Managing Diversity in Organizations - Case Study Example

Managing Diversity in Organizations Student’s Name: Institutional Affiliation: Date of Submission: Managing Diversity in Organizations Introduction Rooselvet Thomas, R. Jr. (2001) outlines the importance of appreciation of diversity in organizational setting. Application and appreciation of diversity in organizations is such an important responsibility of managers in their effort to see to it that members of the organization are satisfied at their work place. Employees who work in organizations are different, on how they behave, how they perceive things as well as, procedures they will use to perform a number of processes. This makes it necessary for managers to embrace diversity in their organizations, so as to achieve efficiency in the management processes. The increase in globalization in today’s business world has made it necessary for people at work place to interact much better, particularly among those that come from diverse cultures, backgrounds and beliefs. In these days, people no longer live and/or work in an insular marketplace, instead they now form part of a bigger worldwide economy that counters competition from nearly every continent (Losyk, 1996). This is the reason why all the profit making, as well as, non-profit organizations would need to diversify, so as to become more creative and open to change. In management today maximizing and capitalizing on workplace diversity, has risen to become a very important issue. ‘Hewar’ Company is a China based multinational company that deals with the production and sale of home appliances electronic tools and equipment. The company has employees who are diverse in race, country origin and culture’s, this has made its managers to embrace diversity in its work operations. The company has situated its headquarters in Quigdao, Shandong, found in the People’s Republic of China. Over the years the company has engaged itself in the production, sale and distribution of home appliances such as the washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, televisions among other home appliances. Currently, in white goods the company has developed the ‘Hewar’ brand to be the largest market share in the globe; maintaining a 6.1 per cent share value last year [2010]. The origin of ‘Hewar’ as a company is traced back long before it was actually founded as a company. In the year 1920, a factory that produced refrigerators, was built in Quigdao to supply the refrigerators to the Chinese market then. In the year 1949, just after the establishment of the People Republic of China, the company was taken over by the state therefore becoming a state owned enterprise, though the employees as well as individuals owned some shares in it. A study into the ownership structure reveals that the company though still under partial public ownership, the company is still technically a collective company for the employees are supposed to own it. Organizational managers as well as employees could benefit from making the choice to go through this paper. The Supervisors and managers are the targeted audience, for they are the ones that need to recognize the many ways by which, workplace is changing, evolving and diversifying. This is because without the recognition of diversity in the working place, managing diversity would remain to be a significant organizational challenge. Contemporary managers ought to learn to embrace the managerial skills that are needed in today’s multicultural work environment. Supervisors as well as managers must get equipped and prepared to teach themselves and other organizational members, the value that is within appreciating the multicultural differences that exist among associates, customers, employees, and the other organizational stakeholders, so that everyone is treated with dignity (Society for Human Resource Management, 1998). This may be a difficult task considering that people are different, yet it can easily work if managers begin by changing the attitudes and therefore, the mindset of members of a particular work place, so that they can appreciate diversity. Management of diversity in today’s organizations needs the establishment of better organizational structures with respect to diversity; that are in harmony with the organizations goals and objectives. Executive Summary Diversity in management of an organization is a modern concept that is being geared in today’s organization, so as to maximize returns from workers, as well as from management. This paper details out the management issues related to application of diversity in management of an organization. It goes deeper to look at the challenges of implementation of diversity in the work place, as a tool that is designed for managers as well as other organizational stakeholders that can be used to increase effectiveness in management of a diverse workforce population. In a real sense, appreciation of work diversity principles in an organization, forms a basis by which the individuals who come from different backgrounds with respect to culture, race, beliefs, working styles can work together in a harmonious manner so as to achieve the goals of the organization (Flagg, 2002). This paper briefly discusses the concept of diversity in the work place, it would in detail discuss the challenges for implementation of diversity in the work place, that makes managing a wide range of cultural diversity in the workplace challenging and finally present the effective strategies by which, managers can use to increase the success levels in managing their diverse workforces (Koonce & Richard, 2001). Diversity in Organizations There are many differences among people and this does not leave out the employees/ workers of an organization. Appreciation and understanding of these differences is what entails ‘diversity’. Diversity generally may be defined to encompass the acknowledgement of the need to , accept, value, understand, and celebrate the differences that are among people with regard to their ethnicity, age, class, gender, physical as well as mental ability, their race, and sexual orientation, their different spiritual practice and experiences, in addition to the effect of this differences to how they tend to perceive certain treatments, responsibility and activities given to them either at home, in the place of work of in their various chores (Katharine, Griffin & Schorr-Hirsh, 1995). When the differences among employees as human being in terms of the various aspects such as race, religion, gender, social class among others is not well managed; it can lead to conflicts and inefficient output from the employees. In the management of organizations particularly, in many cosmopolitan setting organizations requires the appreciation of diversity in the work place as very essential and a great priority; it is actually projected to be even much more of a centre issue with the growing globalization, with inception of the information technology to the day to day life of a worker. It is necessary for organizations to focus more on upholding diversity, as well as look for the ways by which, diversity can be applied to increase total