Diversity in Organizations: Have We Stopped Caring about It - Literature review Example

Diversity in Organizations: Have We Stopped Caring About It Table of Contents Nature of Topics 3 Literature Review 4 Talks on Diversity Enhanced in Businesses Internationally 7 Analysis and Discussion 8 Training Plan 11 Conclusion and Recommendations 11 Recommendations 12 References 13 Nature of Topics In the recent trends, diversity can be delineated in terms of comprehending the concept and how an organisation can manage the cultural diversity and gender inequality for its future improvement. Diversity related to an organisation can be stated to be reflecting on gender inequality, unequal pay among men as well as women, diversity in terms of age of employees along with diversity in cultural background (ACCA, 2014). In the present day purview, gender diversity is a major problem for an organisation because a number of companies fail to pay equal salaries to its male and female employees. Nonetheless, in this globalisation driven world, men and women both are often equal in terms of qualification and in terms of work experiences. Due to various forms of diversity in an organisation, complications for maintaining such diverse range of employees have even emerged. In this regard, it can be ascertained that an organisation should intend to manage the diversities to make healthy and good working culture so that the prosperity of the same could be assured (Butt, 2006). Correspondingly, the report intends to explain the notion of diversity in organisations. Besides, the report even takes support of the available literary evidences for developing a better understanding about the topic. This report also deals with the analysis and discussion as well as certain recommendations for determining a set of avenues to reduce the problem of diversity in organisations. Literature Review According to Faragher (2014) and Mazur (2010), diversity is a part of the normal operations of organisation as it is evident that different cultural people are working together in an organisation. It can have either positive or negative impact for the future improvement of the organisation. In most of companies, the number of male employees is higher than female employees. Male employees also get extra opportunities than female employees and it creates diversity in the organisation. Faragher (2014) and Mazur (2010), also suggested that the notion that females are not much conscious about their careers but males create a positive situation within the workplace for the male employees rather than the female counterparts of the society (Faragher, 2014; Mazur, 2010). On the other hand, according to Bazelais & et. al. (2015), race diversity is defined as the process of maintaining the different racial discriminations that are associated with race and ethnic groups. However, at the different phases of the society, there were several seclusions identifiable for certain groups that were facing certain amount of improper situations for leading life within the society. This has been identified based on the changed social settings. The diversity among people within an organisation is currently based on the disability of the people as well. There are several disabled people in the society who did not get any opportunity for work in the earlier trends because most of the people thought that to communicate with disabled people is not useful. Therefore, diversity has increased. Nevertheless, now there are several opportunities for disabled people in the workplace to enhance their career life (Bazelais & et. al., 2015). Additionally, according to SHRM (2015), religion diversity in the workplace is a part of organisation. There are different people who are working together within an organisation and have been identified to be having diversified mentalities and changed social needs. Based on their religious belief and value, every individual is identified to be separated from one another and have a diversified outlook towards the society as well as self. All religions of people do not get same opportunities in the workplace and it increases the diversity in terms of religion. However, now by implementing equal pay strategy, religion diversity can also be managed (SHRM, 2015). Correspondingly, according to CIPD (2007) and Dike (2013), the diversity in organisations can be reduced with the help of taking possible actions and developing certain policies in relation to developing equality within an organisation. The organisation should provide equal pay as well as equal opportunities to both the male and female employees to manage diversity. The responsibilities should be handed based on the experience and the ability of employees rather than based on some other processes of discrimination or biases. CIPD (2007) and Dike (2013), also evaluated that equality can be helpful to reduce the discrimination in terms of gender, age, pay and culture among others. Conversely, different people can be benefited by the company to innovate the new ideas for the improvement of the performance of the organisation (CIPD, 2007; Dike, 2013). Subsequently, according to Green & et. al. (2015) and Bogda (2004), in the present day purview, the organisations that are operating