Diversity in the Workplace
Discuss about the Diversity Is Barrier To Effective Teamwork.
The essay will discuss the different kind of issues that are faced in teamwork in different organizations due to the diversity. The discussion will be supported by the help of different literatures and viewpoints of different authors on understanding the reasons that diversity is the big barrier in the effective teamwork. The essay will include different kind of reasons that includes the analysis of the different disadvantages and advantages of the diversity implementation in teamwork.
Diversity workplaces and teams are essential and it is composed with varying characteristics that includes the religious along with cultural beliefs. The diversity helps the entire workplace in increasing the overall productivity in the organization and increases the morale of the employees. Diversity in the workplace builds different kind of opportunities in building proper reputation for the organization and create opportunities for the workers (Barak 2016).
However, there are different issues relating to the diversity as this creates issues in the workplace as there can be issues related to unproductivity in few firms as there are employees from different cultural backgrounds. A diverse workplace is important in different organization among the employees as this is the main reflection of the changing world on the workplace. It is the main duty of the employees in organization to manage the diversity issues related to culture in an operative manner to handle the grievances of the different employees who are from different cultural background (Wrench 2016).
The phenomenon of the diversity at workplace is directly related to the organizational performance wherein the workplace diversity is responsible for the positive and negative ills that takes place in the organization. The diversity issues are now considered essential and this is projected to become more relevant in future as there is increasing differences in population in many countries. Proper valuing and managing diversity is the major component in effective people management and it helps in achieving the organizational goals.
Sabharwal (2014) has commented that workplace diversity is complex and controversial process and it has been conceptualized by the author in several viewpoints. There are different authors who has looked into the concept through narrow perspective and on the other hand there are different authors who has provided the same from a broader view. Furthermore, the article (Peoplematters.in, 2018) has stated the different key issues of the diversity that arises due to the discrimination along with exclusion of the cultural groups from the different kind of traditional groups. The diversity is the concept that is inclusive in all the individuals and this becomes difficult to identify the practices of the discrimination.
Issues Relating to Diversity
The danger in narrowly defining the concept of diversity includes the cultural diversity dimensions. However, the scholars who has advocated the broader concept of workforce diversity argues that the diversity encompasses the possible manners through which the individual can differ. The individuals who are in accordance with the respective school of thought do not differ on the basis of the race, gender and age, however it includes different values, tenure, personality and organizational functions. Klarsfeld et al. (2014) has contented that the different individuals with multiple identities along with the manifold dimensions can never be isolated from the organizational setting.
The diversity has a major role to play in understanding the dynamics of the heterogenous workforce and understanding the interactive effects of the multi-dimensional diversity has to be addressed. It has been argued by Klarsfeld et al. (2014) that the broader concept of diversity can create positive effect on the programs of the diversity management that is potential in nature. Furthermore, the literature related to workplace diversity espouses the different theoretical frameworks in order to understand the possible implications of the same on workplace and teamwork. Social Categorization helps in describing the people categorization that is based on salient features such as ethnicity, gender that is based on differences (Trittin and Schoeneborn 2017).
The second is the attraction/similarity theory that helps in asserting the actual similarity on non-salient and salient features such as values that increases in the interpersonal attraction along with attachment. The third is the decision-making theory that helps in examining the facts and impact of the distribution of the information. These are the different theories that lead to contradictory hypothesis regarding the effects of the diversity on the group process along with performance. It has been seen that there are different companies that are complying with the different diversity programs in order to avoid legal consequences while there are other companies that are reaping benefits from adoption of such program (Human Resources Today, 2018).
Greene and Kirton (2015) has commented that there are different kind of positive impacts of the diversity management in organizations and in teamwork. The author has hypothesised that the organizations that engage in the diversity experiences increase in the synergy among the different employees in the organization and this allows the staffs in taking up different kind of tasks that are varied in nature.
The diversity is required to be valued that assists in recognising the differences that are not absolute in nature, however they are variable. These kind of differences enables the organizations in becoming more effective as this capitalizes on perspective that is heterogenous and this provides superior solution in different situations. According to Choi and Rainey (2014), the organizations that utilizes diverse workforce concept can able to sell diverse customer base wherein the instance has been taken of Avon wherein initially it has low profitability, however after adopting diversity, they have tried to increase their productivity in the organization.
The Impact of Diversity on Organizational Performance
Furthermore, Cascio (2018) has stated and hypothesised that the other positive aspect of diversity in the workplace helps them in overcoming the cross-cultural challenges from the organizations when the business expands and they spread internationally. This is one of the essential benefits derived from the cultural diversity of the different employees as there are different kind of modern companies are expanding their business on corporate agendas. With the expansion of the business in different foreign countries, there is inclusion of the obstacles that includes the understanding the local customer base in the country. Proper designing of the different innovative strategies has to be developed by the entire team in the company to overcome such risks (Human Resources Today, 2018).
