Understanding Diversity Management Practices - Assignment Example

Human Resources Management Case Study Name Professor Institution Course Date Human Resources Management Case Study What workplace diversity issues would Mr Henneveld have encountered at Main Roads Western Australia? Introduction In the workplace, diversity refers having employees from a wide range of backgrounds inclusive of diverse ages, ethnicity, physical ability, gender, sexual orientation, work experience, religious beliefs, nationalities, and educational backgrounds. Diversity management relates to the ability and potentiality of an institution to recognize, as well as valorise the aforementioned differences among the employees in pursuit of improved organisational performance, image, and reputation of the entity. Diversity continues to experience increased significance or importance through its perception in terms of success and productivity within the organisation. In most cases, organisations tend to link diversity to the strategic business objectives, thus integration of the concept into its own culture. In order to enhance its productivity level, an organisation, through its management, has the obligation of valuing the difference while promoting values as the perfect platform for the expression of cultural inclusion. The purpose of this essay is to evaluate diversity issues at individual, group, and organisational level, which Mr Henneveld encountered in the course of executing his duties and obligations. Moreover, the essay will evaluate the most effective diversity management techniques, which would be appropriate in accordance with the case study context. Impact of Diversity on HRM It is essential to note that increasing diversity issues tend to pressurise human resource management (HRM) towards adapting to the strategic, as well as operational level activities. Management of diversity tends to consider HRM as one of the essential aspects towards accomplishment of changes towards realisation of organisational inclusiveness and equity among the employees seeking to achieve their goals and targets. From HRM perspective, diversity comes out as diverse capabilities, which organisations should consider utilising as a resource. On the other hand, diversity perceptions note that HRM is one of the effective approaches towards managing diversity issues at various workplaces. Diversity tends to guide the application of the HRM policies, as well as practices in relation to training, recruitment, performance appraisal and rewarding, and development programs towards the achievement of the goals and targets of the organisation (Shen, Ashok, Brian, and Manjit, 2009). Workforce diversity issue proves to be a major concern of the contemporary business organisation. HR function is mostly likely to hold essential responsibility of the individuals planning within the organisation in relation to the development and implementation of the policies and procedures relating to equality and diversity issues. In addition, diversity issues ensure that organisations adopt and integrate the ‘generic’ assumption in relation to the universal employee. Diversity management ensures that organizations adopt and implement effective HRM practices, which are ideal in the creation or generation of a work environment or culture to enable all employees to contribute to the growth and development of the organisation. In addition, such HRM practices and strategies have the obligation of leveraging or maximizing the differences and similarities in pursuit of competitive advantage. This is through enhancing the ability of people from diverse background to work effectively and efficiently in accordance to the demands and expectations of the audience. Similarly, some of the HR functions have the tendency of influencing the essence of diversity within the organisational structure. This is evident in the case of the recruitment function. It is the obligation of the HRM to set diversity goals for the various levels of the organisation while utilising non-traditional sources of labour to address the demands and expectations of the consumers. In addition, HRM has the responsibility of using various advertisements to target the needs of the diverse groups while interpreting diverse evaluation tools to monitor the diversity of the candidates. Another HR function is training, which demands the need to train the workforce on the needs of diversity to exploit the differences in pursuit of competitive advantage and sustainability. There is also the essence of performance management, which ensures integration of diversity practices aligned to the performance agreements of the workforce seeking competitive advantage. Diversity tends to influence the career promotion and development HR functions (Yang and Alison, 2011). In this context, it is the obligation of the management to create more flexibility in relation to the core, as well as non-core promotion requirements. Finally, diversity tends to affect the development and implementation of the HRM practices relating to appraisal and compensation. This calls for adoption and integration of equality in relation to the implementation of appraisal and compensation tools within the contemporary society. Examples of Aspects of Diversity There are various aspects of diversity in relation to the information from the case study. In the course of executing the expectations of this section of the essay, the focus will be on these aspects. These include age diversity, professional tenure diversity, and expertise diversity. Age diversity refers to the differences in the ages of the employees seeking to address the demands and expectations of the shareholders and relevant stakeholders. In the first instance, Main Roads Corporation did have employees of their different ages. This is evident in the organised workshop for the 100 employees or ‘people’ from the organisation. Within the group, there were ‘people’ in their sixties while some were in their twenties. This is an illustration of the age diversity, thus the need for the organisation to adopt and incorporate quality approaches towards ensuring that the employees feel the essence of inclusion regardless of their ages. Furthermore, age diversity associates with the professional tenure diversity, which was an issue within the operations of the organisation. The professional tenure diversity relates to the differences in the duration by the employees while offering quality and essential services in accordance with the demands and goals of the company. The employees have the obligation of aiding the achievement of sustainability. In order to achieve this goal, there is need to focus on the exploitation of their skills and expertise within the industry and market of operation. In the case of Main Roads Corporation, there were employees who had been with the company for 40 years while others had only been with the institution for six months. This is an expression or illustration of the issue of tenure diversity in pursuit of the competitive advantage and sustainability (Jesse and Luis, 2012). Thirdly, there is the issue of expertise diversity, which Menno did encounter while acting as the commissioner of the Main Roads Western Australia. This is evident in the diversity of