under diverse cultural domains hence need to manage the complications that are associated with the needs of maintaining the diversifications associated with the same. This is acclaimed that people who belong from different cultures as well as different backgrounds possess diverse values along with creativity and innovation ability. Different cultural people have different ideas, which can be beneficial for organisations. In the current trends, diversity is also considered as one of the major problems that creates certain level of complexities for the management of the organisation that is being taken into consideration by the current day organisations. Green & et. al. (2015) and Bogda (2004) also suggested that the managers of an organisation should have certain skills to manage the diversity in organisation and improve the working culture that is prevalent within the same. In this regard, it can also be mentioned that managers should have the information about the diversity that is prominent within the organisations that are operating within the current era. Diversity in the organisation cannot be raised only based on the different cultural people but also it should be focusing on the facet of differentiation among individuals (Green & et. al., 2015; Bogda, 2004). According to the EY (2012) and Education Victoria (2011), diversity in terms of gender has become one of the most important patterns of diversity that is prevalent within the current trends around the world. Presently, males and females both are equal and both have equal power to perform their work effectively. However, based on the viewpoint of few male employees, females are less capable of performing their work successfully as compared to males. This type of differentiation creates diversity and enhances the extent of discrimination among employees (EY, 2012). Therefore, to manage diversity, the organisations should focus on the ability as well as power of female employees along with the males. An organisation should provide equal opportunities to the female employees based on their educational qualification as well as work experience. In this regard, it can also be mentioned that the organisations should develop gender equality policies to bridge the gap between male and female employees and reduce the chances of gender discrimination (Education Victoria, 2011). Talks on Diversity Enhanced in Businesses Internationally The diversity in business internationally has been improved in terms of providing equal opportunities to the employees. To enhance the diversity in business internationally managers and leaders of an organisation should implement core strategies. One of the core strategies that can be improved within the organizational culture and provide better working environment where employees can perform their work effectively. The managers should improve female leadership to enhance the diversity in business internationally. The managers and the leaders should have certain leadership qualities through which they can be able to manage individuals in an organisation. The leadership qualities can assist in leading the team effectively, providing a proper planning for training programs and maintaining a standard rate of collaboration with each team member (Skills for Care, 2013). With the help of these leadership qualities, the managers or leaders are able to know the reason of discrimination among the employees and try to find out the solution to solve the problem. The managers or leaders should focus on the employment rights as well as human rights of employees and try to manage the needs so that the demands of employees could be satisfied. Moreover, it can also be mentioned that equality principles and commitments in relation to equal access irrespective of the diverse level of discrimination that are eminent within the society can be one of the core strategies to manage the diversity. The managers always support their junior employees for conducting their work and provide equality to reduce the diversity problem (Pitts, 2003). Diversity is identified to be a developing concept in the recent trends than in the earlier trends. Due to the increase in diversity in organisations, HR managers and higher authorities in organisations face several problems or challenges. Therefore, to manage the diversity, the managers of the organisations should provide requisite training programs to the employees in terms of maintaining good collaboration with each other and upholding a standard working environment. Diversity can also be a problem for the improvement of performance of the organisation. The managers of the organisations are noted to be managing diversity by fulfilling the commitment and providing the opportunities to the employees based on their capability as well as power. The managers and leaders should provide equal opportunities to the employees who are involved in international business to manage and improve diversity (Nayak & Joshi, 2012; Kreitz, 2007). Analysis and Discussion From the above discussion, it can be analysed that diversity in organisations has become one of the major problems in the various countries around the world. The prime reason of diversity in organisation can be differences among individuals. Correspondingly, with