Strategic Human Resource Management : A Deeper Understanding Of The Dominant And Minority Cultures Essay

Workforce diversity has enabled organisation to gain competitive advantage in terms of improving service, effective organisational culture and employee satisfaction (Bradetitch, Rahman, Reynolds, 2013). However, the success rate of diversity training is dependent on the level of engagement and commitment of the management and the employees as the nature of the global economy have reversed the homogenous society to become the heterogeneous trend (Willard, 2003, Mor-Barak, 2005).

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

Susan Jackson states in Diversity in the Workplace: Human Resource Initiatives that, “Surveys of business leaders confirm the perception that interest in managing diversity successfully is widespread. In a study of 645 firms, 74% of the respondents were concerned about diversity, and of these about one-third felt that diversity effected corporate strategy.” This means that the majority of organizations feel diversity is important, and see the need to take action, however; implementing the process can be more difficult. This paper will outline a human resources

The article presents information on the management of diversity programs that are applied by companies. The article utilized benchmarking assessment to analyze the programs of diversity management. The importance of accommodating various groups in the workforce proves to offer benefits. The practice of managing diversity as revealed by the article, indicates that the training programs on diversity, employing mentoring and networking, together with cultural awareness is critical for the success of an organization. Similarly, the article offers an extensive data, whereby organizations are able to thrive by embracing a diverse workforce. The investigation carried out by the author, reveals that cultivating diversity propels the success of an organization.

Workforce diversity is not a transient phenomenon; it is today's reality, and it is here to stay (Barak, 2013). A successful entity must provided a tool for cultures integration for its employees. Therefore Diversity training is important part of successful management. The most important components of an effective training diversity training are support of the organization. Training can be put out, but the company management level must also endorsed the training. The critical information that must be included in the training is respect of other differences. The attitude of the trainer can directly impact the attitude of the trainees on receptive of the information put out. If the trainees understand

The US is one of the most culturally heterogeneous populations in the world with a current workforce of 36% individuals from different ethnic groups such as American Indian, Arab American, Asian American, Afro American and Latino American. In my opinion, globalization has greatly affected the world not only social, economical, but also human interactions. The constant change promotes diversity within companies where the importance of diversity management is extremely essential to progress. I also believe that it is not possible to have too much diversity in the workplace due to the advantages that group diversity promotes within a company’s organizational culture (Carr-Ruffino, Daniels, Radebaugh, & Sullivan, 2013).

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, the racial and ethnic makeup of the U.S. workforce in 2020 is expected to be 79% white, 12% African-American, 6% Asian, and 3% other minorities (Noe, 2014, p. 32). The increasing cultural diversity in the workplace has a lot of effects on U.S. organizations, especially on HRM practices. For this reason, managers and supervisors in companies have to adapt diversity policies as well as diversity strategies in order to manage and operate their companies effectively. In order to let American people have a broader understanding of workforce diversity, the following paragraphs will define cultural diversity in the workplace, discuss the benefits and challenges of managing diverse workplaces, and best practices

This paper describes the various aspects of a culturally diverse workplace including the benefits, detriments, and acceptance strategies. The University of Massachusetts, Boston and IBM are examples of organizations understanding the benefits of multicultural groups and taking the initiative to develop innovative strategies to recruit and retain diverse members. Besides noticeable differences, leaders must contend with unobservable differences. Hofstede identified cultural differences after researching components of IBM and as a result, developed the Dimensions of Cultural Distances. Leaders who understand the social differences will have a better opportunity to communicate with their employees without offending personnel. Regrettably, countries and regions such as Latin America and Saudi Arabia underutilize women in the workforce, which weakens the diversity in the working environment. Fighting to change political policies is one opportunity leaders can take to make a positive difference in global diversity while respecting their personal values.

Diversity benefits an organization in increased profitability and higher production. So, diversity management plays a vital role in attracting and retaining an organization’s diversified talent. Different ideas, experiences and cultures combine and improve the

Cox, T. H., & Blake, S. (1991). Managing cultural diversity: implications for organizational competitiveness. Academy of Management Executive, 5(2), 45-46.

From our research, we identified three different perspectives on workforce diversity that people embrace, each with different implications for a work group’s ability to realize the benefits of its cultural diversity. We use these observations here to examine critically some of the themes and basic assumptions of previous research and to propose new directions for both researchers and practitioners interested in diversity (Ely &Thomas, 2001). When organizations have a diverse economy, it makes the company strong. Once our nation has embrace the changes from the demographics that reap the economic benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce. Burns et al. (2012) stated in their investigation that:

The article authored by Cox, bearing the recent trends in business globally, together with gender and ethnic diversity, which is on the rise, and forcing the managers to the value of cultural differences. The article provides the essence of an organization to enhance the effectiveness of an organization by valuing diversity. Similarly, the article presents research data and arguments on the manner in which the management of diversity is able to generate competitive advantage. In addition, the article presents organizational flexibility and problem solving skills that

In order to benefit from the multicultural environment, it is important to effectively manage the diversity of existing staff. Magdaleno and Kleiner predicted that effective management of workforce diversity "will become the major determinate of the continued survival and success...". (1996) A strong organizational culture can be a priceless intangible asset for any company that plans to grow. A "strong culture" must include artifacts such as rituals and organizational stories to illustrate particular cultural traits. (Lee & Yu, 2004) The research by Denison (1984) has revealed that there is direct correlation between 1)organization of work, 2)decision making and financial performance. Various techniques and strategies, such as recruitment, training, managing "culture shock" and using predictors such as personality traits for international assignments can be used in aligning diversity management with requirements. (Gabel et al., 2005; Migliore, 2011; Uwaje, 2009; Harvey, 2012; Tipper, 2004)

As a result, companies, that utilize the competencies of diverse individuals, are able to drastically outperform their peers. A study prepared by McKinsey also discovered that companies “with more diverse workforces perform better financially (as cited in Hunt, Layton & Prince, 2015).” The report stated that ethnically diverse companies are 35 percent more likely to financially outperform their competitors who are in the bottom quartile for diversity (Hunt, Layton & Prince, 2015). The financial returns that the companies in the top quartile receive are a product of their ability to implement diversity in their corporate culture. These extremely successful companies “are better able to win top talent and improve their customer orientation, employee satisfaction, and decision making” due to their understanding of the importance of employing multicultural individuals. As a result, employers should hire a diverse workforce, as it is proven to increase their financial performance. This greatly impacts employers, as they will have the opportunity to invest that additional capital back into their business. In order to achieve results such as these, human resource management will be accountable for recruiting, training and expanding the talent pool of the most competent and diverse individuals (Dessler, Chhinzer & Cole, 64). The human resource department must also be able to manage the talent of their employees

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.