The Importance of Managing Diversity in the Workplace
Introduction
In any workplace, people have different cultures, backgrounds, values, as well as beliefs. Thus, diversity is defined as the aspect by which workers poses different skills, experiences, as well as cultural backgrounds. This is a managerial and organizational aspect that needs to be handled well to increase the effectiveness of an organization. Diversity is all over where people are interacting with work or any other activity. Due to the current trends in business formations and management, there is a likelihood of people working in multicultural environments. Thus, there should be management recognition that an organization is based on a diverse workforce.
Each of the different cultures and people needs to be accorded respect. Through this process, corporation increases and an organization manages to achieve its objectives quickly (Angi, 2007, 44). Organizational culture is established from diverse environments and people with different cultures. Thus, there is a need to understand some of the opportunities and challenges for any individual and businesses as a result of diversity. The negative effects of diversity should be managed to avoid possible conflicts within an organization. As managers, there is a need to consider and invest in some of the benefits that diversity bring in the workplace.
Diversity management
Diversity management is a process which includes several managerial and personal approaches to help eliminate differences. Thus, in the process of diversity awareness, employees learn how people get shaped by their cultures. A diversity plan is created by the use of an action plan in any organization (Sutton, 2003, 88). A cultural intelligence strategy is needed by organizations in managing differences among the employees. However, the management should be innovative in the way it deals with diversity issues. In any organization, social audits are conducted to help the administration understand the level of compliance to some of the intelligence concerns. Any company enjoying the benefits of cultural intelligence has a competitive advantage. It easily competes with other forms in the same industry, both locally and internationally. Any company should prove its ability to adhere to moral, ethical, as well as legal obligations aimed at creating equity in the workplace.
Managing diversity implies an inclusive approach used to execute day-to-day business functions. This approach has been used as a strategy to unman the management of human resources. These issues of diversity are witnesses during the hiring, recruitment, mentoring, as well as employee retention. Also, the process of talent management is a demonstration of accommodating the diverse skills and experiences among the employees (Earley and Mosakowski, 2004, 77). Some groups have been referred to the minority due to the amount of attention given to them. Some of these groups include women, people with disability, and people from the specific ethnic background, the ages, and the youth. These are those people who have been associated with discriminative a practice that affects their ability to work like other people.
Challenges and Opportunities Associated with Diversity
This training will be based on equipping the participants with all the necessary information in managing diversity challenges and opportunities. It highlights some of the ways through which organizations and managers can identify and solve diversity challenged. At the end of this training, the participants need to have achieved the following objectives;
Training objectives
- Understanding diversity
- Examining different types of diversity
- Identify challenges of diversity
- Assess the opportunities of diversity to individuals and organization
- Examine some benefits associated with workplace diversity
Workshop Activities
- Identifying diversity in groups
- Selecting organization, internal, and external diversity dimensions
- Explaining cultural diversity
- Identifying deep and surface-level diversity
- Explaining how employees and managers deal with diversity
- Examining global challenges of diversity
- Identifying diversity opportunities
- Assessing what is inherent diversity
Defining diversity
Many companies are expanding their operations by opening more outlets and overseas branches. As a result, different people from all walks of life are likely to join these businesses. This concept brings up the idea of diversity in a workplace (Earley and Peterson, 2004, 372). People will, therefore, come with different skills and values and this will offer an organization a competitive advantage. Thus, diversity exists when people from different cultures or backgrounds are represented in a workplace or any social interaction. People express their diversity traits in many ways.
Inherent diversity
There are some of the characters that define people’s differences and they exist over an individual’s life time. They exist by birth and therefore, there could be some changes at some stage in life. The different types of diversity include;
- Age
- Race
- Family ties
- Gander
- Cultural heritage
- Sexual orientation
- Nationality
- Religion
Acquired diversity
These are some of the traits which people gain in their lifetime through learning or by interacting with other people. They include;
- Political affiliations
- Professionalism
- Education background
- Citizenship
- Cultural background
- Marital status
Deep and Surface level diversity
Inherited and acquired diversity can be classified as either surface or deep-level diversity to show its intensity. Deep diversity looks at some of the variations the traits such as emotions and thinking experiences. On the other side, surface level looks at the observable characteristics that distinguish people.
Dimensions of diversity
Internal dimensions include age, race, gender, ethnicity, physical ability, and sexual orientation. External dimensions include income, religion, appearance, marital status, educational background, and work experience. Similarly, organizational diversity dimensions include union affiliation, seniority, functional level, and management status. All these dimensions are interdependent.
Challenges of workplace diversity
Some of the work related challenges as a result of diversity differ based on the country or place of work. There are some countries of companies which do not offer equal working rights for both men and women. This condition brings about segregation. Other countries have put regulations which restrict the immigration of people from some cultures. Gender based dispartity concerns have been raised in giving opportunities and duties in many workplaces. This condition has widened the gender gap in many institutions making it hard for people to work together. Some of the diversity obstacles can be handled by employees while others require management intervention.
The Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace
Benefits of diversity
The differences in people help to create team cohesion making a company achieve the highest level of performance. Also, various impediments happen in different organizations, and they may cause disengagement at multiple workplaces. With this diversity, many people are likely to have varied emotions. Managing such feelings and emotions determine the success of an organization to a more considerable extent. Organizations that hire employees with comprehensive emotional intelligence capabilities are likely to benefit from getting more functional teams (Matthews, 2004, 67). The level of emotional intelligence is associated with the level of making decisions in an organization. Also, high IE reflects simplicity in the decision making and problem-solving processes.