the changing system of globalisation and diversified mode of operations, there has been a further influence of diversification within the social domain. In the present day context, most of the companies and personnel who are in the higher authorities have to manage this diversity for fulfilling the commitment towards the employees. With the changing social needs, there has been diversified needs of the people for maintaining organisational needs. However, with the changing social constraints, the needs of maintenance of the diverse organisational needs have been identified to be changing. There are several types of diversities that are evident within the society that include age, gender, culture, ethnicity and other constraints. Conversely, diversity in terms of gender is a major problem that is far more prominent than the diversity in terms of age, race, religion, disability, educational background and different cultures. Subsequently, it can also be evaluated that managers and leaders are liable for upholding the diversity in organisations (Macfarlane & et. al., 2010). However, on the other hand, managers and leaders can only reduce the problem of diversity in an organisation by developing the equal pay policy for the employees of the organisation. In the recent years, with the integrated impact of globalisation, the concept of diversity can be deemed as among the top priorities because it is also considered as the key aspect of innovation. Diversity is also important for developing the new ideas with the help of employees possessing dynamic educational backgrounds, cultures along with having multifaceted experiences. It facilitates the managers to generate new as well as innovative ideas that can become future catalysts for progression of the organisation (Holmgren & Jonsson, 2013). There are two prospects of diversity such as positive prospects and negative prospects that further create a set of positive and negative impacts on organisations. Diversity is noted to be having an ability to affect the relationship among employees and team members. Parallel to this, it can also affect the efficiency of business and create an adversity for business development. For example, in a number of corporate firms such as Barclays and KPMG managing diversity in relation to gender and age has been a complex phenomenon. Correspondingly, in fdu Group, there are five female finance officers, that clearly reflect the need of maintaining a diversified workforce (Australian Government, 2013). In this context, it is mandatory for managers and leaders to support every member and fulfil commitments to reduce the diversity issue. The diversity problem can be raised in both public as well as private sector based organisations, therefore, managers and leaders should focus on the diversity concept of public and private enterprises and try to solve the problem. From the above discussion, it can also be assessed that in the recent trends, diversity is also prominent within the periphery of effective decision making regarding the management of problem. Therefore, the management along with managers and leaders should provide more focus on diversity and implement the concept in a positive way (Forbes, 2015). The political, socio-economic and religious factors can also affect the training programs because the process of providing training to individual has to be altered based on the changing needs of the individuals. The abilities of the employees need to be judged as the strengths of every individual differ from the others. In this regard, it can be evaluated that the trainer must be able to maintain the diverse individual needs of the employees and increase the effectiveness of the system of training. The recruitment and selection process must be efficient for maintaining a competitive edge and enhance the effectiveness of training. Moreover, the mechanism which is used in assessing the overall process of learning will be able to create a certain amount of effect on the training program. The mechanisms, which are used in training program, should be of good quality and advanced technology should be incorporated so that an effective training could be ensured. Correspondingly, for employees, becoming accustomed with the ever-prevalent organisational changes has been a huge challenge, thus training for managing change is an effective need for ascertaining the successful needs of the company. Hence, change management can affect the training program of an organisation and create a direct impact on the diverse range of employees and propagate the effective integration of a training plan that would be supporting the needs of each employee (Forbes, 2015). Training Plan Plan Duration Outcomes In the first day, the training should be based on the job roles The duration can be 4-5 days This would help employees to obtain the information about their job roles and challenges, which employees can face during the time of their work Training related to diversity 5-6 days This training program can help the employees to obtain the information about the diversity in the organisation and strategies that would help them manage the issues arising from the same Training related to communication skills 4-5 days It can help