Workplace Diversity - Coursework Example

Topic: Workplace Diversity Student’s name Course name Instructor’s name 10th September 2011 Introduction Diversity in the workplace can be defined as the differences that exist between people and different groups in the workplace (Walck, 2008). The differences vary from one person to the other and they include gender, race, ethnic group, cognitive style, personality, age, organizational function, background of a person, tenure (to mention a few). It is important to state that technology has revolutionised the manner in which organizations operate in the contemporary business environment. Similarly, technology has also turned the world into a global village which means that people are closer to one another than previously (Brooke, 2008). This has enhanced the rate at which business owners and managers are integrating and incorporating employees from all walks of life into their organizations in order to ensure that their businesses and organizations become competitive not only in the domestic market but also in the international market (Cox, 2009). In this regard, workplace diversity has become a common term in many organizations around the world as employees are drawn from different genders, different ethnic groups, different cultural backgrounds, different cognitive abilities and diverse races to fill up the positions that fall vacant in the organizations. Diversity does not only comprise of how a certain group of people perceive themselves but is also comprise of how people perceive others. It is the perceptions that arise from the manner in which people perceive each other that determines the rate and extent of interaction between one diverse group of people and another diverse group (Cox, 2009). Diversity in the workplace calls for the increasing efforts on the part of the managers and organizational heads to deal with candid issues such as change, communication and adaptability in order to increase and enhance the effectiveness of diversity in the workplace. The current trend in the marketplace shows that organizations that encourages diversity in their places of work will emerge successful because just like global recruitments seeks to increase and employ people from all walks of life, customers in any given organization can also be any part of the world and not necessarily in the domestic market. The purpose of this paper is to explore the issue of workplace diversity (Fine, 2010). Among the specific issues that will be explored in this paper include how increasing workplace diversity can hinder decision making in organisations and the strategies the managers should use to optimise decision making processes as diversity in the workplace continues to increase. Diversity in the workplace is an issue that relates and concerns people directly. It is an issue that focuses on the similarities and differences brought by the people in the organization. It is a broad issue that comprises of not only the issues addressed in Equal Opportunity Act and statutes on non-discrimination in the workplace but also issues that touch on the level of education, geographical location, parental status and professional background (Fine, 2010). Diversity entails the respect for other people, learning from other people and encouraging other people in their strengths and weaknesses. It also entails creating a working environment where very person feels appreciated and respected in spite of the person’s cultural background. Workplace diversity can be managed easily through increased awareness of the sensitivity that exists between different people. This is because people of different sexual orientations, race, gender, age, physical abilities and social class have different degrees of sensitivity to particular issues which if not taken into consideration may result into increased conflicts in the workplace (Brownell, 2010). A well performing organization with various types of diversity in the workplace can be created through a number of ways. First, diversity in the workplace can be created through self-monitoring. This refers to the awareness of the communicator about the effect of his behaviour on other people in the organization. Hence, self-monitoring enables every individual in the organization starting from the top management to modify and check their behaviours in the order to ensure that they do not become a stumbling block in the integration of diverse groups of people in the organization. Second, diversity in the workplace can be created through empathy. This refers to the extent to which a communicator takes into consideration the assumptions, values, feelings and the needs of the other people in the organization (Brownell, 2010). Third, diversity in the workplace can also be created through decision-making strategies. This involves ensuring that communication channels and sources used in the organization to reach the employees are selected carefully taking into consideration the cultural, educational, professional and gender diversity that exists in the workplace. Diversity in the workplace has several benefits. First, it allows an organization to provide a broader range of services to its customers. This is because a diverse skills collection in terms of cultural understanding and language diversity enables the organization to provide its customers with diverse services on a global platform. Second, diversity in the workplace provides the organization with diverse ideas and opinions which enables managers the executives to make effective decisions that gives the organization a competitive position in the marketplace (Brooke, 2008). This is because the pool of experiences and ideas presented by a diverse workforce serves as strength to the organization to beat competition in the market. Third, workplace diversity enhances the adaptability of the organization to the changing trends of issues in the market place. For example, a diverse workforce enables the organization to supply diverse solutions to different challenges and