Workplace Diversity Concept - Coursework Example

Workforce constitutes an important aspect for every organization and every organization look towards ensuring that the workforce is able to work together so that the goals of the enterprise can be achieved. To ensure an efficient workforce the management looks towards recruiting, selection, training and development of the employees. The importance of the workforce increases with growing competition. This has made organization look towards globalization which has resulted in creation of diversity in workforce. The paper thereby looks into the concept of workforce diversity and the manner in which it has affected the decision making. The paper also looks to present the manner in which strategies can be drawn to ensure that the workforce is able to use the diversity in the workforce to their advantage. Workforce diversity is a concept which has gained much relevance as the world economies work towards ensuring that they are able to develop their business by having relation with external bodies. This has resulted in the workforce to be constituted of different employees from different culture, creed and environment resulting in diversity in the work force. This makes it important that organisation has the right workforce so that the resources could be effectively utilised for the development of the organisation (Kahnweiler, 2006). Globalization has been a major force which has resulted in the diversity in workforce as organizations are looking towards performing in economies which helps them to achieve economies of scale. This makes it important that the organization is able to understand the workforce prevalent in the local conditions so that the diversity in the workforce can be absorbed and growth for the organization determined (Ellis, 2001). This has resulted in complications in the workforce as dealing with people who belong to different caste and culture has multiplied the complexities associated with workforce diversity. A research shows that employees belonging to different culture and caste have different ways of being influenced which makes it difficult for the organization to ensure that the workforce is able to work towards the goal resulting in delay in decision making (Ralston, Hallinger, Egri & Naothinsuhk, 2005). This has made it difficult for the organization to ensure that the diversity in the workforce helps the organization to achieve best results. This giver rise to conflicts between the employees which affects the manner in which the organization works. Different culture also gives rise to conflicts. People think differently. This affects the growth part. It creates conflicts. People belong to different regions, countries and differ in their process of thinking and doing things (Innah, 2009). So when this people come together it results in difference in opinion and looking at things differently which gives rise to conflicts in the organisation (Innah, 2009). This makes it difficult for the organization to ensure that the best result is achieved through diversity in workforce. The increased complexities in the workforce diversity has increased the problems for the organization as the objective with which the organization looks towards achieving the workforce has brought about widespread changes in the leadership. A study also supports this and states that the management needs to look into different aspect of the workforce diversity and have managers who are able to guide the employees and ensure that they work together towards a common goal (Wright & Pandey, 2010). This has made it difficult for the organization to find the correct leaders who are able to understand the diversity in workforce and use it a manner that helps to achieve efficiency. A problem witnessed by the organization dealing with diversity in workforce is that it helps to create inequity among the inmates which has an effect on the growth prospect of the employee (Lively, Powell, Claudia & Carr, 2008). The study finds that when as employee does not perceive equity it gets reflected elsewhere also. When the inmates don’t perceive equity performance gets affected. This decreases productivity. This creates disharmony among the workforce and having diversity multiplies the problems which needs to be looked into. Organization can look towards solving the above problem by designing their compensation package ensures that both the intrinsic and extrinsic demand is met. This will help to ensure that the employees are high on motivation and remains the part of the organisation. This tool will thus help the organisation to design the compensation packages accordingly to the employee and ensure maximum return for the organisation and employees (Stephen & Timothy, 2008). This will help to reduce the differences that exist between the workforces and will help to reduce the problems faced due to diversity in workforce. Increase in workforce diversity increases the complexities associated with the communication process in the organization. Since, employees come from different culture so developing a model which ensures that the communication process is clear becomes difficult. This makes it difficult for the workforce to work together towards the achievement of the group goals as the employees faces difficulties in mixing with each other and look towards moving ahead of the workforce due to lack of complete information. This problem can be mitigated by developing a model which helps to pass the message effectively and ensure maximum efficiency in the operations. Managers at all levels like top level managers, middle level managers and lower level managers in small or large organisations ensure that activities are carried out efficiently by people. This ensures effective communication and proper strategy as managers communicate among themselves. (Gable & Martin, 2005) This will help to improve the value for poor performing organization as the efforts will be directed in the right direction. Developing this model will help to improve the objectives of workforce diversity and help to guide the organization in difficulties. The increasing competition and the growth in workforce diversity have resulted in a situation where the diversity in workforce has resulted in the company being unethical. The increase in workforce diversity have resulted in discrepancies in the compensation package and resulted in the employees being paid poorly (Wild, Wild & Han, 2010). This creates discrepancies in the working condition prevalent in different countries leading towards over exploitation of labourers. For example, it was seen in 1998 that Chinese manufacturers who were producing goods for companies like Ralph Lauren, Nike and Adidas paid wages at 13 cents per hour where as the same labour in the US was paid $10 per hour. (Klein, 2001) This was a case where labourers who were abundant in China were exploited and used to become a market leader. The growth in diversity in workforce has thereby resulted in the workforce being exploited and deprived the working conditions. A case which highlights where the growth in workforce diversity ahs resulted in organizations being unethical in their proceedings is seen in Chile. Employees were made to work in the toughest conditions and were paid poorly. The employee had to stand in a cold refrigerated room and crack chickens at the rate of 41 each minute. The workers were also paid poorly and resulted in an average salary of $200 and were fined $30 for being absent from work each day (Globalization, 2002). This is a case were organizations exploit the poor and developing countries which is creating a situation where companies are benefitting at the cost of the poor. The workforce diversity instead of helping to solve the problem has increased the problems for the workforce. Organizations need to understand that such a situation is not created and should look towards understanding the local typologies and make the workforce to work in a manner that helps to improve the growth potential and provides an opportunity for the organization to grow (Enright & Subramanian, 2008). This will help the organization to ensure that the growth in workforce diversity helps to provide various inputs to the organization which helps to develop the future course of action by guiding the workforce in the correct direction. Companies need “to look into more cultural sensitive factors to be able to win employee” (Slawomir, 2010, p. 13). This is a very vital point for any company. This helps them to win the hearts of employees and as a result get loyal employees who can fill up responsible position in the future. Multinational companies need to ensure that they bring about a change in the perspective so that the workforce helps to achieve efficiency in the working scenario. The paper thereby presents the manner in which the growth in workforce diversity has resulted in increasing the complexities for organization. This makes it important for organization to ensure that they are able to develop a model which helps to guide the workforce in a manner that the organizations are able to yield maximum efficiency in their working environment. This will help organization to yield the advantage that accrues due to workforce diversity and guide the employees in a direction that helps to achieve both the common and personal goals of the organization. This will thereby guide the workforce to ensure that they are able to prosper in the job and fill responsible positions in the organizations. References Ellis, V. 2001. Enterprise or exploitation: Can global business be a force for good The New Statesman. Retrieved on September 13, 2011 from Read More