inclusiveness in organizations. Appreciation of diversity at work place has a great potential to increase productivity, as well as the competitive edge of an organization. Many management scholars hold it dear that diversity is an invaluable competitive asset that businesses all over the world cannot afford to ignore at all costs. At work place, managing and valuing diversity among its members is a key component that brings forth effective people management, which has a positive consequence of improving the workplace productivity. Flagg (2002) suggests that the existence of the demographic changes related to the women in the workplace, the organizational restructurings, in addition to equal opportunity legislation in many nations requires that organizations review their current management practices, and build up new and creative capacities and approaches in managing people. Appreciation changes that are pro-diversity work practices increases performance at work and the quality of customer service. This, therefore, implies that it positively contributes to increasing productivity of the employees of an organization. Cultural diversity at the work place involves the range of ways by which members of an organization are to exercise a unique group identity; with respect to their differences in gender identity, sexual orientation, race, gender, ethnicity and age. The culture that an organization establishes tends to be a vital determinant to the extent to which it is culturally diverse (Kary-Siobhan, 2002). Managers are often on the spot when issues of diversity are aired out. This is why as much application of diversity in organizations yields many benefits to an organization; it may also lead to many challenges to be faced by the very organizations. This is why it is a managerial responsibility within organizations to use ‘diversity’ concept as an influential resource; in the context of it having the ability to enhance effectiveness in their organizations (Koonce, 2001). Therefore, managing diversity in the workplace often involves the negotiation of interaction across the existent culturally diverse groups, and strategizing these people to get along in their work environment that is characterized by increased cultural diversity (Black Enterprise, 2001). Cultures affect how individuals carry out themselves, how they value issues and how they relate with others. This is why it is essential managers to handle the existence of diverse culture appropriately so as to foster working relationships that can make the organization meet its objectives. A study of a journal article ‘The multicultural organization’ talks about three existent organization types which are based on the development o cultural diversity in organization. The three organization types include: the monolithic based organization, the plural based organization, and finally the multicultural based organization. Monolithic organization is characterized by the amount of structural integration that relates to the presence of persons from different cultural origins being minimal. In the United States, for instance this type of organization often represents organizations with white male majorities with few women as well as minority men in management jobs when the overall employee population is analyzed. ". The plural organization on the other side is made up of a more heterogeneous membership as compared to the monolithic organization; such organizations make steps towards being inclusive of persons from different cultural backgrounds that may differ from the dominant group of the organization. Finally, the multicultural organizations are characterized by not only having many different cultural groups, but the high value that is focused on appreciation of diversity among these people. Need For Application 0f Diversity in the Work Place That Makes Managers to Overcome the Challenges of Diversity to Make Diversity a Great Possibility Managers agree that managing diversity is not a mean task for it is often accompanied with challenges. Basing on the undisputed fact that people all over are different, it means that even in organizations; employees as well as managers are human beings who have different beliefs, values, cultural and racial orientations, spiritual views and this differences often is reflected on the way they may behave, perceive as well as rate how they are treated at the work place. Trying to understand each individual employee well, may be a difficult task particularly in the organizations which have so many members. The challenges and obstacles to appreciation of diversity may even be on the increase with the increased globalization which has made people are exposed to a lot of information, this makes them to compare how they are treated as compared to others across the globe (Rooselvet, 2001). Essentially, a number of factors have necessitated that despite the challenges that are encompassed in appreciation and application of ‘diversity’ in the work place; managers strive to go through the challenges, overcoming them and increasing the possibilities of application of diversity at the work place. They include; (a) Gender and Women in the Workplace The number of women who0 actively are involved in the management of organizations has been on the increase. Appreciation of diversity in the work place is also driven by women who form part of the members of an organization/workplace. Notably, today's organizational workforce has recorded the highest employment levels by women. There has been consistency in the increase in the number of dual income families as well as single working mothers (Flagg, 2002). The current family structure changes have implications, that mean fewer men and women are living in the traditional family roles. Therefore, diversity issues currently cut across both the races and genders; and this means that managers have worked much smarter in this age so as to bring forth the formidable success in most organizations in the urban setting with respect to appreciation of diversity. Gender is a key subject matter of diversity that has to be given priority so as to promote harmonious relationship among the employees who are made of different genders. This harmony plays a crucial role in ensuring that the organization meets its stated objectives (Marilyn, 1996). (b) Organizational Restructuring It is evident that there have been a number of significant changes to many organizations as a consequence of downsizing and outsourcing; which greatly has influenced human resource management. Organizational work practices have changed due to the influence of increased globalization as well as technology; and organizations are embracing a new trend towards longer working hours. This calls in for mangers to employ workers from different backgrounds who can positively co-exist to maximize the returns of the organization. On a general scale, reorganizations often would result in fewer people doing more work. This has caused managers to seek to employ more workers from different backgrounds who can interact well to add value to the organization’s output. Often management is forced to employ workers who come from different