the people who took part in the organised workshop. Within the group, there were executives, managers, administration officers, road workers, and professionals with different expertise. It was appropriate for the commissioner to adopt and incorporate appropriate mechanisms towards overcoming potential diversity issues relating to these aspects, thus the opportunity to facilitate realisation of competitive advantage and sustainability. Recommendations on how Mr Henneveld could Successfully Management Diversity at the Individual, Group, and Organizational Levels Individual Level At the individual level, organisational behaviour focuses on integration of learning, creativity, perception, motivation, personality, task performance, cooperative behaviour, ethics, deviant behavior, and cognition (Lynn et al., 2009). At the individual level, workers have the potentiality of experiencing diversity issues such as stereotyping, discrimination, and harassment in the course of executing their duties and responsibilities. This calls for adoption and implementation of diverse approaches by the management to manage such issues against affecting the employees in pursuit of sustainability. In the first instance, it is ideal to enlighten the individual employees on the applicable antidiscrimination laws through training seminars and review of literature relating to the discrimination in the workplace. Secondly, it is appropriate for the management to consider implementation of the workplace policies with the potentiality to discourage stereotyping, harassment, and discrimination. This will aid or facilitate integration and execution of the laws seeking to promote equal employment opportunities and non-discrimination practices. Thirdly, the organisation should consider implementation of appropriate strategies to enable employees to deal with the unexpected in themselves, as well as others while adhering to the vision and mission of the corporation within the industry and market of transactions. These recommendations will enable the individual employees to appreciate and celebrate their diverse qualities towards enhancing the level of competition and creativity in pursuit of sustainability within the industry. Group Level At the group level, the organisational behaviour tends to incorporate the group dynamics, intra-and-intergroup conflict and cohesions, interpersonal communication, and roles. At the group level, the organisation has the obligation of dealing with diversity issues such as age diversity, expertise diversity, ethnic diversity, and disabilities. These dimensions are essential in enabling the organisation to consider adoption and exploitation of appropriate strategies for the management of diversity (Wilson, 2014). In the first instance, I would recommend integration of training and development programs for the team members to become aware of other people’s values, perceptions, and preferences as the first platform for the management of issues of diversity (Kunze, Stephan, Böhm, and Heike, 2011). In addition, it is critical for the organisation to incorporate inclusive strategies with the potentiality of solving problems while identifying and accepting the needs of the members of the team or group. This approach will enhance engagement of the employees within the group while focusing on the achievement of the goals and targets at the end of the fiscal period. Thirdly, it is essential for the organisation to consider integration team-building practices such as hikes and get together at the end of the fiscal period to appreciate and celebrate the role and contribution of each team member regardless of their diverse attributes. These approaches will enable the organisation to concentrate on exploitation of the diversity rather than its issues or negative implications in relation to the image and reputation of the firm. Moreover, the approaches will be valuable in enhancing effectiveness and efficiency among the group members in accordance with the mission and vision statements of the organisation. Organisational Level At the organisational level, the organisation behavior relates to the organisational culture, structure, cultural diversity, change, technological influence, and external environmental forces. In the first instance, there is need for the organisation to consider enhancing the awareness of the employees on the clashing values or diversity issues with the intention of focusing on efficiency, productivity, and appropriateness (Martín-Alcázar et al., 2012). This calls for training and awareness programs to ensure that the employees have adequate information on the issues, thus the perfect platform for the management of the diversity issues at the organisational level. In addition, the organisation should consider integrating programs and practices, as well as strategies to facilitate acknowledging diverse ways of executing work within the institution. Thirdly, it is appropriate for the institution to consider incorporation of inclusive strategies in the recruitment, selection, appraisal, and performance management, as well as reward systems. This will provide the platform for the employees to enhance their understanding of the issues of diversity while focusing on the positive implications rather than the negative implications in pursuit of sustainability and competitive advantage. Conclusion Conclusively, diversity continues to experience increased significance or importance through its perception in terms of success and productivity within the organisation. Diversity refers having employees from a wide range of backgrounds inclusive of diverse ages, ethnicity, physical ability, gender, sexual orientation, work experience, religious beliefs, nationalities, and educational backgrounds. The essay focused on evaluation of diversity issues at individual, group, and organisational level, which Mr Henneveld encountered in the course of executing his duties and obligations. Increasing diversity issues tend to pressurise human resource management (HRM) towards adapting to the strategic, as well as operational level activities. The organisation should consider incorporation of inclusive strategies in the recruitment, selection, appraisal, and performance management, as well as reward systems. This will provide the perfect platform for management of diversity issues at the individual, group, and organisational levels. Bibliographies Kunze, Florian, Stephan A. Böhm, and Heike Bruch. "Age diversity, age discrimination climate and performance consequences—a cross organizational study." Journal of organizational behavior 32, no. 2 (2011): 264-290. Martín-Alcázar, Fernando, Pedro M. Romero-Fernández, and Gonzalo Sánchez-Gardey. "Transforming human resource management systems to cope with diversity." Journal of business ethics 107, no. 4 (2012): 511-531. Olsen, Jesse E., and Luis L. Martins. "Understanding organizational diversity management programs: A theoretical framework and directions for future research." Journal of Organizational behavior 33, no. 8 (2012): 1168-1187. Shen, Jie, Ashok Chanda, Brian D'Netto, and Manjit Monga. "Managing diversity through human resource management: An international perspective and conceptual framework." 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