Diversity In The Workplace

Diversity is a wonderful asset to an organization and brings with it many benefits. Employees bring in their own personal experiences and knowledge to the team (Burns & Kerby, 2012). Having diverse teams allows for the possibility to fix a problem or perfect a process by using different employee’s experiences and past knowledge to find solutions. A diverse workforce can drive economic growth and capture a greater share of the consumer market (Burns & Kerby, 2012). With diversity as a core value, the recruitment pool is widened to find the most qualified candidate and reduces employee turnover as a result. An organization can be highly competitive with a diversity initiative by adapting to a changing environment (Burns & Kerby, 2012).

The purpose of this paper is designed to introduce, educate, and promote diversity within your company. Your company will be shown the merits of diversity and how diversity within your organization can be a benefit. This paper will be broken down into three main areas: Benefits of Diversity, Challenges of Diversity, and Recommendations for an effective diversity within your organization..

The way in which an organization tackles diversity determines its negative or positive outcome. All the 5 companies agreed that diversity has contributed to their success. Some barriers were identified in managing diversity like the difficulties faced by women in managing the work and family, fear of discrimination, resistance to change, diversity is not seen as an organizational priority, resistance to change and unsupportive working environment for diverse employees. Diversity contributes to more productivity but if not properly managed could hinder success.

Three ways of gaining executive commitment to diversity are to gather data and to assess the organizations current commitment to diversity to show where and why there is a need for change. The development of diversity council can also garner executive support because it offers a way for executive members of an organization to have a dialog with other members of an organization about diversity. Systematic changes are also necessary such as hiring from a diverse roster of candidates when filling a position. (Moodian, 2009,

As diversity and inclusion gain more attention in the society, more research has been done on their impact to organizations. Not too long ago, organizations implemented diversity management initiatives, such as affirmative action and equal employment legislations, just to fulfill their legal requirements (Jayne and Dipboye, 2004). However, diversity and inclusion have since then become a business imperative.

I am very happy witht the progress that Vicky has made in her job so far. She has been with the Bureau about 8 months and she has become invaluable to us. She understands the division and bureau vision and direction. She is a real team player who actively participates in bureau meetings and activities such as coming up with a vision and mission statement for the PPI bureau.

The purpose of the diversity audit project is to teach students how to analyze and measure diversity efforts of potential employers and as potential customers. In this globalizing world these skills are more important than ever. Many companies are making changes to diversify their employees and their customer base; this project is focused on investigating one company’s efforts. After this project students can expect to have gained a deeper knowledge of how to measure a company’s level of diversity and analyze its effects on both employees and customers.

Diversity is simply the different people of opposite races in one place. Diversity has much a positive impact on a group because it improves the quality of goods made by one company, and it opens your eyes on how others of a different ethnicity act in their surroundings.

Many organizations are beginning to view diversity as an organizational change. This could possibly mean changes in the power dynamics and organizational structure, the way decisions are made, and the way an

Diversity is of the utmost importance to an organization, as it increases the organization’s ability to adapt to the ever changing environment of the modern world. Today, diversity is a requirement for success and long term growth. Diverse companies have a comprehensive understanding of their customer’s needs and better internal talent due to a more extensive search of the labor market for qualified candidates. Moreover, diverse perspectives lead to innovation, and innovation leads to prosperity. Inclusion of unique perspectives avoids barriers and anxieties that would otherwise stunt a company’s growth. Furthermore, Studies show that companies with diverse board members tend to have greater success than

The general line of reasoning is that if we learn to incorporate each other’s diverse traits and characteristics in the workplace, we can then use these differences to foster an innovative environment, which will give the company a competitive advantage over the competitors that do not accept workforce diversity. According to the Allied Academies International Conference, “Diversity is rapidly becoming a common practice among companies due to the increasing number of minorities entering the job market today. As these groups become more prevalent throughout companies, upper-level employees are facing numerous challenges when determining what changes must take place to create a positive working environment for everyone. Management is responsible for the development and implementation of effective policies directly relating to diversity to ensure the acceptance of minorities into the workplace and to aid in minorities’ success through equal opportunities and treatment.” (Marcia L. James, 2001, Academy for Studies in International Business Proceedings)

The need to understand diversity is also driven by women in the workplace. Today's workforce has the highest levels of employment participation ever by women. The number of dual income families and single working mothers has increased. Change in the family structure means that there are fewer men and women in traditional family roles (Zweigenhaft and Domhoff, 1998). Therefore, diversity issues cut across both race and gender.

Workplace diversity has become an important factor in the American marketplace. The demographic composition of many workplaces has become more diverse providing unique opportunities for individuals and organizations (Bond & Haynes, 2014, p. 183). As business leaders have recognized the need for more inclusive work environments, organizations have attempted to respond through development of workforce diversity management programs and placing greater emphasis of the value of diversity in the workplace. The following review of recent literature related to workplace diversity confirms a deliberate focus of organizations to attain a more inclusive work environment, develop approaches to improve a climate of inclusiveness, and concludes that initiatives are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of initiatives aimed to promote a diverse workforce.

The initiation of diversity programs within any organization will prove beneficial in many ways. Over half of the Fortune Five-Hundred companies have already implemented productive programs with lasting global effects. These companies have inclusive programs that have paved their way toward global prosperity. Other organizations may take advantage of the same success provide specific behaviors are followed. Behaviors that will increase profitability in diversity include: (1) diversity in executive and board representation; (2) two or more women and or minorities among its highest-paid executives; (3) companies use specific language about a desire for diversity; and (4) family-friendly benefits like flexible work, adoption assistance, and domestic partner benefits are the initial steps to a viable program. The first behavior the organization may take to initiate a diversity program includes the Executive and Board Representation.

Diversity in workforce “include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience”(Thomas 1992). Diversity in the workforce is initially perceived as a response toward the increasing diversity of the consumers in the market (Agocs & Burr, 1996). From there, it has been observed that capitalizing on existing differences among the employees provide benefits to the organization. Diversity in workforce fosters and encourages