Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace - Report Example

Diversity Management Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction Human beings are different and are born under different circumstances by our parents and thus grow to have different features perhaps that will not be similar to our colleagues or the rest of the members of the society. Human exist differently. Take the case of gender; it is actually not someone’s wish to be born of a particular sex. Somebody grows to understand that he is different in terms of gender. There are those who are born with disabilities in the society and yet they did not plan to be that way. In brief human beings we are different and that is a fact that will remain that way forever. However, the issue that has come to emerge and that has caused a lot of debate among the workplaces and various organizations which are considered potential employees is to ensure inclusion of various diversities at workplace so as to do away the issue of discrimination on the basis of diversity. Diversity is described as that features both physical and psychological that can be used to differentiate one person from the rest of the members. Diversity concurs that we all unique and created differently and yet we specific and unique roles to play in the society. With this regard, it is therefore emerging that organizations have obligation to manage diversity at workplace by ensuring inclusion of everybody minus exclusion of nobody because of his or her status (Mor Barak 2005). The purpose of this article therefore is to try and analyze the concept of diversity management at workplace by paying particular attention to various rationales for increasing diversity at workplace, the benefits associated with diversity management at workplace, diversity management paradigms and the barriers that many of the employers face while trying to ensure people from various backgrounds are included in workforce. Reference will be made to Aldway Company. Thereafter, a recommendation on how to help diversity management in the company will be improved by special attention to gender, disability and people from indigenous backgrounds. The aspects that will be covered in the recommendation include formal and informal communication, promotion, orientation and working conditions. Diversity management On the other diversity management entails the process of creating a work environment where all people are given equal opportunity irrespective of their backgrounds. Diversity management in particular takes into account women inclusion in management and employment of minor groups such as the disabled and those of indigenous backgrounds. Company overview and policy framework Aldway is a well renowned company in Australia with over 100 shopping under its chain. The company has over 3150 active staff, 150 of which work in the company’s headquarters while there rest 3,000 work in various shops established countrywide. Taking into account to what is happening globally with regard to employee diversity management at workplace. The dynamics have continued to change worldwide and more and more organizations are on the verge to ensuring that diversity at workplace is given attention as one of the main ways to ensuring social equity for all people irrespective of the social status or back grounds. The global labor market has become so robust and people with different backgrounds are also included. Being a large company with large workforce, Aldaway cannot go without being affected by the issue of diversity management. After it had emerged six years ago that the company was not effective in diversity management the company had only recruited about 35% of the employees to be women and having recorded very low preference rates for people with disabilities and indigenous backgrounds. The address the challenge, the company changed its policy to have the number of women, disabled and indigenous people increased working for the company increased. The policy demanded for further training of the recruiting officers, placement of job advertisements in areas comprising people considered minorities and use of effective techniques were among the strategies for improving diversity management at the workplace. After employment, the company also decided not to have special training for people from non-traditional backgrounds trained as this will show kind of discrimination from the rest of the staff. Rationale for increasing diversity management Various rationales are provided to ensuring effectiveness in diversity management and they are related to organizational leadership management. According to Mor Barak (2005), diversity manage entails a number of practices which include having elaborate and wide diversity policy statements, employee training and development, community support, management accountability and compensation. All these rationale for diversity management are considered appropriate in promoting advancement among women and other minority groups. Research has shown that different leadership organizational and diversity management practices are important in bringing about some outcomes that affect employment of women and minority groups. Similarly according to French (2005), different human resource management practices are important in causing positive change among women and minorities. Elaborate and wide diversity policy statements Diversity management at workplace can be enhanced through enactment appropriate policies at work which promote inclusion and curb exclusion. With the right organization policy according to French (2005), it is possible to create an environment under which social equity and diversity management at workplace is given priority. Stereotyping and prejudicing is a very common problem in many of the societies. Stereotyping can be described as those views that we have about other groups apart from our own. On the other hand, prejudice refers to attitudes members of a given group have towards the members of other groups. Women, the disabled and indigenous groups are among those people that feel the society and in that matter many employment terms do not favor them. In this kind of situation the minority groups feel discriminated and whenever they meet with the rest of the groups they lose their composer and consider themselves inferior. However, with the right policy framework, stereotyping and discrimination is likely to be eliminated and that confidence is likely to be instilled among the women and other minority by giving them equal opportunities at workplace. The policy framework therefore is considered appropriate for creating appropriate framework for managing diversity at workplace (Wehman 2003). Training and development Training and development is also being used as the rationale to achieved diversity management workplace. Employee training involves the process of taking the people in charge of recruiting through certain programmes that will enhance their competence in managing different diversities at workplace. On the other hand, employee development entails continuous learning programmes among the staff working in various organizations. The importance of using this organization practice to promote management diversity at workplace is because of its ability to impart appropriate knowledge to the recruiters on how they should go about managing differences that exist among different work groups in an organization (Johnson and Redmon 2000). Aldway Company seems to be favoring equity in employment