Challenges of Managing Diversity in Organizations
Discuss about the Human Resource Management In Sport And Recreation.
With the advent of globalization, a diverse workplace has not become a common aspect in any business enterprise. A business enterprise is expected to hire efficient people based on their competency and not on their background. However, this is not the case in all organizations. Certain organizations face problems with respect to managing their workforce and inculcating diversity in the organization (Grant 2016). This problem may take place with respect to the employees who may resist change and would not like to indulge in corporate relationships with people who tend to belong to a different culture or it might come down from the top management who do not share similar values in the subject. For this reason, the company might not be able to manage with a diverse workforce. Secondly, in regard to maintaining a work life balance, it can be described as an initiative which is taken by the organization to help the employees in maintaining a life outside the work as well. In the given sections, I will be sharing my experiences and views based on the given topic.
In order to get a brief experience of the corporate world, I have interned at various places. Some of these companies include a sales job at Woolworths, Interning at Australia Post among certain others. While I was interning, I came through various experiences in the respective organization which further strengthened my base on the given topic chosen and helped me to understand the real face of it.
During my internship experience at Woolworths, I worked at one of the branches in a sales team. My duty was to see to it that the given section of the store attained maximum sales and that all the customers visiting the given aisle of the section found what they wanted and was satisfied with their experience (Alfes et al. 2013). After a week, I observed that the given team I was allotted to worked very well, but there existing a problem with respect to the way the team behaved with respect to the different cultured people present in the group. Our group had different members belonging to vast cultures. However, three out of them belonged to the same one and tried to gang up against the others. As I was interning in the given store, I personally did not face such a problem but the others working in the firm, placed problem as they were often mistreated with and not involved in the team hurdles.
Work-Life Balance: Initiative for Employee Satisfaction
The management present in the store, was somehow biased towards the given group, and did not take any strict action against them (Purce 2014). The ones who were being mistreated had often tried to complain as they were facing inconvenience in regard to the behavior which was being shown to them. They were not being involved in team hurdles and they were not being shared lunch with. I believe although the organization had set defined policies with respect to diversity management and inculcating the positive environment at workplace, however the managers were not concerned with this and were not following these laws which were not correct. To improve the condition in the organization, I believe that the managers should have indulged in diversity management and training policies which would have taught all employees that diversity is good for the organization and that engaging in a diverse culture, is good for the organization (Chelladurai and Kerwin 2017). If these were implemented, the company could have performed even better.
I would like to analyze another incident another experience while I was interning at the Australian Post. For some time now, the Australian Post has been facing certain problems and the employees have been pressurized to work beyond their shift hours so that they are able to contribute effectively towards the long term development of the organization (Mok, Sparks and Kadampully 2013). As the technology has advanced, the sales of the company have dropped considerably. Hence, the management is trying to put a pressure on the workforce to go an extra mile and contribute towards the well being of the firm. This involved having meetings beyond the shift hour. Many workers and employees often complained of facing inconvenience and that they were unable to carry out their normal tasks which they usually did earlier.
When a group of employees go together to discuss the given issue with the managers, they got upset about it and did not pay heed. This is where they went wrong and according to me, they should have actually thought about it. This is because; the employees were frustrated and contributed even less to the well being of the firm (Alfes et al. 2013). A good workforce can be maintained and contribution can be enough when the workers are satisfied with their job and this satisfaction is directly related with the work life balance which needs to be maintained. In my views, the organization should have tried and implemented a proper scheme and maintained a good balance which would have then helped the organization to prosper further. The given behavior affected the organization negatively and some of the employees resigned which was harmful for the organization in general.
Analysis of Human Resource Management in Australian Companies
It has become a common belief these days that there exists a strong link between the human resource in an organization and the performance of the firm. It is believed that human resource management in providing a competitive advantage to the firm and helping it as a strategic partner to strive towards success and inculcate an organization culture which brings together human resource policies and organizational objectives (McDermot et al. 2013). In the given journal I will be analyzing the state of HRM in Australian companies today and study with respect to personal experience whether the organizations are using their human resource strategically for the long term benefit of the firm or not.
When I was interning at the Vodafone Australia, I experienced an environment which was a great booster towards the importance of the human resource of the firm. The different departments followed a motto of employee satisfaction whereby the organization gave equal importance to the employees as well in the same manner that they would have given to the customers (Krajcsák and Gyökér 2013). They believe that if the employees are satisfied, they tend to perform well and thus, the customers are served well automatically. During my experience there, I observed that the firm offered all kinds of benefits to the different employees who range from a good salary package, after work services, medical benefits and other good incentives. Furthermore the work environment is very positive which further boosts the employees to work well. According to my analysis, this has had a profound impact on the organization’s performance and the firm has been able to attract a larger market share due to the employee`s consistent efforts.
However, this is not true in case of all the organizations and there exists certain organizations that are unable to form a link between the human resource aspect of the organization and the performance (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). They fail to stress upon the well being of employees of the organization which in turn has a negative impact on the performance of the organizations.
While working with the global taxi brand at Uber, I observed that the company did not have proper plans for their workforce. I was associated with the service department of the firm and I witnessed that the company lagged proper facilities with regard to the benefits that should be provided to the different employees (Marchington et al. 2017). Furthermore, the employees were treated in a biased manner, which further causes a hostile environment in the organization. I believe that, there is a direct link between employee satisfaction and their performance. The company is unable to satisfy their employees which in turn is resulting in negative aspects for their firm`s brand image as well. According to me, the firm should indulge in a sound Human Resource strategy so as to improve their operations and this shall lead to better results for the firm. I observed that the organization had a sexist culture (Bratton and Gold 2017). During my stay an employee was facing problem with another co-worker but no action was taking against him because, he was supposedly a good performer. This greatly disappointed the female co-worker and her performance dropped immediately. Hence, this was a classic case of how a bad human resource development could drastically have a negative impact on the performance of the employee which would then affect the organization’s image drastically.
Therefore, according to my analysis it could be stated that, the relationship and the strong link between human resource practices in the organization and the service which they are able to provide to the customers. After analyzing the practices of various companies in Australia, it could be observed that the performance varies widely and due to this the image of the companies are quite different. I believe a firm should inculcate in genuine Human Resource Practices in order to achieve competitive advantages.
References
Alfes, K., Shantz, A.D., Truss, C. and Soane, E.C., 2013. The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation model. The international journal of human resource management, 24(2), pp.330-351.
Alfes, K., Truss, C., Soane, E.C., Rees, C. and Gatenby, M., 2013. The relationship between line manager behavior, perceived HRM practices, and individual performance: Examining the mediating role of engagement. Human resource management, 52(6), pp.839-859.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
Chelladurai, P. and Kerwin, S., 2017. Human resource management in sport and recreation. Human Kinetics.
Grant, R.M., 2016. Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley & Sons.
Krajcsák, Z. and Gyökér, I., 2013. How to increase workplace commitment?. Periodica Polytechnica. Social and Management Sciences, 21(1), p.39.
Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.
McDermott, A.M., Conway, E., Rousseau, D.M. and Flood, P.C., 2013. Promoting effective psychological contracts through leadership: The missing link between HR strategy and performance. Human Resource Management, 52(2), pp.289-310.
Mok, C., Sparks, B. and Kadampully, J., 2013. Service quality management in hospitality, tourism, and leisure. Routledge.
Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.
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