Literature Review Job Design and Workforce Diversity Improve Performance

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 World is a diverse place; changing demographics, globalization and generational gaps. Diversity is the mix of people who make your organization. The workforce, including leadership should represent and look like the community in which business is conducted. Work place diversity is the key to survival and growth and is an essential business tool. Diversity promotes inclusion within and across business units and help all employees understand and respect individual differences and the value of everyone’s unique talents. Different types of people bring different talents and competencies to the table. Inclusion allows people to be themselves at work and letting them know they are valued regardless of their age, gender,

“Maximizing and capitalizing on workplace diversity has become an important issue for management today.” [ (Kelli A. Green, 2002) ]

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 in the organization can affect the employees and their behavior in many ways. The effect can be positive and negative in the same time. The positive effect is, it will wider employee knowledge, skills, and attitude which will allow the organization to become more competitive globally. Higher diversity of employees mean higher diversity of knowledge, skills and abilities. Sharing experience inspires innovative thinking (Claudia Quaiser-Pohls, 2013, p. 41). Today in the modern workplace, most organizations will have

“Diversity may be the hardest thing for a society to live with and perhaps the most dangerous thing for a society to be without” _William Sloane Coffin Jr_ Over the last decade there has been massive rise in level of workplace diversity within all the organizations. As a result of it majority companies achieved higher performance and according to all the researchers, it shows heterogeneous groups are more inventive than homogenous groups. It is not only about those heterogeneous people bring various type of figures their different type of thinking benefit organizations to bring out their best outcomes throughout the process

It is very important for leaders and managers to embrace a diverse workforce. Because diversity could possibly add influence to the market share, and could widen the talent in the recruitment process for the organization. In addition, the organizations could benefit from the various perspectives and experiences; for example, different races, gender, and age groups within the workforce. However, a diverse workforce might also be challenging; for instance, leaders and managers may spend too much time in promoting

The workforce in America today is enhanced with a significant mix of genders, race, religion, age and other background factors. For a business to be successful long term demands for a diverse range of talent that can bring perspective, fresh ideas and opinions to their work. The challenge of diversity is allowing managers to make the most out of different cultural backgrounds, lifestyles, plus different genders and ages to answer to different business opportunities more creatively and promptly. Diversity has changed in a way that the issue is no longer just male or female and black and white. It is greatly complex now. It is many things but it is greatly about the way we connect, emphasize and interact with different individuals. The advantages

Diversity and demographics at your job determine how the business will run. The main purpose of this paper is to

The concept of diversity has broadened in scope in the recent past, evolving from the concept of mandated quotas and affirmative action, to the reality of a diverse workforce being capable of providing quantifiable business value. A variety of external factors have influenced the conceptual evolution of diversity within the workplace. For example, globalization of markets has provided the concept of diversity with an opportunity to demonstrate a clear competitive advantage. A native understanding of the cultural values, norms and business practices of a foreign market can give an organization a clear advantage over their competition. Another area where diversity offers advantages is in the

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

According to the University of Oregon (1999), diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. Diversity is needed in all businesses and organizations. The reason diversity is needed is because different perspectives are needed to look at all the issues in an organization. Diversity gives a fresh look at problem solving and this is where creativity happens. In order for diversity to thrive it needs an atmosphere of acceptance and respect. This paper will look at four definitions of diversity and its audiences from: Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), University of Edinburgh, Havering London Borough Government, and Wal-Mart. This paper will also describe the author of this paper’s view on diversity and compare and contrast this definition

It is essential to employ a heterogeneity in the workplace because a diverse population comes from different backgrounds, experiences, knowledge and understanding that would improve better conflict resolution and implementation of new ideas. There is a growing amount of evidence in the literature that indicates that maintaining a diverse workforce can contribute to a less workforce turnaround and increase productivity. Moreover, an organization with a diverse workforce responds better to

In a world that has grown increasingly smaller due to mass media, world travel, and readily available information, the workplace has grown increasingly diverse in both gender and cultural aspects. Individuals no longer live and work within the confines of their geographic locations. At almost any position with any company the individual employee is a part of a larger world economy that harvests assets from the ends of the earth. Because of this, companies seek to capitalize on diversity to become more creative and flexible in their business models.

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