Paradigm of Diversity in the Work Place - Essay Example

DIVERSITY AT WORK Name Course Course Instructor Date of submission Culture today defines the sphere of a workplace. Employees bring in with them many similarities and differences, all of which are integrated into the workplace to improve the identity of the organization. In definition, it broadly incorporates the different dimensions that surpass the legal background or affirmative action that excludes certain levels of discriminatory practices. The introduction of various similarities and differences into the company eventually translates to a common broader strategic identity for the company through which it is identifiable. Human resource management strives to enhance organizational effectiveness through this diversity in the workplace while at the same time ensuring that all these different spheres of being are translated to suit the congruent goal of meeting organization objective (Strachan & Burgess, 2001). Additionally, human resource management also tries to provide a competitive workplace driven by commitment to meeting objective and encouraging motivation among employees of a company. The evolution of diversity has however not gone without hitches in its implementation. Unjust treatment of workers has hindered the primary goal that diversity tries to bring. Equity management has in turn proven to curb all the vices that this diversity indirectly brings. This paper will show how best to encourage implementation of diversity in the workplace, while employing various doctrines of eliminating the negativity in the organization. Implementation of diversity in the workplace Aldway calls upon organizations to embrace the development diversity brings into the workforce. However, organizations should seek to make positive the negative traits related to diversity. This can be made possible primarily through equity management that is the major way of eliminating this discrimination. Equity management’s main objective is to maintain a favorable implementation of diversity in the organization. Equity identifies the different associations of the decision-making structures and the identity in the status of employment among the various workers. Some societal differences like race and gender are key in encouraging diversity. If equity management is introduced in the integration of these factors, then there is sure to be a positive effect on the organization as a whole. When management identifies these hitches and employs diversity, such as different races, during the vetting of new workers into the organization, then there always ends up with a more diverse workplace. Aldway calls for strategic change in the implantation of diversity through equity in the workplace. In equity management, the managers should also ensure to introduce organization policies which should be met every time new employees are to be integrated into the company. For instance, if a company has seven board of director members, they can make a provision in their constitution to include a clause that states there should be a minimum of two members of both gender. Others may opt to include maximum of seven percent of one particular race whichever it may be. This would encourage diversity in the future of the company. While equity offers the same opportunities to the different groupings in the organization, equality deals with the psychological notion that all have the same opportunities. However, there can be equality in equity. Equality deals more on the distribution of justice among workers (Kanter, 1997). The favorable attributes that diversity introduces to the company include professionalism, education, cultural values and experience among others. While diversity is important for the organization, various checks should be encouraged so as to avoid conflicts that may arise as a result. The main benefits for this is to encourage cooperation in the workplace, encourage understanding, eliminates barriers and to clearly spell out responsibility while building a sense of respect amongst individuals. Paradigm of diversity in the work place In dealing with the international diversity of an organization Aldway developed the proactive equity management approach and the affirmative action equity management approach. According to a research carried out in an Australian corporation, there were different findings that pertained to the response of employees in the organization. Aldway’s proactive equity management approach and the affirmative action equity management approach. In the proactive approach the different employees in the organization are treated differently according to their being. The company establishes policies encouraging different treatment for different individuals while trying to insist on fairness to the employees of the company. This strategy sought to empower people of the minority group to the organization’s high ranking positions (Cox, 1991). It does not encourage the entry of these groups of people into the organization. The affirmative action approach encourages equity within the organization. According to the research, the people in minority groups were more responsive to the aim of increasing their number inside the organization. Although they were not exactly pressured to rise in ranks, they had middle level management positions and administrative positions inside the organization. It helps in overcoming bias for particular groupings. In fact, it was found to have tremendous positive indication to the number of women in organizations. Companies that adopt the affirmative action approach tend to have more original and more practical ideas in the event of decision making. Concepts of Diversity Management Diversity management is achievable from one of two fundamental points of view. The first design basis on principles of localization that is integral in ensuring coordination and cooperation in accomplishing collective courses of action. The second paradigm focuses on the interaction that aids in the coexistence of the different dynamic divisions that are on the global scale (Reagans & Zuckerman, 2001). These help in connective passage of experience and information. Both are equally important while trying to create the networking of diverse management. The information that individuals of a single group possess can only grow through additional interaction with other groups around the world. Employee individual creativity, cultural and communication skill should be tapped (Ozbilgin, 2008). These values and qualities should be used towards the improvement of company policies as well as customer experiences. This therefore calls for company strategic managers to interact with lower level staff and listen to their insights which they will use to form company policies. Interaction with the outsiders helps in connecting the dynamism of organizational environments and relaying them to one’s own internal environment. Hindrances in the Implementation of Diversity in an Organization In the administration of diversity in the organization, the management is bound to encounter various hitches attributable to numerous factors surrounding the workplace. The findings of the research showed that whether the manager of the company is male or female, there developed a form of division among the employees. The gender and the work approaches of equity in diversity management policies create an environment where awarding equal opportunities to male and female employees divide (Johnson, 2003). This makes it