Organizational Diversity At 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 artifact allowed me to gain knowledge in the approaches of diversity leadership issues. Thomas (1995) offers eight basic leadership responses as an approach to diversity. The foster mutual adaption response approach, “…unequivocally endorses diversity” (Thomas, 1995, p. 251). Thomas (1995) states that under this approach, “…the parties involved accept and understand differences and diversity, recognizing full well that those realities may call for adaption on the part of all components of the whole” (p. 251). Thomas (1995) purposes a diversity framework be used to as a, “… point of departure for evolving a framework to guide managers in making decisions regarding diversity mixtures of all kinds” (p. 252). The framework processes revolve around three objectives for leadership as recognize diversity mixtures present, decide whether a response is required, and select an appropriate response or blended response (Thomas,

The United States is a diverse nation with citizens originating from every other nation on Earth. Despite this diversity, Americans have only recently begun to identify diversity as a integral part of the workplace; and put into practice programs to diversify, and therefore, maximize efficiency and production. However, simply diversifying the workplace, or any other place for that matter, will not automatically increase the efficiency of workers. It requires a diversity-conscious leader who has been trained and experienced in such matters to make diversity an asset in the workplace.

The article, “Challenges of Leading a Diverse Workforce,” by Janice R.W. Joplin and Catherine Daus, discusses research that suggests six challenging factors when promoting diversity in an organization, along with proposed solutions to those challenges. The six challenges include, the Change of Power Dynamics, Diversity of Opinions, Perceived Lack of Empathy, Tokenism, real and perceived, Participation, and Inertia (Joplin, Daus 1997). The challenges and solutions are discussed in relation to a continuum that consists of stages of intolerance, tolerance, and appreciation for diversity in the workplace. Each challenge is met with a solution involving required skills and attributes of a leader.

While there were many quotes from The Prince that I thought about using, this is the one that stuck with me the most. “And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things, because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new” (Machiavelli 1532, Pg.42). The reason this quote stuck with me so much is because it can be applied in two scenarios, the first being when you are a newcomer to something and second is having to come in and take over, no matter what that may be and it may require some changes.

In a survey, 24 executives were asked way advancing diversity in their organizations was so important to them. The majority believe “it was a business imperative because their companies needed it to stay competitive, and they believed it was a moral imperative because of their companies needed of their personal experiences and values” (Broysberg & Connolly, 2013). Steve Reinemund was the first senior leader at PepsiCo to focus on diversity and inclusion from a perspective of changing the entire culture of PepsiCo. Under Reinemund’s leadership there led to a 38.8% increase of employees that felt the culture of PepsiCo was more inclusive from the impact of inclusion training. There is a great demand for individuals who know how to design and

Diversity in the Workplace Amber Barger ORG536 – Contemporary Business Writing and Communication Colorado State University –Global Campus Dr. Phillip Jackson November 26, 2013

Diversity-Leaders need to know that they have to build accountability into their systems with regard to their managers taking responsibility for creating a diverse and inclusive work environment. Diversity initiatives can have important and interesting social justice benefits, but the real reason leaders pursue diversity programs is for innovation. Hilton Worldwide has any hotels and resorts across the globe with many background and variety of culture, and also has many guest travelling of same diversity. According to Thomas and Turner (2016) diversity should also be one of the lenses through which managers look at

One major problem in the organization is the issue of appreciating diversity within the workplace. Most employees and some management personnel see this as a threat and therefore there cannot be efficient teamwork cohesion in doing projects. This may be due to the fact that they have reinforcing homogeneity perspectives or color-blind perspectives (Prasad, 1997). Leaders should try to make changes to this major issue since it affects operations where diversity is required to achieve strategic goals. The organization should plan to change the mentality of those rejecting diversity, to embrace Fairness perspective, access perspective, integration and learning perspectives which will ensure a unison move to prosperity of the organization (Clements & Jones, 2008). The organization’s vision requires diversity in place since diversity offers:

An important element that was presented in the Top Ten Economic Facts of Diversity in the workplace is that diversity down the line would provide a better result for a company in the long term and short term. Diversity might be seen as something a company can address whenever it likes, but through social trends it shows a company should change before they are even more behind the trend. The benefits are great for the personnel and the company. The company receives economic growth, more qualified workforce, added competitiveness and a greater share of the market. The benefits of a diverse workforce for the employees is that the workforce is not homogenous, a diverse workforce fosters creativity, employees would not turnover to another company,

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)

Diversity can include race, gender, culture, religion, age, physical disabilities, height, education level, income level, geographical location, technical abilities, socioeconomic background, personality characteristics, and values (Verma, 2015). With such a vast array of possible differences among the employees within an organization, it is important that there is care put into ensuring equal treatment for all. The employees in leadership roles must have the skillset necessary to build on the skills of their subordinates. Leadership must be able to focus more on the strengths employees possess and utilize those for growth opportunities for the company. There are many positive opportunities that can come from diversity, unfortunately it can also be the cause of many

Well-managed diversity programs can benefit an organization in terms of the business case for diversity and the stakeholders in terms of the involvement of employees, suppliers and community. John Robinson lists five requirements for effective diversity leadership: making diversity visible, being specific about what needs to be done, evaluating for results, providing constant reinforcement, and making change international. This requires commitment from top management, and the necessary resources to make diversity an advantage. Diversity leadership requires at least two main components at its directive level. The first is that the CEO must champion diversity, and have a diverse board of directors, and second, to appoint a chief diversity officer, to oversee, coordinate and manage an organization’s diversity initiative.

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.

First, understanding the meaning of diversity will be helpful before getting into the reasons of its importance in today’s organizational behavior. According to Williams (2013), “Diversity is a variety of demographic, cultural, and personal differences among an organization’s employees and customers.” (p. 487). Examining current trends, diversity is strategically utilized by organizations to take advantage of its benefits through acceptance while promoting its positive impact. It is known to the leaders and hiring managers that understanding diversity creates paths leading to success such as