backgrounds so that the organization can enjoy the benefits of diversity such as innovation, creativity and inclusiveness that causes the organization to be more efficient in terms of meeting its objectives verses the costs incurred. (c) Legislation The laws of a number of countries at times are restrictive to the full application of diversity in the organizations that run in the country, and this becomes a great challenge to the organization. Despite the challenges that strain the application of diversity at the work place; many organization run under the labor laws and other respective national laws and policies that affect the work place. Currently, in many countries these laws would compels the managers as well as other members of the organization to provide for diversity at the work place through their emphasis on equal opportunities and illegality that is tagged to discrimination in the workplace(s). Such laws have gone further to specify the legal rights and the responsibilities that associates and employers in the workplace are accountable to uphold. Additionally, the benefits of diversifying the workplace practices is of great benefit to both the employers and associates and this is why both parties have made attempts to implement it in their organizations. Despite associates being interdependent in the today’s workplace, the respect for individual differences has great potential to increase productivity. Inclusiveness of diversity in the workplace reduces the lawsuits that an organization may be sued against, in addition to increasing the marketing opportunities, increasing the quality of recruitment practices, promoting creativity among workers, and improving the business image of the work place. Flexibility and creativity are keys to competitiveness in today’s era; therefore, diversity becomes critical for an organization to be successful. Challenges to Effective Application of Diversity in Organizations Evidently, managing a many employees with cultural, racial, gender and belief differences in the workplace is challenging; however this is not impossible when the challenges of managing diversity are dealt with appropriately. A look at the challenges in management of a diverse work population portrays management of diversity as a concept that is beyond the mere acknowledgement of people as different. Appreciation and application of diversity in the management process; goes further to recognize the value of peoples differences, the need to combat discrimination as well as promote inclusiveness among the members of an organization (Deborah, 1999). Organizations may also be severely challenged with the experiences of losses in quality personnel and work productivity due to the practice of discrimination and prejudice. Other key challenges to the organization may involve the complaints as well as the legal actions that may be fronted against the organization. The negative attitudes as well as behaviors may be barriers to organizational diversity for they harm harmonious working relationships and cause damage to the morale and productivity of the workers (Koonce, 2001). The negative attitudes and behaviors in the workplace may include stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. These should never be used by management in the processes of hiring, retention, and termination for the human resources for they can turn up to lead to the organization to face costly litigation. In an effort to establish diversity initiatives in an organization, the challenges to overcome may seem to be many; however its best to get rid of most potential issues that may arise is through the establishment of a firm approach to diversity and the development of a clear organizational diversity policy (Zweigenhaft & Domhoff, 1998). In the event that an organization is involved in dealing with managing diversity initiatives, the managers ought to ensure they do not make up of "fluff" organizational diversity policy; which sound good on paper, but on the ground they have zero usefulness. Managers who run into challenges in managing diversity in the workplace are not alone for many businesses have experienced varied degrees of challenges in their efforts to integrate cultural diversity in their workplace(s). Establishing diversity does not come without challenges, but when determination and motivation are initiated then the managers can overcome the obstacles that they may run into. These challenges are overcome by having a firm understanding of diversity, what it entails, the scope of what it can do and what the anticipated challenges are. A number of negative experiences can come up in the event that management does not understand how diversity is managed. Mismanagement of diversity in many workplaces leads to challenges such as discrimination, stereotypes and preconceptions, harassment, cultural bias, and assimilation problems. This should be avoided by managers as they handle the management processes which involve people of different backgrounds. Conclusion Diversity in the organizations employees is a potential that is often not tapped by many organizations. This potential if tapped can be an effective avenue by which to outdo the competitors. In conclusion, there is the agreement by many management scholars that despite managing a wide range of cultural diversity in the workplace being a challenging affair; it not impossible for if the challenges that come with managing diversity in an organization can be dealt with if proper measures are put on the ground to solve the matter. The changing world and marketplace is a consequence of today’s diverse workforce. It has been noted that diverse work teams brings forth high value to many contemporary organizations. When organizations embrace the respect for individual differences among their members, then they get to benefit by creating a competitive edge and increasing productivity from employees input at the work place. There is need to put to use the management tools that are existent in a diverse workforce to educate everyone about issues of diversity and its related laws, regulations and practice (MacDougall & John, 1998). This is because, most workplaces comprise of diverse cultures therefore, and there is need for structures for management of diversity rather than just having the policies. Management of diversity in today’s organizations needs the establishment of better organizational structures with respect to diversity; that are in harmony with the organizations goals and objectives. References Black Enterprise. (2001). Managing a multicultural workforce. Black Enterprise Magazine (July). Bohlander, G. & Snell, S. (2009). Managing Human Resources. London: Cengage Learning. Deborah, D. (1999). Managing a diverse workforce. San Mateo, CA: InfoWorld Media Group. Flagg, A. (2002). Managing diverse workgroups successfully. United Behavioral Health website (members only section). Retrieved May 21, 2011from http://www.ubhnet.com. Katharine, E., Griffin, R. & Schorr-Hirsh, M. (1995). Workplace diversity: A managers guide to solving problems and turning diversity into a competitive advantage. 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