Balance between Respecting the Needs of a Diverse Workforce - Coursework Example

How can organizations strike a balance between respecting and meeting the needs of a diverse workforce and shaping a high-performance corporate culture where shared values contribute to the accomplishment of strategic goals? Introduction As a result of increased global competition, privatization, decentralization, increasing number of migrant employees, technological innovations, downsizing, concerns around sustainability and other relevant trends of the twenty first century, the workforce environment is continuously changing and becoming more diverse (Douglas, 2003; Harris & Short, 2014). All this contributes to a more diverse workforce in organizations, and therefore, organizational cultures of many organizations also undergo significant changes (Harris & Short, 2014). Diversity is related to the challenges of the multicultural workforce, employee transience, gender balance, and skills recognition and inclusion (Harris & Short, 2014: 198). Thus, nowadays, managers often face a serious challenge of finding a balance between meeting the needs of a diverse workforce and establishing a high-performance corporate culture with shared values, which are crucial for achieving corporate strategic goals and objectives. The aim of this research is to provide a critical overview of how can organizations strikes a balance between respecting the needs of a diverse workforce and shaping a high-performance corporate culture with shared values. The remainder of the paper provides an overview of the problem, definition of key terms, and review of different theories and views related to the research question. The last section summarizes the key points derived from a research and is followed by a conclusion. Diversity Defined Diversity is defined as “acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people, with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status (Esty, et al.,1995 cited in Green et al., n.d., 1). Based on this definition it is possible to suggest that individuals with this variety of characteristics might have different needs at their jobs. Workplace diversity is a defined as a ‘presence of blend of people from various sexes, cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds, ages, abilities, and perspectives in a working environment (Marques, 2007:23).With the continuous increase of workforce diversity, more and more companies become totally inclusive organizations focusing of attracting specialists with different characteristics (Pless and Maak, 2004). On the one hand, this approach has the potential of greater competitive advantage and increased productivity in the modern globalized world, but on the other hand it poses certain challenges and difficulties in managing workforce diversity (Green et al., n.d). Even those companies who are avoiding developing diversity at their workplace can hardly avoid this tendency, as demographic changes, shift in social perception, equal opportunity legislation and increase focus on sustainable development are the key drivers of it. (Green et al., n.d). Either it is a part of corporate strategy or compulsory measures necessary for survival (Elmuti, 1993) businesses should learn to manage workforce diversity. Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace There are many researches and studies suggesting that workforce diversity enables a company to gain competitive advantage and improve business performance (Spiers, 2008). Diversity of workforce is one of the key attributes of success among the companies operating globally. Having maximized and capitalized on workforce diversity, an organization can improve the quality of its services, products and programs due to the contributions made on behalf of its diverse teams (Borak, 2005). The study which involved 500 companies from the USA, UK, and Europe have identified the following benefits of harnessing workforce diversity: higher staff retention, reduced recruitment costs, more satisfied customers, better supply chain management, access to a wider customer base, access to new ideas, and some others (Spiers, 2008). All these benefits often are the elements of the business strategy of an organization. Challenges of Diversity in the Workplace However, diversity management is a complex and long-term process, which requires special skills and expertise (Spiers, 2008). Therefore, besides the benefits of diversity in the workplace there are some challenges, which leaders face while managing a diverse work population. Managing diversity implies promotion of inclusiveness and, recognition of differences in values and beliefs, combating inequality, prejudice, and discriminative behavior (Green et al., n.d). Also, there might be negative attitudes towards organizational diversity, which will more likely have negative impact on the working relationships and harmful effect on the work productivity and employee’s morale (Green et al., n.d.). In addition to negative attitudes among the colleagues, ingrained attitudes among senior managers also might cause difficulties in managing people who are different from them in certain way (Spiers, 2008). Different needs of a diverse workforce and alternatives for managing these needs The theme of this research suggests that an organization needs to strike a balance between meeting as well as respecting the widespread needs of a diverse workforce. However, in order to develop further discussion for this topic it is necessary to understand what the basic needs of the main categories of diverse workforce are. Women as a diverse workforce There has occurred a significant shift in female’s employment during the last decades. Participation of women at all levels of organizations is expanding substantially. Even though women should be treated equally with the men, this category of employees still has some special needs. Women are more sensitive, flexible and dedicated individuals with lower long-term commitment to the organization that men. In addition to different characteristics, female workers are more likely to spend more time with their family and children. Thus, the culture of long hours makes it difficult for women to aspire to senior positions (Spiers, 2008). In other cases, in order to manage the needs of this group of workforce diversity, many companies offer flexible, part-time or shorter work week options (Elmuti, 1993). Minorities One of the key concerns related to employment of minorities is the low level of educational qualifications within this category of diverse workforce (Elmuti, 1993). The companies which might face with this problem can either provide the minority employee with relevant position or provide additional training and courses in order to increase their qualification level. Immigrants The main challenges faced by immigrants within an organization can