The Australian Workplace Is A Evolving Environment

Managing Diversity is often defined as a “management philosophy of recognising and valuing heterogeneity in organisations with a view to improve organisational performance” (Ozbilgin and Tatli, 2011). Hence recognising the wide variety of qualities possessed by people within an organisation and creating an environment that understands, values and utilises the differences within people. Due to the rapidly growing trends of a more diverse workforce, diverse market and globalisations of businesses, managing diversity is essential for business success through maximisation of utilization of a firm’s most important resources, its employees. This reflects two broad areas of investigation within managing diversity, one includes studies of the instrumental ways that diversity contributes to organisational performance; the other considers ethical and responsible ways that diversity at work can be managed. The Moral case has often been expressed in terms of Equal Opportunities, which has found manifestation in various pieces of legislation; the business case, instead, is often referred to in terms of managing diversity. However, it is hard to fully separate managing diversity in the workplace from the provision of equal employment opportunities, as legislation shapes the way in which diversity is managed found manifestation in various pieces of legislation; the business case, instead, is often referred to in terms of managing diversity.

The Australian Multicultural Foundation (AMF) has published a training program resource manual in 2010 produced by Robert Bean Consulting about Managing Cultural Diversity. The training program highlights the evolution of diversity training in Australia and comprehensive sections of managing diversity in the workplace, developing an organisational and personal competence and providing cultural diversity training workshops. The training manual explains the term ‘diversity’ as “the significant difference between people, including perceptions of differences, that need to be considered in particular situations and circumstances” (AMF, 2010, p.8). It also states that “the most significant differences are the least obvious” including thinking styles or beliefs and values while the most apparent and multiple dimensions of diversity such as gender, culture, religion, family status, age ethnicity, sexual orientation, education, language and work experience were suggested

Diversity in the workplace has always been an interesting topic to explore. When studying the topic, one is able to see how minorities and women do not get the same job opportunities at career growth as non-minorities. The lack of diversity in the workplace can definitely keep a company from reaching its full potential. Our guest speaker Patrick McKay explored different topics dealing with diversity in the workplace that shed light on why trying to diversify the workplace occasionally fails. McKay also mentioned how it is important to be mindful of the location you choose to live when beginning your career. In the article Doing Diversity Right, Derek R. Avery and Patrick F. McKay explain how “managing diversity” in the workplace is vital in today’s workplace. Over the years there has been a greater emphasis put on insuring diversity within the workplace. McKay and Avery explain the importance of creating a diverse environment in which companies promote. It is not enough to solely recruit minorities or women but also the environment of the workplace must allow the individuals to thrive. In the article Warning! Diversity recruitment could Backfire, Patrick McKay and Derek Avery explain how companies should implement diversity into their company programs. Having a company culture that embraces diversity is the key to successfully diversifying a company.

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 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

This research paper addresses the importance of diversity training in the workplace. Having realized how pertinent workplace discrimination is globally, this paper will give a broad look into the various ways that diversity is displayed in the workplace. The diversity issues involving gender, sexuality, race, age, culture and religion will be explored,

In order to investigate that what will it take for organizations to reap the real and full benefits of a diverse workforce, a research effort taken by the article author’s team. In order to understand three management challenges for Diversity, it conducted its research over a period of six years. The challenges undertaken were:

Diversity is what makes people different, not just culturally but in human differences. Having a multitude of differences in the workforce gives an organization the ability to use many ideas to reach a common goal. A person could say that a diverse group of people together in one room can accomplish greater achievements than a room filled with the same types of individuals. Managers understand the concept of diversity, and how important diversity is to the success of a company’s ability to implement programs that continue to develop a harmonious and diverse workplace. The recognition that diversity is a reality in the workforce has generated an enormous amount of activity over the years among leaders in business, government, and civil

The term “diversity” usually refers to individual characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, culture, age but as time has advanced, it is now also known to defer between those of sexual orientation and physical or mental abilities. Through time, not only the notion of diversity has become more broad but it has also been more focused on. Due to its ability to provide benefits such as improved morale, contrasting perceptions and strategies, enhanced teamwork and mutual understanding within the organisation, workforce diversity management has evolved to become an increasingly significant unit of human resource management in organisations. However, through each advantage there are challenges which may range from legal, moral to ethical.

Managing diversity within organisation is about ‘recognising this range of differences in people and valuing people as individuals, respecting their differences and their differing needs. It is also about accommodating differences wherever possible so that an individual can play a full part in the working environment’ (Daniels and Macdonald, 2005)

The purpose of this paper is designed to introduce, educate, and promote diversity within your company. Your company will be shown the merits of diversity and how diversity within your organization can be a benefit. This paper will be broken down into three main areas: Benefits of Diversity, Challenges of Diversity, and Recommendations for an effective diversity within your organization..

Diversity acknowledge that people are differ in many ways, such as age, gender, social status, disability, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity and culture (Kossek, Lobel & Brown, 2005). Nowadays, diversity has increasingly become the most valuable aspect of HRM areas. Develop countries such as Australia and New Zealand hold multicultural workforce as one of the most important dimension of diversity, where there are a large number of international migrants with different cultural backgrounds (Shen, Chanda, D’Netto & Monga, 2009). Studies from McLeod, Lobel and Cox (1996) and Wilson & Iles (1999) point out that a diverse workforce has a better-quality solution to brainstorming task, display more cooperative behaviour, and can raise organizational efficiency, effectiveness and profitability. Hence, utilization of diversity allows organization to increase the organization cooperative behaviour and competitive advantage (Cassell 1996). However, in groups where people from different cultural and ethnic background are working together, differences may occur in management styles, attitude towards hierarchy, approaches to group work, and ways of expressing

Working teams that are diverse in their make-up are able to come up with a wider range of solutions to business problems. Inclusive workplaces that openly communicate their values and strategies on equality, human rights and inclusion are capitalising on this as they are able to attract a wider pool of applicants and talent. Candidates from minority groups may be put off applying for positions in organisations that do not make their commitment to inclusion known.

As diversity and inclusion gain more attention in the society, more research has been done on their impact to organizations. Not too long ago, organizations implemented diversity management initiatives, such as affirmative action and equal employment legislations, just to fulfill their legal requirements (Jayne and Dipboye, 2004). However, diversity and inclusion have since then become a business imperative.

Many employers are unaware of the benefits of and ways to achieve workplace diversity. This Diversity and inclusion training plan provides this information. This plan is designed to be presented by an individual who is knowledgeable in diversity and business strategies and who is familiar with the company’s strategic business plan. By the end of this training the employee should be able to provide a clear understanding of what diversity is and what it is not, to raise a greater awareness and sensitivity to diversity issues that go well beyond