3.2. Positive impacts
The diversity has always been a concern for businesses and governments because the minority can feel sometimes left out and excluded for the employment sector. Therefore it has always been a priority for any government. They want to prove that they have been elected and are representing the entire population not just a group of people. Also businesses want to send a good image to their customers that they care about everyone even the minority.
First of all, Kirton and Greene (2005) said that every company has the legal obligation to promote diversity in the organisation in order to avoid social injustice within the workplace and reduce disadvantages experienced by some minorities or social group. It is important
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An organisation that promotes diversity shows their employees that they don’t have to worry about their ethnicity or cultural background in order for them to progress in that company. Only relevant things like competency and the knowledge of the work matter the most. (Bryan, 1999)
According to Triandis (1994), managing a diverse workforce means that the company had to change their old ways of doing things and adjust to a new way because that organisation needed to do more research and analysis in order to find the right way or procedure that works best for everyone.
Leach, George and LaBelle (1995) have used to word working with diversity instead of using the usual word “managing”. According to them, the word “working” sounds much better because it is a way of showing respect to the diverse workforce instead of using the term “ managing” which sounds a bit pejorative. They believed so because when someone says managing, it is like they are describing a sub group within that organisation. Therefore, the company or organisation that promotes diversity need to be very patient in order to observe and learn how to promote diversity in their workplace.
After many examinations, Finney (1989) believed that companies did use diversity in their workplace environment not only because they law required them to do so but also because they did what was right for them in term of success, growth and also to satisfy the demand of their
Diversity is vital in today's workplace. Having a diverse workforce opens up a wealth of possibilities and helps to encourage creativity and innovation.
Diversity is not something one may think about in daily life, or even on a regular basis; however, it affects us each and every day, and in more ways than we would like to believe. The term diversity may be used to describe something positive, such as the diversity of a school’s athletics participants has helped reduce gang violence by facilitating cross-cultural friendships. It may also carry a negative connotation, as in a workplace’s lack of diversity has cultivated an environment of racism and sexism that affects company productivity. It is especially important for employers to be aware of the issues surrounding workplace diversity, as this can affect every aspect of a company. In my search to understand some relevant issues
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..
Managing Diversity in the workplace is more than just an acquired skill, it is "a way of thinking" (1). It involves creating an environment that allows all employees to contribute to organizational goals and experience personal growth. The key is to help employees reach their full potential by creating an environment that will allow them to be motivated and productive and ultimately, be beneficial for the organization.
The basic concept for diversity is rapidly developing. It is no longer just about creating heterogeneous workforces, but now it is also about using that workforce to create the innovative products, services and business practices that can give a company a competitive advantage in the market. And on a global scale, as companies compete, diversity and inclusion have to frequently shift, as different markets and different cultures have varied definitions of what diversity means.
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
Diversity is a popular topic in today’s business world, but the definition of the word varies vastly between organizations. Some definitions are one sentence where others are a paragraph long. To add to the confusion, employees have their own ideas about diversity when entering the workforce that may collaborate with or contradict the organization’s explanation. This paper will compare and contrast four definitions concerning diversity to highlight the similarities and differences of the word according to national and international organizations. Also, the author will explore diversity categories in regard to her own experiences in life.
Over the decades, diversity in the workplace has started to become a business necessity. But what does diversity actually mean? In broad terms, diversity encompasses a group of people with different biological characteristics such as age, race, gender, ethnicity disability and so on. However, the true definition of diversity in the workplace is about ensuring that every single person that goes to work everyday have the freedom to bring along their full self to work and it is not just about welcoming but it is about embracing and harnessing the diversity of thought, the diversity of background, the diversity of experience, the diversity in education, and not just the traditional aspects in diversity. Even so, one of the major challenges that
Workforce Diversity defines the visible or invisible differences among employees of an organization and could be divided in to three major components such as Primary, Secondary and Organizational and Community. Factors such as Age, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Ethnicity represents Primary while Appearance, Educational Background, Marital Status, Work experience represents Secondary and Job position, Specialization, Nationality, Life stage represents Organizational and Community. In recent years, organizations spend more in diversity management as most of the organizations consist with employees from different backgrounds. Further, diversity in an organization is a significant factor that may affect the performance of an organization positively or negatively. For example, it can create innovation, empowerment, information sharing, and productivity when well managed and can cause discrimination, power play, miscommunication and control when managed poorly.
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)
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.
Diversity is something that helps companies grow. Diversity in a workforce or work environment involves human qualities that are different from our own and outside the groups to which we belong. Therefore, it is important to understand how diversity affects performance, motivation, success and interactions with others. Diversity allows companies to remain competitive and provides many benefits to a company out of financial situations. Therefore, if we as individuals put our
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.
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)
In many countries, diversity management has evolved as an important aspect taken into consideration by many organizations. This is mainly due to the migration of expatriates, globalization and initiatives taken for fairness, equal opportunity and social justice(Rainey2, 2014). In last few decades, the entire world and organizations has faced a significant increase in the demographic diversity of the workplace. Many policies have been formulated by the organizations all over the world to control diversity management. Due to such policies like equal employment opportunity has help certain groups a lot in getting a job who were not being able to get an employment before (Tsui, (1999)). Such growth in the diversity has triggered controversy and has left a question mark among several scholars. Diversity in the workplace can also be an advantage and can benefit the organization but it can also harm the organization in terms of conflicts between different groups in one organization (Wise, (2000)).