employees to enhance their communication skills so that they can easily communicate with other team members in relation to their job purpose Conclusion and Recommendations Based on the overall comprehension derived, it can be stated that in the present day purview, diversity in organisations is one of the most vital aspects for every corporate. In most of the organisations, managers and leaders are observed to be not providing equal opportunities to the employees mainly male and female employees therefore, diversity in organisation has increased in terms of gender in a more prominent manner. Therefore, the managers and leaders should develop equality policy within the organisation because it helps to maintain a good collaboration and relation among team members as well as employees. It can also be ascertained that managers and leaders should reduce the gender diversity problem so that the effectiveness of operations could be ensured. Conversely, diversity can also be defined as the understanding regarding the way in which different cultural people can work together to accomplish the organisational goals. Diversity is also an essential element to attain the business goals because it helps to nurture various ideas and generate new as well as innovative ideas for the future improvement of the organisation. In this regard, it can also be mentioned that diversity and innovation are connected to each other. Recommendations From the above discussion, it can also be evaluated that the managers of corporate organisations should implement certain training program to manage the diversity. Firstly, managers and leaders should have certain leadership qualities to lead the team members and support the team members (Kamal & Ferdousi, 2009). The trainer should have good communication skills so that employees can obtain the information easily and perform their work effectively. The managers and leaders should use advanced technologies to make the training program successful and increase efficiency of the employees enrolled with the program (Ehimere & Ogaga, 2011). References Australian Government, 2013. Workplace Diversity Strategy. Department of Immigration and Citizenship. [Online] Available at: http://www.immi.gov.au/about/plans/workplace-diversity/workplace_diversity_strategy_2011-2013.pdf [Accessed June 11, 2015]. ACCA, 2014. The Business Case for Diversity Management. Economic & Social Research Council. Online] Available at: http://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/acca/global/PDF-technical/human-capital/pol-tp-tbcfdm-diversity-management.pdf [Accessed June 11, 2015]. Butt, J., 2006. Identifying the Characteristics of Social Care Organizations That Successfully Promote Diversity. Race Equity Discussion Paper, pp. 1-14. Bogda, G. L., 2004. Diversity and Organizational Change. Articles, Vol. 2, pp. 1-6. Bazelais, et. al., 2015. Center for Work & Family. Boston College, pp. 2-8. CIPD, 2007. Diversity in Business. A Focus for Progress. [Online] Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/415898DD-08E5-4A2B-807C-52A5353B76A3/0/divbussurv0307.pdf [Accessed June 11, 2015]. Dike, P., 2013. The Impact of Workplace Diversity on Organizations. Degree Thesis, pp. 5-53. Education Victoria, 2011. Managing Diverse and Inclusive Workplaces. Human Resources. [Online] Available at: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/hrweb/Documents/Manage-Diverse-Inclusive-Workplace.pdf [Accessed June 11, 2015]. Ehimere, O. A. & Ogaga O. J. O., 2011. The Impact of Workforce Diversity on Organizational Effectiveness: A Study of a Nigerian Bank. Annals of the University of Petrosani, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 93-110. EY, 2012. The Male Perspective on Gender Diversity. In His Own Words. [Online] Available at: http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Women_in_leadership__In_his_own_words/$FILE/EY-in-his-own-words-the-male-perspective-on-gender-diversity.pdf [Accessed June 11, 2015]. Faragher, J., 2014. Diversity: Have We Stopped Caring About It. CIPD. [Online] Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2014/01/30/quot-we-have-stopped-caring-about-diversity-at-work-quot.aspx [Accessed June 11, 2015]. Forbes, 2015. Fostering Innovation through a Diverse Workforce. Global Diversity and Inclusion, pp. 3-19. Green, K. A. & et. al., 2015. Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and the Required Managerial Tools. University of Florida, pp. 1-3. Holmgren, D. & Jonsson, A., 2013. Cultural Diversity in Organizations. A Study on the View and Management on Cultural Diversity, pp. 6-97. Kreitz, P. A., 2007. Best Practices for Managing Organizational Diversity. Technical Information Services, pp. 2-32. Kamal, Y. & Ferdousi, M., 2009. Managing Diversity at Workplace: A Case Study of HP. ASA University Review, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 158-170. Macfarlane, F. & et. al., 2010. Diversity Briefing. The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, pp. 1-9. Mazur, B., 2010. Cultural Diversity in Organizational Theory and Practice. Journal of Intercultural Management, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 5-15. Nayak, I. & Joshi, H. G., 2012. 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