Developing self-awareness
People should develop the sense of self-awareness to help them have the ability to handle differences among the people they interact with. It starts with employees realizing their identity at a personal level. When this aspect is developed, it becomes easier for people to know why they may have varied reactions in different situations (Earley and Ang, 2003, 234). When people understand what makes them happy or annoyed, it is easy to handle others effectively. Diversity is in a different aspect. Some of these aspects of diversity include skin, ethnicity, skills, age, and gender. Thus, in solving some of the challenges associated with variety, one has to develop personal reelection and appreciate own values and culture.
People should understand the source of their emotions for an effective management strategy. When people can clarify their differences, it helps them to solve challenges that face their daily interactions. The effectiveness of any emotional reaction lies in the ability of people to deal with different feelings that affect their relationships (Rockstuhl et al. 2011, 776). EM is one of the ways that help us to develop the ability to govern ourselves. It also promotes intercultural where we can understand and appreciate each other regarding our cultures. Our relationships and the surrounding environments are satisfied when we know the diversity of our emotions. Social architecture implies that people can respond differently to various situations.
Understanding Emotional Diversity
The emotional information comprises of the ability to understand the social structures in explaining and responding to personal and other people’s feelings as well as emotions. Thus, a person is emotionally intelligent if he or she has the ability and skills to manage demands and pressures from the environment and people. Different scholars have developed EI models that help to explain the implications of diversity. For instance, the ability model, EI is looked at as an ability and not a personality by the way people perceive things to help them make a sound judgment. Also, there is a mixed model which combines intelligence with other cognitive abilities such as stress management, moods, as well as interpersonal relations. There are several benefits of having emotional intelligence, both at personal and organizational levels. It helps people to develop social awareness, self-realization, and self-management. Also, it is useful in guiding the relationships among people like employees and their managers. Also, it is worth to note that EI can be developed at an organizational level (Lopes, et al. 2004, 66).
Cultural Sensitivity and Emotional Intelligence in Managing Diversity
Cultural Diversity
As different people come together for work, they go with the different cultures. This condition creates a need for cultural sensitivity (Crowne, 2013). Managers are part of the leadership model that helps to deal with diversity issues. It helps in the daily business management as well as developing a stable and universal culture called the organizational culture. Managers need to have the highest sensitivity towards diversity concerns. They should recognize different people with their respective cultures. Though this possession, it is easy to overcome challenges in the management of any organization. Good managers will understand people’s differences and apply various techniques for solving the daily encounters. Thus, it allows for direct approaches in dealing with employees who may be having multiple variations.. By this recognition; the manager gets an understanding of how different situations should be handled.
It is the responsibility of the management to identify and solve some of the challenges associated with culture as well as emotional issues. Employees should be trained how to manage their differences and cultures. Through this, it will give the management an excellent opportunity to integrate and accommodate all the variations in people’s beliefs and values. When managing cultural diversities through the ability to recognize and sort differences, there is a need to minimize any possible negative consequence (Hams, 2010, 456).
The objective of this training will be to equip all employees and the management some of the important skills to help them handle workplace diversity. There will be many training activities aimed at imparting the necessary knowledge on diversity issues. At the end of this session, the employees will identify themselves with different diversity dimensions. Each of those attending the training will name their diversity opportunities. Also, the training will aim to achieve diversity management goals. All employees will give their contributions on how to manage workplace diversity. Through this training, it will be easy to distinguish deep and surface level diversity. The different types of diversity will be explained from the employees.
In groups, the employees will identify their differences and came up with ways how to solve the associated challenges. All employees will appreciate the fact that they are not the same in terms of their cultural settings, origins, as well as skills and experiences. Also, employees will have the opportunity to share their experiences from their past work and opportunities. All the diversity questions will be answered by the use of practical examples. All the training objectives will be covered within the stipulated time. Employees will manage to understand that cultural diversity should not hinder them from meeting organizational objectives. Instead, it should give them an opportunity to combine their diverse skills and experiences to achieve the organizational objectives.
Managerial and Personal Approaches to Eliminate Differences
All employees will develop recognition for global diversity for companies with expanded operations. Similarly, employees will develop an appreciation for cultural as well as intellectual diversity. Through the training, employees from different cultures will interact and share their experiences and how they can utilize differences in their places of work. At the end of the training, the employee feedback and their learning will assess the objectives achieved. Also, the seminar will identify training needs and periodical sessions to update the employees’ diversity awareness.
References
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Crowne, K.A., 2013. Cultural exposure, emotional intelligence, and cultural intelligence: An exploratory study. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 13(1), pp.5-22.
Earley, P.C. and Ang, S., 2003. Cultural intelligence: Individual interactions across cultures. Stanford University Press.
Earley, P.C. and Peterson, R.S., 2004. The elusive cultural chameleon: Cultural intelligence as a new approach to intercultural training for the global manager. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3(1), pp.100-115.
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Rockstuhl, T., Seiler, S., Ang, S., Van Dyne, L. and Annen, H., 2011. Beyond general intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ): The role of cultural information (CQ) on cross?border leadership effectiveness in a globalized world. Journal of Social Issues, 67(4), pp.825-840.
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