Diversity Management Strategies

As we enter the new millenium, diversity in the workforce is rapidly increasing. Businesses and organizations are living up to the great melting pot image the United States has always been popular for. Employees now reflect a diversity of cultural perspectives, ethnic backgrounds, ages, genders, physical abilities, and levels of education. This wave of multiculturalism is here to stay and cannot be ignored. It is in need of attention in order to uphold the well-being and success of businesses and organizations all over the country.

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.

it is necessary for management to understand the different needs of different people, to align the organizational goals with the employee’s goal, to achieve productive and improved outcome. To know and understand the different background of the employees is vital as it helps managers to determine the need of employees belonging to different cultures. And, it is observed that one group of culture prefer intrinsic awards and another group of culture prefer extrinsic award. HR has promoted the diversity at British Airways and through its management techniques, high commitment resulted (Upchurch, 2010, p.2). By promoting diversity, employees will understand their employers and can make environment, a comfortable working environment.

1). List and explain one concept from each chapter reviewed and how they connect to the facts of this case.

Did the Age of Jim Crow ever end? Americans see “race” as a defined, indubitable feature of nature. Racism- the act of ascribing bone deep features to people to then humiliate, reduce, and destroy them- inevitably follows from this inalterable condition. White supremacist ideals, for instance, espouse unfounded ideas that revere the white man and scorn those of color, while also serving as a nonsensical justification for practices such as slavery, racial segregation, and Jim Crow. In “The Trouble with Diversity”, Walter Benn Michaels dismisses the concept and veracity behind race, as if it weren’t a societal issue worth addressing. To ignore the reality of race would be the equivalent of ignoring the plight and shared experiences of minority groups. “The Trouble with Diversity” insinuates that “diversity” is incompatible with the society we live in; this does not mean that people of color should have to encounter racial prejudices, whether in subtle or discernible ways.

Diversity is defined as the state or fact of being different or unalike. If that’s the case my interviewee and I could not be any more diverse, we differ in more than three dimensions. He is a 21 year old gay Caucasian male and I am 20 year old straight female Hispanic; his social class is upper-middle class and I am lower middle class. My interviewee’s race is a mixture of Ireland, Scotland, and Dutch, but he was raised in the DFW area going to a Baptist church. I on the other hand, am Mexican and grew up attending a Catholic church. We are alike in the sense that although we were raised going to a specific type of church, we have now steered to still believe in God but not with everything the religion/church itself says.

Does our common reader assigned to the class this semester adhere to the accustomed material when it comes to examining cultural diversity in the class? My conclusion is that our common reader The Trouble with Diversity by Walter Benn Michaels touches upon the social, socio-economic, health, and educational aspect of diversity. Observing how an individual’s status and race makes an impact on how they do in society as well as how they’re treated.

For many years, Americans have held certain opinions concerning gender, sex, women, and sexual orientation. A definition of both gender and sex will be provided. The roles of women throughout American history will be discussed. When people think about masculinity and femininity, they have certain preconceived ideas. How these ideas contribute to the understanding gender, sex, and sexual orientation will be examined. Finally, the status of GLBT individuals will be explored. An increased understanding will be gained concerning these issues.

In an ever-changing society, it is necessary for Dexter R-XI Schools to prepare its students to live and learn in a diverse world. This plan will serve as a model to provide a positive learning and working environment for all students and employees. Schools will be expected to develop, implement, and monitor procedures which provide meaningful multicultural and diversified educational opportunities for all students.

The purpose of this strategic diversity plan is to ensure Lamar County School District is abiding by its mission to provide a quality education with opportunities for all students to experience success. Recognizing a deficiency in our district, such as a lack of addressing learning obstacles for Hispanic/Latino students, is important to address so all students are successful attaining an quality education. Reaffirming the district’s core values of equality, mutual respect, lifelong learning, honesty, and responsibility will enable the district to relay these values to all of our students, including this group, to provide knowledge in this continuously diverse

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)

Organizations have been becoming increasingly diverse in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality. This diversity brings substantial potential benefits such as better decision making, greater creativity and innovation, and more successful marketing to different types of customers. But, increasing cultural differences within a workforce also bring potential costs in higher turnovers, interpersonal conflicts, and communicational breakdowns. The utilities of diversity training and the essential managerial skills required for effectively managing diversity will also be discussed.

By the year 2050, nonwhites will represent close to half of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau projections. By 2005, the ethnic minority share of the workforce is expected to grow to 28 percent, up from 18 percent in 1980 and 22 percent in 1990. Although the African American population is now the largest minority group, the Hispanic and Asian populations are growing much faster. In 1994, the African American population was estimated to be 33 million, or 12.7 percent of the total population, up from 11.7 percent in 1980.

In response to the growing diversity in the workforce around the world, many companies have instituted specific policies and programs to enhance recruitment, inclusion, promotion, and retention of employees who are different from the privileged echelons of society. The privileged groups may vary from one country to the next. The workforce of the world is a dynamic environment, and in order for this dynamism to be put to use for the benefit of organizations, they must develop an effective strategy for managing diversity. Global Diversity Management refers to the voluntary organizational actions that are designed to create greater inclusion of employees from various backgrounds into the formal and informal organizational

In olden days, the managers considered culturally diverse workforce as a dangerous aspect of the organization, because at that time they could not properly manage the diverse workforce. But still now if the diverse employees are not effectively managed, they would provide serious disadvantages to the organization.