problems associated with sourcing, service and resource allocation. This is because employees drawn from different educational, professional, gender, cultural and class backgrounds bring rich experiences and talents and they suggest flexible ideas which can enables the organization to adapt easily in the ever fluctuating market needs (Özbilgin and Tatli, 2008). Hence, workplace diversity is an important concept that managers should take into consideration when hiring and recruiting employees particularly in the contemporary business environment where businesses are more connected globally than ever before. Disadvantages of workplace diversity Even though workplace diversity has several benefits as explained there above, it is vital to take note of the fact that increasing workplace diversity can hinder decision making in the organization which amounts to a disadvantage of workplace diversity. One of the ways increasing workplace diversity can hinder decision making in the organization is that it affects communication of workplace objectives (Özbilgin and Tatli, 2008). Increasing number of employee from different professional and educational backgrounds and diverse cultures makes communication difficult and any slight mistake in communication results into confusion and increased conflicts of roles in the organization. This affects the morale and teamwork among the employees resulting into a slow pace of decision making in the organization. The second way is that workplace diversity may also results into resistance to the planned change in the organization. It is imperative to note that managers and organizational executives always engage themselves in strategic decisions that bring change in the organizational processes (Greenberg, 2009). However, the anticipated and planned change may not be accepted easily by a diverse workplace. This may also slow down the pace at which decisions are made in the organization. The third way is that workplace diversity may also yield increasing number of ideas, experiences and opinions which may result into confusion in the strategic decision making processes. For instance, when every employee is encouraged to give their opinions, ideas and experiences regarding a particular process in the organization thousands of ideas, opinions and experiences may be provided and if not careful selected the managers and organizational executives may end up confused as to the most effective idea, experience or opinion that should be adopted in the organization (Özbilgin and Tatli, 2008). Employees whose ideas, opinions and experiences are not adopted by the management may feel dejected resulting into decreased morale. Strategies to optimize decision processes As diversity in the workplace increases, managers should use a number of strategies to optimize decision processes in the organization. First, managers should make use of diversity training in order to shape the policy of diversity in the workplace (Greenberg, 2009). This is particularly important because diversity training enhances the integration, understanding and knowledge of the employees regarding the extent to diversity in the workplace making it possible for the employee to appreciate each other. A greater level of diversity acceptability among the employees enhances the decision making processes in the organization. Second, the managers should ensure that leadership positions in the organization are also filled by diverse personnel. Since, leadership positions are fewer in the organization than other positions the managers can take advantage of the few diverse departmental managers to enhance decision making processes rather than relying on the contribution of every employee (Greenberg, 2009). For example, the departmental head positions may be filled by people from diverse professional and educational backgrounds with diverse experiences in their fields. Leadership oppositions may also be filled by people from different genders which mean that the managers can optimise on the ideas of a few experienced employees to enhance the speed of decision making processes in the organization. Third, managers can also use inclusion to ward off resistance to change. Inclusion means involving employees in executing and formulating initiatives of diversity in the organization in order to enhance their understanding of the nature of diversity in the organization (Greenberg, 2009). Conclusion Workplace diversity is a common phenomenon in the contemporary business environment. It is a concept that has been embraced in many organizations due to the shrinking of the world into the a global village making it impossible for a particular business organization to stand alone in the market without relying on other business organizations globally. In this paper the concept of workplace diversity has been discussed at length with different benefits and challenges of workplace diversity highlighted and discussed. The strategies that managers can use to optimize their decision making processes have also been explored. References Brooke, L. (2008). Human resource costs and benefits of maintaining a mature-age workforce, International Journal of Manpower, 24 (3): 260-283 Brownell, J. (2010). Developing Receiver-Centered Communication in Diverse Organizations. Listening Professional, 2(1), 5-25 Cox, T. (2009). The Multicultural Organization. Academy of Management Executive, 5(2), 34-47. Fine, G. (2010). Cultural Diversity in the Workplace: The State of the Field. Journal of Business Communication, 33(4), 485-502. Greenberg, J. (2009). Diversity in the workplace: Benefits, Challenges and Solutions. The multicultural advantage. http://www.multiculturaladvantage.com/recruit/diversity/Diversity-in-the-Workplace-Benefits-Challenges-Solutions.asp Özbilgin, M., and Tatli, A. (2008).Global Diversity Management: An Evidence Based Approach, Palgrave Macmillian. Walck, L. (2008). Editor's introduction: Diverse approaches to managing diversity. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 31, 119-123). Read More