Managing diversity - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages ng to this sociological theory, organisations may be compared with social systems in which individual needs were integrated with organisational needs through various approaches that reinforced human relations (Morgan, 1998). In general terms, diversity refers to the various differences that exist in human beings, not biologically, but based on sociologically created classifications such as gender, physical abilities, age, race, class, religion, socioeconomic status, and national and cultural groups. While the changes associated with human’s origin, like gender, race, and ethnicity do not change, other differences like socioeconomic status, age, political and national groups keep changing with time. From times immemorial, these differences are known to create inequalities among human beings that benefit some and harm others, overall creating an undesirable situation and yielding undesirable outcomes.
From an organisational perspective, Barnard’s (1938) definition emphasizes the role of human beings in forming an organisation. However, if all the people belonging to the organisation do not get an equal opportunity to contribute, organisation’s scope for success and growth reduces. In addition to this, Barnard (1938) asserted that organisations play a significant role in shaping the society in terms of gender, race, class, political power, economic status, sociocultural influence etc (Handel, 2003; p.371). In the era of globalization, managing diversity promotes organisational effectiveness to a large extent. The term diversity management in business indicates a firm which employs heterogeneous workforce (like different generations, gender, race, age etc) and creates such an atmosphere that works for all employees. In order to manage the diversity successfully, an organisation must commit to maintain and create such a working environment that respects all the employees, acknowledging the perspective and the diverse talents of individuals. Organisations ...Download file to see next pagesRead More