Merits of managing diversity in a business
Discuss the Importance of managing a diverse workforce within an organization.
Effective leadership along with management of staff is an important attribute of a proficient manager. Effectively managing the people can support the broader goals of an organization in relation to developing and sustaining. Thorough knowledge of principles related to employee behaviour and appreciation of value of human resource can help in optimising the performance of employees in an organization (Katzenbach and Smith 2015). Leadership is the action that enables the employees in reaching their goals. It plays an active role in relation to performance of the employees and their productivity. Diversity in the organization refers to the act of bringing people together belonging to different ethnic backgrounds and religions to create a productive unit (Bolman and Deal 2017). In order to be able to survive, a company should be able to manage and utilize a workplace that is diverse in the effective manner. Managing diversity within the organization should become a part of the organizational culture that would ensure the long term success of the organization. The primary purpose of this report is to elucidate on the importance of managing a diverse workforce and how it can add to the growth of an organization.
Diversity brings multiple benefits to an organization. It is said that an organization which has diverse employees will have a better understanding of global marketplace. Employers have reported that a diverse organization can benefit from different viewpoints and result in higher productivity because the culture of the company encourages the employees to perform to their greatest ability (Mello and Ruckes 2006). Employers can recognize the immediate benefits of organizational diversity. In industries like that of marketing and advertising, knowing what the customers coming from different backgrounds want can add to the success of an organization (Goetsch and Davis 2014). When the management thinks of the welfare of the workers and offer them proper compensation and health care then it makes the employees feel as if they are an integral part of the company irrespective of what their cultural background is. It enables the employees to stay loyal and work hard that helps in increasing the productivity of the company (Mello and Ruckes 2006). A single person who is doing multiple tasks would not be able to perform at the same pace like a team. A team member can help in bringing to the table different ideas and it can offer a unique perspective in relation to problem solving. It can help in arriving at the best solution within a short span of time.
When the workers in an organization are exposed to a new culture it can help each individual to have a clear insight of the place in respect to global environment (Chhokar, Brodbeck and House 2013). Workplace diversity can strengthen the relationship of the company with a group of customers by dint of effective communication. A customer service personnel can be paired with that of customers who are from their own location that can make the customers feel easy. They can thus effectively communicate with the representative of the company. Employees who come from diverse background help in bringing to the table unique perceptions along with experience during group task. Pooling the diverse skill set of employees who are culturally distinct can be of benefit for the company by strengthening the factor of “responsiveness” of the team so that they can adapt to the conditions that are changing (Barak 2016).
Theories of Diversity Management
Institutional Theory Of Diverse Management
There are two general approaches in relation to managing diversity. They are the Institutional Theory of Diverse Management and Resource Based Theory of Diversity Management. In order to determine the structure of an organization one cannot disunite the social environment that is found within an organization. The organization have limiting factors like that of legislation, laws and rules. It is because of the factor that organizations have similar kinds of norms that they develop similar kind of administrative structure. This kind of conformity can help the organizations to be consistent with the rules and they want to create legitimacy for the different operations (Scott and Davis 2015). By taking recourse to legitimacy with the help of their operations, organizations can gather material resources from that of others. Law necessitates the fact that organizations should be able to deliver so that they can prove to the organization that they are conforming to the rules (De Anca and Vega 2016). When an organization will fail to follow the norms then the operations of the organization will be questioned.
Resource Based Theory of Diverse Management
The primary arena of focus in relation to Resource Based Theory is regarding how the execution of diversity can affect the resources of an organization. There are four kinds of resources that an organization has- physical capital, financial capital, human capital and corporate capital resources. These resources can support or inhibit the operations within an organization. Organizations can use these resources in a manner that can help in improving the business. It has been found that organizations that are diverse gain an advantage over those organizations that are homogeneous in nature (Al-Jenaibi 2017). Racial diversity can increase the financial performance of an organization when an innovation strategy is used. Firms that have diversity management practice experience lower level of turnover and diversity management practice can positively interact with the innovation strategy that can result in higher productivity (Mello and Ruckes 2006). It can lead the way to better market performance.
