Companies are spreading their wings with the advances in technologies and increasing free movement of products and people, These changes are opening global operations to more than ever before. This change is having a considerable impact on human resource management. One of the greatest challenges that human resource management faces in terms of workplace globalization is workplace diversity. Diversity is the condition of having or being composed of differing elements : VARIETY; especially : the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization <programs intended to promote diversity in schools.( http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diversity) Human Resource Management deal with managing a diverse work force from all around the world merging race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, education, background and more. Diversity not only involves how people identify themselves, but how they identify others.. According to a July 2011 study conducted by Forbes and written by Mary Ellen Egan “It is no longer simply a matter of creating a heterogeneous workforce, but using that workforce to create the innovative products, services, and business practices that can set a company apart and give it a competitive advantage in the marketplace.” (p.4).
This diverse understanding and acceptance of the cultural differences allows employees to benefit from workplace
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
“Diversity management is the key to growth in today’s fiercely competitive global marketplace”1. Diversity is to have a different people in the same organization and thin with the same group. We are not the same all of people have different ideas, culture and gender. Because now the word be closer like a small village and we should know how to deal with all of people with their own ideas, culture and things. In addition, each people have a specific ability in a specific experience, education and knowledge. So it is hard to get all of that talent from same country, area or zone. So the diversity will help the company to become better from the different talent and ability from each country, because the organization
Workforce diversity addresses differences among people within an organization. Workforce diversity means that organizations are becoming a more heterogeneous mix of people from different categories. Diversity refers to the co-existence of employees from various socio-cultural backgrounds within the company. Diversity includes cultural factors such as race, gender, age, colour, physical ability, ethnicity, education, language, lifestyle, beliefs, economic status, etc. Diversity requires a type of organizational culture in which each employee can pursue his or her career aspirations without being inhibited by gender, race, nationality, religion, or other factors that are irrelevant to performance. Managing diversity means
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 is one of the most important aspects of an organization. According to Webster’s Dictionary, diversity is “the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.” The effort must be put forth to create and maintain a diverse work environment. The process is not over at the hiring
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
It is often said that the success of a Business has to do with how well its backbone team manages it. In today’s world, most of a company’s management and backbone team is one that is composed of up of a diverse group of employees. Strong, diverse teams play a vital role, on the success of a business. Diversity is understood to be the ways people can be similar or different from each other. Some examples of diversity in the workplace include culture, race, age, and gender. A good diverse workforce group is made of distinct employees from diverse backgrounds, different age groups, and distinct gender. Cultural Diversity in the workplace is one business component that has extreme importance in an organization. More and more organizations
Future trends for a diverse society will become more evident. As a result, the workforce and to a greater extent, the marketplace must increase diversity. Globalization of corporations begat a global economy increasing the marketplace, and enlarging a diverse workforce. The reality is diversity will become less of a social issue and more of a business concern linked to competitive strategies. Upper management will become more involved in diversity issues because diverse workforce needs to be better utilized in order to remain competitive. Diversity training will be integrated into other types of training. Corporations will continue to explore demographic changes in our society and link them more closely to global changes.
By definition, “the concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect, understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing individual differences, along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual (Fairbrother, 2016) ”.
Globalization sets the perfect environment to develop diversity in the workplace. This new society, in which we are currently living, has created a new workforce that is based on its diversity that can greatly help with any business development and growth. In business, diversity brings opportunities to grow, expand and reach out to other markets by utilizing the values, ideas and the diverse skills that people from many different backgrounds have to offer. Diversity it is simply the basic foundation for any business’ development.
Cultural diversity management programs aim to bring awareness and skill-based training. The purpose of this training is to show the diverse groups within an organization which can improve the productivity between employees. This training will also help management understand and value each one of their employees and differences they may have. Cultural diversity training is designed to show how diversity, we all are and bring awareness of the issues in the workplace and help them to recognize underlining issues. (Treven, 2015) Diversity may be a source of problem solving which is combined with experience and knowledge that plays a role in the transformation of the existing knowledge we have with the training program. This will help the organization and the employee’s needs to reflect the changes within the organization which will also protect them against any fines that can occur when ethical
Diversity in the workplace has become a priority for managers in many companies worldwide. This drive toward diversity has been stimulated by dramatic shifts from manufacturing jobs away from advance capitalism economies, a rise in service sector jobs, and, in some cases, a sincere business ethic. Diversity is generally defined as recognizing, understanding, and accepting an individual based on their differences and is typically classified into two categories. The primary category, age, gender, sexual orientation, etc., depicts the most noticeable differences between individuals. The secondary category, religion, education, geographical location, income, etc., are those that are not noticeable in the first encounter and can even change
Diversity represents the “multitude of individual differences and similarities that exist among people” (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2013). It pertains to the host of individual differences that make all of us unique and different from one another. Diversity in an organization continues beyond hiring employees of numerous backgrounds, but involves embracing and empowering all minorities. Thankfully, globalization and strategic alliances have transformed business economies drastically to set up complex business environments. These environments include inter-cultural, inter-departmental, cross functional, and inter-disciplinary people working together, as a part of a large team, towards a common goal. The importance of these workgroups can be understood by the strategic role they play in determining organizational effectiveness. Workgroup diversity as a concept has caught the scholarly attention of researchers and academicians as many companies have expanded their businesses to new foreign territories. For the success of these new business ventures they seek greater local participation in their workforce, with respect to the people who are well-acquainted with the culture, ethic, local languages, tastes, preferences and other features unique to these new markets. This has eventually led to the establishment of people from different communities, ethno-socio-economic-politico backgrounds, and cultures to take part equally at a common platform.
It is important for HR professionals along with organizational management to appreciate the growth of diversity within in today’s society. Thus, by diversifying organizational demographics an organization avails itself to a wide range of endless possibilities by embracing
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.