be referred to cultural, social and language barriers. As there are many different cultures and social norms vary among the countries, the needs of the foreign workers might not be met within an international company. There should be developed corporate standards and code of behavior so that people could adjust their behavior to the organizational culture (Elmuti, 1993). Disabled persons in the workforce Even though this category of workforce diversity is present within the organizations, its share is not as significant to impact the overall performance of the team or the company. To meet the needs of this category of employees organizations might need to provide reasonable accommodation to enable workers to perform their job and to introduce anti-discrimination policies (Elmuti, 1993). Overview of the major needs of separate categories of workforce diversity indicates that there can be taken specific steps in relation to each category, which will contribute to more favorable climate within the organization. However, there are also some general strategies that might be applied in order to establish a high-performance corporate culture with shared corporate values. Strategies for managing workforce diversity There are different approaches, which are adopted by an organization in order meet the specific needs of the workforce diversity. One of such approaches is diversity training programs where employees are made aware about the different cultures residing in the organization. Thus, people become more knowledgeable about their colleagues and their cultures. This in turn helps to eliminate the barriers present amongst team members. However, in broader context this type of program cannot be considered to be effective in long term perspective as the diverse workforce would eventually possess different needs and wants. There is a certain theoretical framework which is usually incorporated into an organization which comprises of diverse workforce. It basically elaborates on nine leading practices that can address the diverse needs of an organization such as: commitment from top leadership, where the major aim of diversity can be efficiently communicated throughout the system; diversity to be considered as a main part of strategic plan of an organization; diversity to be linked with high performance and productivity of an organization; measurement in terms of qualitative and quantitative approach through which effectiveness of diversity program can be appropriately measured; accountability in which the compensation and performance assessment is directly associated with overall progress of diversity initiatives; succession planning through which a diverse pool of employees can be trained and motivated towards becoming potential future leaders; recruitment of diverse staff base and training programs where all the team members are made aware about the widespread benefits of diverse workforce (Knippenberg and Schippers, 2007). There are many organizations which focus on developing diversity training programs as they feel that this is the best mechanism to avoid any form of conflict within the organization and to address needs of diverse workforce. By creating safe and fair environment where all employees will have equal access to both opportunities and challenges, an organization will more likely benefit from it and increase its chances of achieving strategic goals (Green et al., n.d.). Practical application of the strategies for managing workforce diversity Wal-Mart is a real time example of an organization that has been able to create a pool of talent by working together with employees in strategic decision making. This company majorly adopts the principle of incorporating diverse training program in the system. On basis of this program the company is able to interact with its diverse workforce as well as develop a platform to explore creative or innovative ideas. The program even enables management of Wal-Mart to address any cultural conflict that occurs in the workplace (Musser, 2005). As per the organization high performance can only be achieved by enabling diverse workforce the freedom to work as per their choice and take strategic decisions as and when required. On the other hand the company even arranges for cultural programs whereby different cultural background employees can interact with each other and identify their respective strengths. Siemens can also be considered as a real time organization that aims toward developing high performance work culture. The cultural aspect within the organization is well maintained by giving equal importance to job enlargement and enrichment. Job enrichment enables to motivate employees for taking up multiple tasks at a time. This organization also utilizes such an important approach known as talent management. Conclusion Changing world, globalization, trade liberalization and other factors have facilitated growth of workforce diversity. Diverse work teams provide many opportunities for organizations, especially those operating globally. While there are many benefits the companies can gain from diverse work population, there are also some challenges associated with it. As the diversity groups can be of different categories, their needs also may vary significantly. There was provided a brief overview of the key workforce diversity groups and their possible needs. The analysis has shown that respecting and meeting the needs of a diverse workforce is not likely to be in conflict with the high-performance corporate culture. Managers should utilize some strategies and ensure effective communication strategy in order to maximize and capitalize on workforce diversity and establish a high-performance corporate culture where shared values contribute to the accomplishment of strategic goals. Respect of individual differences and needs will enable organizations to increase work productivity and gain competitive advantage. References: Connerley, ML, & Pedersen, PB 2005, ‘The complexity of culture’, in Leadership in a diverse and multicultural environment: Developing awareness, knowledge, and skills, SAGE Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 21-39, viewed 3 November 2014, doi: http://0-dx.doi.org.wam.city.ac.uk/10.4135/9781483328966.n2. Borak, M., 2005. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Douglas, C 2003, Key Events and Lessons for managers in a diverse workforce, A Report of Research & Findings, pp. 1-58. Elmuti, D 1993, Managing Diversity in the Workplace: An immense challenge for bothe managers and workers, Industrial Management, 35, 4, p. 19. Green K, López M, Wysocki A, and Kepne K (n.d), HR022/HR022: Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and the Required Managerial Tools. 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Spiers, C 2008, The business benefits of diversity, Management Services, 52, 2, pp. 26-30 Read More