Managing Diversity Programs Through Communications Abstract "Organizations must look at diversity now as a critical factor in their future success, not just a social imperative… A diverse workforce is now an important competitive advantage." (Jose De Anda, assistant human resources director for the Southern California Region of Kaiser Permanente) Every ten years this great country of ours conducts the collecting of the U.S. Census. While still in progress at the beginning of this decade, we need only to look at the results of the 1990 census to begin to understand why diversity programs became so important in the nineties. This last census yielded important data, "Almost one in every four Americans in 1990 was of Asian, …show more content…
This paper will discuss the methods used by managers and groups in the work environment to ensure effective communication with a diverse labor force. We will discuss the barriers they are faced with and compare methods used by companies who have successfully and unsuccessfully implemented diversity programs. Communications With Managers When introducing a new concept, such as Diversity in the organization, there is always resistance, inertia, and limited focus of change among the different groups and functions. These are normal and can only be addressed through communication in various forms. A few of these forms are education, meetings, and one-on-one coaching sessions. What psychologists have found is that employees go through similar emotional phases as those who are grieving whenever there is an organizational change. These phases are denial, bargaining, anger, and acceptance. Effective communication makes the first three phases shorter. A good communications model is the Johari Window (Joe Ludz , Harry ). When first introducing Diversity Programs, executives had to look at what they knew about their organizations and managers, they had to look at what they might not be admitting to themselves but might be relaying unconsciously by tone or gesture to the managers, what their outward appearance was and has been in the past, and most importantly they needed to look at the unknown area where they knew that there
As Shen, Chanda, Netto, & Monga (2009) point out, "workforce diversity acknowledges the reality that people differ in many ways, visible or invisible, mainly age, gender, marital status, social status, disability, sexual orientation, religion, personality, ethnicity, and culture," (p. 235.). These differences will vary from place to place, and from organization to organization. Therefore, the human resources management must respond to the situational variables, not making generalizations about the needs of the organization to promote diversity and the strategies that can be implemented. The human resources manager risks wasting valuable resources on procedures, policies, and programs that are not fruitful in promoting genuine employee integration without understanding the specific variables impacting the organization at the moment. As the organization has already seen, hiring a diverse workforce is an insufficient action. Having an organizational culture that supports and promotes total team integration is a process requiring the support from every level of management. Management needs to play an active role in ensuring that diversity is represented in senior positions, if it hopes to see a productive and diverse workforce of subordinate personnel.
Since public and private organization uses managing diversity concept ,this chapter addresses how managing diversity concepts is use several ways such as organizational and management level, group performance, group dynamics, group perspectives, and individual identity.
When organizations actively evaluate their handling of workplace diversity issues, develop and implement diversity plans, several benefits are reported. For example, increased adaptability, variety of viewpoints, and a diverse collection of skills and experiences that allows a company to provide service to customers on a global basis. For this reason, organizations need diversity to become more proactive and welcomed within an organization and its employees.
Today’s organizations are being forced to embrace the relevancy of diversity in the growth of global positioning. The management of diversity has become time-sensitive in organizations and cannot focus on productivity alone. The treatment of employees and the business model of the organization will need to be the spotlight. “A broad definition of diversity ranges from personality and work style to all of the visible dimensions such as race, age, ethnicity or gender, to secondary influences such as religion, socioeconomics and education, to work diversities such as management and union, functional level and classification or proximity/distance to headquarters” (Human Resources, 2011). Promoting diversity in the workplace is beneficial for everyone involved in the process. This promotion is especially true when employees have sentiments of extrication. Ways that I would promote an active diversity strategy would include creating a diversity initiative, increasing community involvement, changing hiring practices, and using technology.
Managing diversity is an important add-on to the management skills they already have. Managing diversity is simply acknowledging differences in people. It involves recognizing the value of differences, combating discrimination, and promoting inclusiveness. I may also be challenged with losses in personal and work productivity due to prejudice and discrimination, as well as complaints and legal actions against the organization. Communication diversity is that as employees from different cultures and backgrounds communicate in slightly different ways. This can lead to confusion and frustration, as if the signals result is missed in miscommunication, and the productivity is going to be lost. Miscommunication can also enforce existing stereotypes about minorities, further exacerbating tensions, and in the worst cases leaving the company vulnerable to
The importance of diversity in the workplace cannot be denied. With the population of the United States becoming increasingly diverse, it is important to be able to respond to and mirror such diversity. By employing a diverse workforce, employers are certain to tap into knowledge and insights that they would otherwise forego.
Diversity Awareness should be important to all business organizations and business owners. Diversity in the workforce is extremely important because each individual is bringing a different perspective to the table and allowing an increase in productivity. Diversity in business is needed to have long term success and growth. In the 21st century, time has been changing and leaders/ owners need diversity to encourage new ideas and the continuity of their work. In certain company’s the idea of diversity can serve as the foundation of trust and respect between employee and employer. If the employee feels secure at his place of work, he is willing to further their career within the company. Diversity Awareness can be important outside of the organization
Workplaces today are become increasingly diverse with employees of different genders, races, cultures, ethnic origins, and lifestyles. There have been so many changes in the cultural make-up of organizations that it has become imperative for leaders and supervisors to understand cultural diversity and how it can affect their organization. By understanding how this diversity can affect their organization, leaders are taking steps to assure a conflict-free environment and promoting positive outcomes for the business, as well as its employees. “Diversity today is being viewed as a key means to
Successful management of a diverse workforce poses many challenges in the confusing aspects of diversity that exist in today’s workplace. Equal employment opportunity is an attempt to pay retribution for past errors and many say it was a good beginning but more is needed. We commonly read and hear the increasingly popular term diversity training. The new catchphrase to be found gaining popularity in the workforce is inclusion. With all these confusing concepts, just how can management develop a successful strategy to manage a diverse workforce?
Accepting diversity in new or establish company can have its advantages and disadvantages. There are challenges to achieving diversity, from the difficulties of defining the term to the individual, interpersonal, and organizational challenges involved in implementing diversity practices. Achieving diversity is a great value, due to the rapidly increasing amount of diversity in varying countries and companies. Once the definition of diversity has
A diverse workforce is required to be successful in today’s business market. People want to be a part of an organization which embraces diversity at all levels and tiers of a company not just at the entry or middle management. One of the ways to retain a diverse workforce is to ensure people can see that diversity at every level not just in the new location where they were just hired. Seeing this will allow a future vision of upward mobility unhindered by barriers commonly
“Diversity gives us areas of commonality through which we can connect with others, as well as, aspects of difference from which we can learn” (Gardenswartz & Rowe, 2010, p. 24). These differences directly impact the workplace environment and for this reason this topic should be a matter of concern for managers in every organization. If management understand the differences between the employees and is aware of the factors that influence them, it will be easier to value and respect individualities and practice inclusive and effective communication within the organization.
In today’s global marketplace, managers are told that diversity should be valued in order to achieve the
(Canas, 2014) But meaningful change is nearly impossible to achieve without employees buying into the new system. Mitchell Holt identified three common challenges to effective implementation of diversity initiatives: resistance, poor communication, and disorganization. (Holt) Interestingly enough, communication problems not only come about due to lack of clarity from management, it is also a side effect of a diverse workforce as well. Perceptual, cultural, and language barriers need to be overcome in order to effectively communicate to diverse groups. (Greenberg, 2004)
People with demographic differences working in the same organization make a diverse workforce. Perceptions affect people’s relations in how they communicate and interact with one another. Human resource professionals must be effective when dealing with organizational issues relating to diversity in order for those organizations to be successful. Assessing any needs that arise