Pham (2017) has hypothesised that when the organizations have diverse workforce in a cultural manner, they can utilise the knowledge and information of the individual employee to achieve such objectives and overcome aforementioned obstacles. It is essential in nature that the employees are diverse in nature to create and inspire creativity and drive innovation. The diverse teamwork and diverse skills allows the organization to offer adoptable and broader range of products and services. The organizations that adopt the policies of diversity and integrate diversity into the corporate culture can expect reduction in the turnover of the employees and this will be a benefit for the organization (Besic and Hirt,2016).
However, on the other hand there are different kind of negative impacts of the cultural diversity in the organizations and among the teams. It includes the increased tendency of the personnel of organization to indulge into different kind of interpersonal conflicts. The workers with cultural diverse attitudes has different kind of viewpoints, customs and values. However, Benschop et al. (2015) has stated that there are colleagues in the company who are from some other culture may be less likely in nature to let their voices to be heard in the teamwork practices. The management of the organizations has to manage the diversity related issues to improve the intercultural issues and perform the various tasks equally with all the employees.
The integration across the different multicultural teams can be difficult in face of negative cultural stereotypes. According to Sabharwal (2014), diversity can create negative effects on different aspects of the organization that includes difficulties in the process of communication, conflict among the groups, poor and racial integration. However, from the psychological perspective, it has been seen that greater diversity in the team may lead to poor performance and this may lead to intra group conflicts among the groups as well. The professional communication can be misinterpreted or it is difficult in nature to understand across the different cultures and languages.
Theoretical Frameworks for Understanding Diversity in Teamwork
The other challenge includes the conflicting style of works across the different teams that reflects the cultural values and compounding kind of differences. This is the other major reason that causes decrease in the productivity of the employees who are working in a particular team. The culturally diverse workers have different kind of opinions, values and beliefs along with traditions. These kind of deeply buried qualities offer the actual essence of the diversity in teamwork in different organizations.
Sabharwal (2014) has stated that the factionalism is the other issue in the managing diversity in the entire team. When the team is larger in nature, there can be a huge risk that it will break down into different factions when the team is heterogenous in nature. Furthermore, the style of communication differs among different cultures in the team of organizations. For instance- the lawyers are comfortable in nature with confrontational style than most other kind of groups. On the other hand, there are different individuals from Asian cultures view the confrontational style of communication disrespectful in nature. As per the different articles, it has been seen that there are different organizations in which workshops are conducted to increase the scope of diversity and nurture the same efficiently. At Zurich number of initiatives has been taken and implemented to promote diversity among the employees and in the entire workplace (Zurich Insurance Group 2018).
Therefore, from the above, it can be commented that there are different kind of negative and positive aspects of diversity in workplace. The definition of the diversity varies from one organization to the other organization and there are times when the organizations define the diversity training is influenced heavily by the process and understanding the meaning of diversity in their respective organization.
Bolman and Deal (2017) has commented that from broader kind of corporate perspective, the diversity training is the raising personal type of awareness about the differences of individuals and try to find out the different strategies that can help in enhancing the manners in reducing the differences among the individuals effectively. The training is the most widely used strategies and tactics that can help them in reducing the differences that includes perceptual, problem solving between the different employees in the workforce.
The different kind of management tools in the diverse workplace is required to educate all the employees about the diversity issues that includes laws and legislations. However, there has been different kind of issues in diverse work culture among employees wherein it has been seen that the companies and the employees need to understand the challenges and turn them into advantages.
Positive Impacts of Diversity in Teamwork
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that diversity among the teams in different organizations is essential, however there are different kind of impacts of diversity that can be positive and negative in manner. The negative impacts of diversity included dysfunctional conflicts, loss of productivity and difficult to achieve harmony in group settings. The respect of the individual differences in the workplace will benefit the organization by creating competitive advantage and increases the workforce diversity as well.
Furthermore, it has been seen that there are different kind of positive impacts of the diversity management in the organization that included strong base of knowledge that is created on cultural differences and this provides huge tendency to expand the business in foreign cultures. After analysis of the different researchers, it has been analysed that diverse workplace is the reflection of the changing workplace and it brings huge diversity in the performance of the team as well.
Lastly, the diversity is essential for both employees and employers in different organizations as this manifest itself in building proper reputation for the entire organization and leading it to gain productivity and profit in their business. The issues related to communication gaps has to be reduced with implementation of innovative strategies in workplace.
References
Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications.
Benschop, Y., Holgersson, C., Van den Brink, M. and Wahl, A., 2015. Future challenges for practices of diversity management in organizations. Handbook for Diversity in Organizations, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp.553-574.
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Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons.
Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
Choi, S. and Rainey, H.G., 2014. Organizational fairness and diversity management in public organizations: Does fairness matter in managing diversity?. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 34(4), pp.307-331.
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Klarsfeld, A., Booysen, L.A., Ng, E., Roper, I. and Tatli, A. eds., 2014. Country Perspectives on Diversity and Equal Treatment. Edward Elgar Publishing.
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Trittin, H. and Schoeneborn, D., 2017. Diversity as polyphony: Reconceptualizing diversity Management from a communication-centered perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 144(2), pp.305-322.
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