Diversity Is Becoming More And More Important As Years Go

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.

Diversity represents the existence of difference of ethnicities, vernaculars, civilizations, nations, affinity orientations, genders, religious branches, capabilities, social classifications, ages, and nationalized origins of the personnel in an organization. When used with reference to the corporate environment, it frequently incorporates the standards of respect, impartiality, inclusion, and acceptance. However, diversity perchance may intensify numerous extents of values tension. Where variances are innovative or passionate, and where negative stereotypes previously ruled communications between specific groups, understanding of the possibility for divergence is compulsory (Hartman, L., 2017).

The first few chapters outline the main problems with diversity that business deal with. While the rest of the book goes deeper in to the issues and ways to overcome or avoid the problems to create a truly diverse institute. The author gives background into the Noah’s Ark theory as well as the “grandma” effect. She also talks about the dynamics of dominate and non-dominate groups in the work place as she relates them to the Elephant and Mouse theory.

According to Ozbilgin (2008), diversity is one of the top global issues and requires management attention. There are both benefits and challenges in managing diversity. However, Golnaz and Hoa (2002) stated that most organizations agree that diversity is a reality and while managing the same, it can be either an asset or a hindrance towards goals (Gleason 2004). Diversity helps the organization become proactive and flexible to new aspects and scenarios (Pwc 2011). To manage a successful diverse workforce, organisations need to promote self-awareness, openness, clear-headedness, adaptability, candour and egalitarianism. This can be a challenging task due to complex human behaviour and biases (Parkin 2009).

Diversity is what makes people different, not just culturally but in human differences. Having a multitude of differences in the workforce gives an organization the ability to use many ideas to reach a common goal. A person could say that a diverse group of people together in one room can accomplish greater achievements than a room filled with the same types of individuals. Managers understand the concept of diversity, and how important diversity is to the success of a company’s ability to implement programs that continue to develop a harmonious and diverse workplace. The recognition that diversity is a reality in the workforce has generated an enormous amount of activity over the years among leaders in business, government, and civil

Diversity today is seen not only as the aftermath of the globalization process but also as the driving force of progress and an integral part of success of modern organizations. Ethnic, racial, gender, and religious diversity makes each one of us a unique citizen of this globalized world. An organization that brings together employees with such different backgrounds, benefits from the vibrancy of thoughts and varied viewpoints, brought to the company by multiple cultures and unique experiences of its employees. Distinctive capabilities of such workers and their individual skill sets and talents allow them to come up with creative solutions, new ideas and proposals, which increase efficiency of a team. While working together employees of such

Over the decades, diversity in the workplace has started to become a business necessity. But what does diversity actually mean? In broad terms, diversity encompasses a group of people with different biological characteristics such as age, race, gender, ethnicity disability and so on. However, the true definition of diversity in the workplace is about ensuring that every single person that goes to work everyday have the freedom to bring along their full self to work and it is not just about welcoming but it is about embracing and harnessing the diversity of thought, the diversity of background, the diversity of experience, the diversity in education, and not just the traditional aspects in diversity. Even so, one of the major challenges that

Managing diversity within a company is an important task that can have a major effect on a business. Diversity is measured in different aspects such as supplier diversity, affinity group diversity, employee diversity and technology diversity. The most common area of weakness in diversity with companies is employee diversity. This area of weakness has been a steady controversy for many large and small companies. Not every company struggles with diversity issues, in fact some companies exceed in being a diverse business. Not only does diversity factors like innovation, enhanced creativity, and cost savings benefit a company but it also puts them in favor with the public eye. Past controversies have shown that diversity can play a key factor in

Workforce Diversity defines the visible or invisible differences among employees of an organization and could be divided in to three major components such as Primary, Secondary and Organizational and Community. Factors such as Age, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Ethnicity represents Primary while Appearance, Educational Background, Marital Status, Work experience represents Secondary and Job position, Specialization, Nationality, Life stage represents Organizational and Community. In recent years, organizations spend more in diversity management as most of the organizations consist with employees from different backgrounds. Further, diversity in an organization is a significant factor that may affect the performance of an organization positively or negatively. For example, it can create innovation, empowerment, information sharing, and productivity when well managed and can cause discrimination, power play, miscommunication and control when managed poorly.

In order to investigate that what will it take for organizations to reap the real and full benefits of a diverse workforce, a research effort taken by the article author’s team. In order to understand three management challenges for Diversity, it conducted its research over a period of six years. The challenges undertaken were:

Diversity comes in many forms, the most common being a difference in gender. There are many benefits a business can gain from having a gender diverse group of employees. Valuing diversity in the work place is so important and “among others, this requires focus on changing employees' attitudes and eliminating behaviors that reflect more subtle forms of discrimination and exclusion.” (Bhattacharyya, 2015). Gender equality isn’t always so easy in the workplace depending on the job title but companies should embrace the diversity that they have. Being a woman in a male dominated work place or being a man in a female dominated work place, makes no difference when they both have something valuable to teach to the opposite gender. Gender diversity can be used for growth and organized responsibilities. At a local aftermarket truck and jeep accessories company; Auto

Management must promote the contribution of each diverse perspective as well as to recognize and appreciate wide-ranging cultural differences. Another reason organizations are embracing is the fact that the diversity in their employees has a direct impact on the diversity of their consumers and customer base. However, there are also issues managers must contend with such as a lack of cohesiveness, interpersonal conflicts, difficulties in decision making and communication, and lastly resistant to change (Nelson, 2013, p. 53). Finally, managing and placing value on diversity in the workplace is not as much changing in company policy as it is changing mindsets and attitudes. Diversity should be a corporate value, a top priorityfor managers, and a vital objective for any organization along with becoming a foundation to the organizations strategic blueprint. Diversity does have its advantages; the benefits of diversity include attracting and retaining the best employees, as well as improved marketing efforts, superior problem solving, and enhanced flexibility within the organization along with the obvious creativity and innovation diversity brings (Nelson, 2013, p.

why should companies concern themselves with diversity? Until recently, many managers answered this question with the assertion that discrimination is wrong, both legally and morally. But today managers are voicing a second notion as well. A more diverse workforce, they say, will increase organizational effectiveness. It will lift morale, bring greater access to new segments of the marketplace, and enhance productivity. In short, they claim, diversity will be good for business.

The first thing to acknowledge about diversity is that it can be difficult. In the U.S., where the dialogue of inclusion is relatively advanced, even the mention of the word “diversity” can lead to anxiety and conflict. Supreme Court justices disagree on the virtues of diversity and the means for achieving it. Corporations spend billions of dollars to attract and manage diversity both internally and externally, yet they still face discrimination lawsuits, and the leadership ranks of the business world remain predominantly white and male.

Managing diversity within organisation is about ‘recognising this range of differences in people and valuing people as individuals, respecting their differences and their differing needs. It is also about accommodating differences wherever possible so that an individual can play a full part in the working environment’ (Daniels and Macdonald, 2005)