Data can be of immense importance in making the initiatives in relation to diversity work. Katherine Maher belonging to the Wikimedia Foundation has said that people should stand up and make a priority only then can issues relating to diversity be solved. Research has highlighted that following through on goals of diversity can prove to be effective in order to increase the underrepresentation of women along with that of minorities. Susan Wojcicki of You tube has asked the managers regarding updates on numbers in relation to diversity. With the help of sustained efforts that focuses on supporting other women and providing facilities for women like maternity leave can go a long way in encouraging workplace diversity within an organization. Omar Ishrak (Medtronic) heads the diversity council and signs off on diversity goal like increasing the diversity of board of directors that would lead to diversity in the top management. By the end of the year 2020, they want to have a global workforce in which 40 % of the management will be held by women (Harvard Business Review 2017).
Diversity Practices prevalent in Organisations
Starbucks nurtures the goal of increasing representation in relation to women in the top leadership by around 50 % by the end of the year 2020. The leadership pipeline should be expanded and leadership should be held accountable for the inclusion goals. Diverse companies can produce better stock returns and John Rogers of Ariel Investments has said that this compels the companies to have a diverse board. The leaders should address the racial along with gender diversity in the organization but also solve the issues relating to LGBTQ workers along with that of people who have diversities (Hays-Thomas 2016). Equality can take many different forms- income, education, gender, race and LGBTQ. The CEO has said that equality is not about providing people with the same things but about giving people what they need. By making use of this policy, people will be able to evolve from that of equality to that of equity. Equity would help in providing the people with what they need (Harvard Business Review 2017).
- Make diversity a priority in organization
- Develop strong knowledge base regarding value of diversity
- Practice the vision in relation to diversity
- Commit human along with financial resources for the diversity agenda
Conclusion:
Diversity within an organization helps in bringing people together from diverse ethnic background and religions and gives birth to a productive unit. The survival of a company depends on how well it can manage the workforce which is diverse. The industry of marketing and advertising knowing the needs of the customers coming from different ethnic back ground can prove to be a vital factor for the success of the organization.
Proper compensation along with health care to all the workers of an organization irrespective of their cultural background can make the employees feel as if they are an important part of organization. Each team member has their own perspective and ideas that can help in the field of problem solving. Being exposed to a new culture can enable the workers to gain a clear insight of the global environment. Diversity management practice can result in low level of turn over that can augment the productivity of an organization. Companies that are diverse can yield better stock returns and thus help in earning profits for the company. Leaders should successfully address and solve issues relating to gender and LGBTQ for the long term success of the organization.
References:
Al-Jenaibi, B., 2017. The scope and impact of workplace diversity in the United Arab Emirates–A preliminary study. Geografia-Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 8(1).
Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications.
Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons.
Chhokar, J.S., Brodbeck, F.C. and House, R.J. eds., 2013. Culture and leadership across the world: The GLOBE book of in-depth studies of 25 societies. Routledge.
De Anca, C. and Vega, A.V., 2016. Managing diversity in the global organization: Creating new Business values. Springer.
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Harvard Business Review. (2017). What 11 CEOs Have Learned About Championing Diversity. [online] Available at: https://hbr.org/2017/08/what-11-ceos-have-learned-about-championing-diversity [Accessed 27 Dec. 2017].
Hays-Thomas, R., 2016. Managing Workplace Diversity and Inclusion: A Psychological Perspective. Taylor & Francis.
Katzenbach, J.R. and Smith, D.K., 2015. The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Harvard Business Review Press.
Mello, A.S. and Ruckes, M.E., 2006. Team composition. The Journal of Business, 79(3), pp.1019-1039.
Scott, W.R. and Davis, G.F., 2015. Organizations and organizing: Rational, natural and open systems perspectives. Routledge.
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