the workplace. Strategies: Strategy 1: The Management will take steps to make sure that no kind of discrimination whatsoever exists within the work place. This policy will follow a rule of complete biasness-free environment regardless of age, gender, religion, race, class, color or creed. A thorough review of existing policies will be taken in order to ensure that the current policies are in accordance to the guidelines of the indiscriminate policy we are looking forward to work on. (Cox, T. H., Lobel, S., & McLeod, P. L. (1991)). The Department of Human Resources will be responsible for supervising this task and to make sure that everyone follows the rules and policies strictly. This work is currently on-going and will continue throughout, also taking in accounts of any misconduct committed by any employee. Strategy 2: The management should also have proper methodology of identifying any discrimination or breach of policy conducted by any employee. (Fernandez, 1991). For this purpose a threefold policy will be followed which will include the following: Developing Education Programs. Review present policies. Developing mechanisms for the staff to report any misconduct carried on the workplace. Developing Education Programs: Training sessions will be conducted for the managerial positions to enhance their knowledge regarding diversity within the department. The sessions shall focus on the rights and responsibilities of the employees which will in turn help in creating a diverse environment in the workplace. This will also allow a platform of building healthy relationships within the office environment and bringing colleagues closer to each other. New staff will be given enhanced priority in the training sessions as it would allow them to understand the environment of the workplace and settle down more easily without feeling any discomfort in a very short span of time. The confidence level of newly hired employees will boost and drive them to give their maximum potential in their work. Review Present Policies: Present policies will be reviewed in depth and rechecked thoroughly to make sure that there are no loopholes or ambiguities in the current policies. Definitions of misconduct will be clearly and precisely explained in a very clear-cut and precise language and manner. It will be made sure that each and everyone in the place of work will fully understand the concepts and definitions of transgression of rules and policies. A proper code of conduct will be printed and distributed in the office and emailed to all the employees to make sure that no one misses this important part. The code of conduct will be written in a way so as to make sure that it is comprehendible and understandable to everyone. The present occurring issues should be dealt in an official manner with an official inquiry committee to administer any account of misconduct. If the official committee fails to resolve the issue then a professional legal help will be provided. Attorneys and the legal process will involve the participating employees and the office will stand out from it. Developing mechanisms for the staff to report any misconduct carried on the workplace: (Miller, 1998) An official complaining committee will exist, whose responsibility will be to report any accounts of disputes occurring between the employees. The committee will comprise of senior officials and legal representatives of the office to ensure that all the process takes a legitimate approach and any occurring disputes are resolved peacefully. The department of Human Resources will be responsible for initiating and supervising all this process from scratch till the end. This department will arrange the proper workforce and ensure that there is enough manpower available to handle all the issues happening simultaneously or alone. Strategy 3: Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination Discrimination occurring in the office will be discouraged and will be dealt strictly. No kind of leniency will be observed if any employee is guilty of discrimination on the bases of gender (sexual harassment), race, color, class, religion, or creed. Elimination of discrimination can be best dealt by spreading awareness in the employees. Education related to discrimination and its negative effects should be included during the sessions and the consequences of committing any kind of misconduct will also be highlighted to deter any wrong intention by any employee. Strategy 4: Support activities which celebrate the difference of people within the workplace (Gardenschwartz, L., & Rowe, A. (1993)) Activities and International Days related to all kinds of people existing in the office will be celebrated and support activities will be conducted. It is the right of every employee to enjoy their religious, cultural or traditional festivals with complete independence with their work-partners. The office will provide support and actively participate with them In order to maintain diversity in the workplace. International Women’s Day, Christmas, Easter, Eid, Hanookah, Yom Kippur, Halloween etc shall be given equal priority by the management and the officials. A committee comprising of the officials will be called as “Equality Reference and Diversity Group”. (Jehn, K. A., Northcraft, G. B., & Neale, M. A. 1999) This committee will be responsible of celebrating diversity and manage different classes of religion, cultures and traditions existing in the same workplace. Strategy 5: Review Diversity and Equity Culture The committee will also be responsible for conducting a review about the existing status of diversity in the office. It will conduct surveys and studies to measure the level of satisfaction within the employees regarding diversity and equality. If any dissatisfaction is found whatsoever then it will be the responsibility of this committee to take steps to make sure that all the employees of the office are happy and satisfied with no grudges or grievances in them. Strategy 6: Explore Diversity within the Workplace Exploring diversity within the workplace is also very essential to have an idea of the cultural, religious or racial differences within the office. Surveys targeted to collect the data of employees will be conducted. It will be made sure that no personal or offensive questions are asked within the surveys. (Lorange, 1980) Questions will be only targeted at collecting the data and not challenging the beliefs of the employees. Exploring diversity is a very sensitive task and will be dealt with utmost care to make sure that no employee is personally offended or feel bad about it. Conclusion: By following the aforementioned policy, the management looks forward to achieve diversity and equality within the workplace. It also looks forward to discourage any wrong intentions of occurrences within the office and make sure that no discrimination charges are committed by any employee. A diverse workforce enables the organization to have greater productivity and output. Diverse employees are essential in bringing something new and innovative ideas to the organization. Dealing with diverse employees can be a difficult task, but if handled properly, having a diverse workforce can be a really plus point for any organization. According to studies and surveys, the organizations with diverse workforce are shown to give greater productivity, efficiency and output than most other organizations. We also look to achieve the satisfaction and happiness of all the employees and eliminate any grudges or grievances within them so that they may reach their maximum potential in conducting their responsibilities. References Adler, N. J. (1980). Cultural synergy: The management of cross-cultural organizations Adler, N. J. (2002). International dimensions of organizational behavior. 4th ed. Cincinnati: Southwestern College Publishing. Alexander, J., Lichtenstein, R., Jinnet, K., D’Aunno, T., & Ullman, E. (1996). The effects of treatment team diversity and size on assessments of team functioning, Hospital & Health Services Administration. Ancona, D. G., & Caldwell, D. F. (1992). Demography and design: Predictors of new product team performance, Organization Science Azevedo, A., Drost, E. A., & Mullen, M. R. (2002). Individualism and collectivism: Toward a strategy for testing measurement equivalence across culturally diverse groups, Cross Cultural Management Behn, R. (1991). Leadership counts: Lessons for public managers from the Massachusetts Welfare, Training & Employment Program. Cox, T. H., Lobel, S., & McLeod, P. L. (1991). Effects of ethnic and group cultural differences on cooperative and competitive behavior on a group task, Academy of Management Journal. Fernandez, J. P. (1991). Managing a diverse workforce: Regaining the competitive edge. Gardenschwartz, L., & Rowe, A. (1993). Managing diversity: A complete desk reference & planning guide. Jehn, K. A., Northcraft, G. B., & Neale, M. A. (1999). Why differences make a difference: A field study of diversity, conflict, and performance in work groups. Lorange, P. (1980). Corporate planning: An executive viewpoint. Miller, F. A. (1998). Strategic cultural change: The door to achieving high performance & inclusion. Public Personnel Management Read More