as the best approach to managing diversity at workplace. this is because as the part of the company’s effort ensure that all minority groups which include women, the disabled and people with indigenous backgrounds, training of the company recruiters has been used to ensure competence in skills and knowledge while recruiting from different diverse backgrounds. Further, the company has also chose to make its job advertisements available to the regions known to have high preferences of people with who are considered as minorities so as to encourage them apply like any potential job seekers. This is especially important in ensuring that all the minority groups have higher chances of getting advertisement opportunities (Johnson and Redmon 2000). Benefits related to diversity management Diversity management at workplace has been associated with numerous benefits. First and foremost, diversity management presents the organization with the opportunity to creating a culture that is tolerant and accommodating to many. This way, individuals have the chance to share views, lead better and make rational decisions that enhance cohesiveness at workplace. Diversity management is a big achievement and that it is a very big potential pay off for the business. This is because with great diversity, the company is likely to attract more diverse groups. What this means is that the society is likely to perceive the company positively and consequently will be attracted to dealing with products and services from those companies that address issues related to diversity more comprehensively. The other employees that have been associated with diversity management include increase customer satisfaction and increased market penetration. This is because the company will be reaching more markets in the process of employing diverse workforce. Employee motivation is also likely to be enhanced if fairness is demonstrated during the recruitment process. Further, labor supply for the company is also likely to increase. This is because many of the employees are likely to consider the company the best employer. Finally, costs related to discrimination cases are likely to be avoided. This is because professional and very systematic ways are followed in selecting and promoting new employees (Wehman 2003). Paradigms to diversity management Paradigms to diversity management refer to those approaches that different organizations use in managing diversity at workplace and they include anti-discrimination and affirmative action approach. The anti-discrimination approach is associated with promoting equity among all people at workplace. This approach is used to treat all people equally and that promotes the increase of the number of women and other minority groups in the workforce (French 2005). This can be clearly demonstrated in the case of Aldway Company which supports the idea that employment to the workforce must actually represent their number in the society. On the other hand, the affirmative action approach to diversity management entails the declaration to follow a certain criteria to recruit women and minority groups into the workforce. This approach demands inclusion of women into the management position so as to reflect their numbers in the workforce. In Aldway Company, this approach has been used to increase the number of women in the workforce to 45% even though this has not been reflected at the management level because of the underlying organizational challenges. Barriers to effective diversity management There are two main challenges to diversity management and they include the organizational structure and the need to employee skills and competencies. Organizational structure is barrier in that a position in the management will only be available if there is cant position. On the other hand, the need for recruit certain skills and competencies may comprise with diversity management at the recruitment level (Abrahamson 2002). These two barriers have been reflected in the case of Aldway Company. Since the change of policy to ensure effective diversity management, the company has not been able to achieve its targets. For example lack of adequate inclusion of women in the top management has been attributed to the organizational structure where one rises to top position gradually. On the other hand, skills and competencies have made it difficult for the company to let go some of the staff in order to have a new and more diverse workforce (Abrahamson 2002). Recommendation 1. First and foremost, there is need for the organization to recognize that many of the employees at workplace feel that they are not considered as equals and integral part of the company. This is because of the inclusion and exclusion theory where individuals think that they are not party to organizational processes. In a situation where exclusion exists then the chances of having only one group being at the top is very likely. In this kind of situation is to establish an open workplace environment where all individuals are considered equal partners in the organization. This way people will people to rise in positions irrespective of whom they are. 2. The other issue that has been considered to a major barrier to managing diversity in relation to gender, disability and people of indigenous backgrounds, is the increasing need to consider skills and competencies that will enhance the company’s performance and productivity above any other thing. This to ensuring diversity management is a big challenge as many organizations are likely to overlook these diversity issues. In such a situation, what is important to do is to create a culture in an organization where the people from non-traditional backgrounds will be encouraged to interact freely with the rest and in the process will be able to learn. This way the organization will not need to undertake employee training which may be considered selective and discriminative for various groups. Conclusion The purpose of this study was to take a critical view on the concept of diversity management at workplace. It has been established that even though diversity management is a good thing to do, there are various that hinder it. Diversity management is expected to ensure fair inclusion of women and minority groups such as the disabled and the people of indigenous backgrounds to the workforce. However, such issues as organizational structures and need to recruit skills and competencies have made it difficult to ensure effective diversity management at workplace. With this regard therefore, it has been recommended that establishing an open organizational culture where all people are considered equals and can interact free, is likely to enhance diversity management processes in an organization. References Abrahamson, L. (2002). "Restoring the order: Gender segregation as an obstacle to organizational development". In Applied Economic Journal Vol. 33, No. 6, p. 549-558. Johnson, R.F Redmon, D, (2000). Diversity Incorporated: Managing People for success in a diverse world. London: Prentice - Hall. Mor Barak, M. E. (2005). Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. CA: Sage Publications (chapters 10, 11 & 12). French, E. (2005). The importance of strategic change in achieving equity in diversity. Strategic Change, 14, p. 35-44. (available via DSO). Wehman, P. (2003). Workplace inclusion: Persons with disabilities and coworkers working together. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 18, p. 131-141. (available in study guide). Read More