unpopular among strategic management members. The policy of male managers such as training for recruits is favored by female employees. On the other hand, female managers do not favor training for new employees but male employees do. This rift develops due to work identity. In a male dominant organization, the attitude of women employees in the organization is encouraged. In trying to foster implementation of the diversity management policies, the response one may get in their organizations may not be favorable. Furthermore, an inception of a new policy may take up to about twenty five years before its implementation can be fully realized in the organization (Hofstede, 1994). The geographical location of an organization may hinder the integration of policies within the company. For a company to develop overseas, it may need to first evaluate the constraints such as race and culture in the new areas before it ventures into the market. This may result into having to change the policies for that particular region. Appropriateness of recommendations The paradigms of diversity in the workplace offer much needed help in the elimination of inverse conditions that sometimes surround the working environment. If not treated carefully, the cultural differences present in organizations could encourage formation of groups and stereotypical characters. These divisions could inversely affect the running of the organization. The key object of an organization is profit maximization which helps ensure continuity. It is up to the employees of the organization to have a congruent move to support the meeting of these key objectives. If the workplace is not characterized by this, then it would be hard to meet these objectives. The provisions of the study show that encouraging diversity in the workplace is as good as declaring success for the company. However, in implementing the different approaches to equity in diversity management, it is important to choose carefully the most appropriate steps to incorporate in this undertaking. In this process, the strategic management could encounter problems in decision making, policy selection and ensuring fairness among the employees. Changing the way things are run in regard to these problems could be tuned according to the capacity of the company and the gender level in employment. The recommendations suggest that each approach among the four will have differing results among variant organizations. All these variants are set according to the situation inside the organization. An organization may also be seeking to undertake diversity management on the ground of disability or ethnicity. An instance of an Asian company will shed some limelight on the discussion in question. Asia is the world’s leading population and furthermore the largest labor market. Many companies strive to outsource their services to Asian countries due toe cheap and available labor. In the same way, Asian companies also try to spread their companies to countries out of their own in search of expansion. While this goes on, organizations have to employ different tactics in regard to equity on diversity management as they encounter different environments as opposed to those they experienced in their own regions of operation (Simlin, 2006). A company venturing into India will have a problem coping with ethnicity regulations and will therefore have to amend their approach on diversity in order to go in the same way as those of the Indian environment. On the other hand a company venturing into an Islam country like Iraq, they have to amend their operations. The gender parity regulations will have a very strong point in that region. Using the affirmative action approach for instance will increase the number of women in the organization as opposed to the proactive approach. Since in this particular case one wants to diversify by encouraging women into the organization, they will then need to convert to the affirmative action approach as it will help in creating diversity by encouraging more women into the organization. People with disability also need to be incorporated into the organization as their culture introduces a totally different experience to many employees. Their experiences would help the company be able to identify with them as well as have a stronger attachment to the disadvantaged in the world. The more considerable categories of differences there are, the better the diversity in the work place is enhanced. Conclusion Equity diversity management is a conceptualization management technique management undertakes aimed at creating conducive environment for exponential effectiveness. Through its integration into the organization, its various attributes help improve not only the employee-employee, employee-management but also management relations. There are major paradigms that are developed by Erica, while stating their effects in different organizational settings. They are also responsible for the trend in gender present in different positions in the various managerial levels of an organization. The inception of each approach has a profound effect on the employment level in an organization. Management is served with the different genres, from where they are entitled to choose the best type to introduce and implement in their organizations. The kind of approach management chooses also depends on a variety of factors among them ethnicity, gender, disability level, geographical as well as other factors that may be viewed as discriminatory in the organization’s area of operation. in the introduction of any one special paradigm into an organization, management should ensure to evaluate the different factors before arriving at the ideal route to take in the running of company routine. Each style has its main stronghold and how best to employ and integrate it into an organization. However, the manager should make sure to eliminate certain inverse qualities that certain approaches may have on certain environments inside the organization setting. Experts assure that if the right steps are taken; being evaluation of the workplace and proper implementation of the approach into organization, then the effect would be translated to effectiveness on the organization’s performance and a reciprocating evidence of the relationship with outsiders and other organizations (Al-Lamki, 2002). Reference Ozbilgin, M., Tatli, A. (2008). Global diversity management: An evidence-based approach. London: Palgrave. Hofstede, G. (1994). Cultures and Organization: Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival, Software of the Mind. London, HarperCollins. Cox, T. & Blake, S. (1991). Managing cultural diversity: Implications for organizational competitiveness. Academy of Management Executive, 5, Reagans, R. & Zuckerman, W. (2001). Networks, diversity, and productivity: The social capital of corporate R&D teams. Organization Science, 12. Al-Lamki, M. (2002). Orientation: The essential ingredient in cross-cultural management, International Journal of Management, 19 Johnson, D. (2003). Reaching out: Interpersonal effectiveness and self-actualization. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Simlin, J. (2006). Organization culture and impact of diversity openness in the IT-ITES sector. Karnataka: Christ College Institute of Management. Strachan, G, Burgess J. (2001). Affirmative action legislation in Australia. Sydney: Keele University Press Kanter, M. (1997). Men and Women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Books Read More