Identify three ways that diversity impacts organizational policies - Research Paper Example

Identify three ways that diversity influences organizational policies Organizational policies are proposed set of actions for implementation by an organization. Diversity in an organization such as in human resource and products influences an organization’s policies towards attaining its objectives. This paper seeks to discuss the ways in which diversity affects organizational policy. The paper will look into ways in which organizational policy is affected by social factors, the legal environment, and organizational culture.

One of the ways in which diversity affects organizational policy is through social factors of members of the organization because social elements form one of the bases of diversity in an organization’s human resource. This class of diversity can be defined in terms of “gender, race and ethnicity, and whether or not one is disabled” (Davidson, 2004, p. 4). Each of the classes has minorities that requires special treatment such as protection in an organization. Similarly, the need to recruit human resource with the organization’s most desired qualities encourages organizations to develop avenues of attracting both the majority and minority social groups.

Organizations therefore develop policies that protects and encourage participation of minority groups. Such would include special consideration in procedures for recruitment, selection, and even employee management. Diversity in an organization also reflects on the organization’s image in the society, a factor that can influence market control due to the society’s reaction to the organization’s composition by social factors. This means that organization’s policies will aim at promoting diversity in order to obtain a diversified quality human resource and a strong corporate image that is representative of the organization’s market.

Social aspects therefore influence an organization’s policy through the need for quality input that may be hidden in a minority social class or through the need to relate with different social classes for corporate image (Davidson, 2004).Diversity also influences an organization’s policies through legal requirements to which organizations are bound. Anti discrimination laws for instance protects groups from discrimination based on their nature such as gender, race, sex and age among others.

As a result, an organization’s policy must be consistent with legal provisions for fair treatment of individuals from different social groups. Formulation and implementation of policies must therefore take care of interest of every group in an organization in order to avoid legal liability based on discrimination. Legal provision for equality also means that an organization’s policy must consider measures to ensure that every group in the organization is accorded equal treatment (Davidson, 2004).

Another way in which diversity influences organizational policy is through an organization’s culture. Organizational culture refers to a set of practices that have been accepted and adopted by the organization as norms. A culture towards diversity, which must be consistent with legal provisions, therefore influences policies of the organization. A culture of equal representation will for example lead to policies that favor minority groups in order to increase their number in the organization (Davidson, 2004).

Diversity in an organization plays an important role in input, output, and the image of an organization. As a result, organizations’ policies are made with consideration of the entities’ diversity. Some of the avenues through which diversity influences organizational policy are social and legal factors as well as organizational culture.ReferenceDavidson, M. (2004). Individual Diversity and Psychology in Organizations. New Jersey, NJ: John Wiley & Sons