Training Key Areas Essay

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).

As we enter the new millenium, diversity in the workforce is rapidly increasing. Businesses and organizations are living up to the great melting pot image the United States has always been popular for. Employees now reflect a diversity of cultural perspectives, ethnic backgrounds, ages, genders, physical abilities, and levels of education. This wave of multiculturalism is here to stay and cannot be ignored. It is in need of attention in order to uphold the well-being and success of businesses and organizations all over the country.

The way in which an organization tackles diversity determines its negative or positive outcome. All the 5 companies agreed that diversity has contributed to their success. Some barriers were identified in managing diversity like the difficulties faced by women in managing the work and family, fear of discrimination, resistance to change, diversity is not seen as an organizational priority, resistance to change and unsupportive working environment for diverse employees. Diversity contributes to more productivity but if not properly managed could hinder success.

Three ways of gaining executive commitment to diversity are to gather data and to assess the organizations current commitment to diversity to show where and why there is a need for change. The development of diversity council can also garner executive support because it offers a way for executive members of an organization to have a dialog with other members of an organization about diversity. Systematic changes are also necessary such as hiring from a diverse roster of candidates when filling a position. (Moodian, 2009,

The assignment for this week focuses on the team’s understanding of the goals and objectives of training program development and delivery. Team C summarizes the following highlights of this week’s discussions: determining organizational development theories and applications; differentiating between mentoring and executive coaching; identifying the major components of employee training; and comparing career development strategies.

The first few chapters outline the main problems with diversity that business deal with. While the rest of the book goes deeper in to the issues and ways to overcome or avoid the problems to create a truly diverse institute. The author gives background into the Noah’s Ark theory as well as the “grandma” effect. She also talks about the dynamics of dominate and non-dominate groups in the work place as she relates them to the Elephant and Mouse theory.

Within the next 12 months, Kudler Fine Foods plans to increase customer loyalty by offering added high-margin services, leveraging a better understanding of customer purchase patterns, and providing more efficient operations. Kudler Fine Foods also plans to increase the customer base through social network marketing, word of mouth, and increasing profitability by cost reductions initiatives. In view of this

Training and development are categorized into several classes. The sponsors of training and development are senior managers. The clients of training and development are business planners. Line managers are responsible for coaching, resources, and performance. The participants are those who actually undergo the processes. The facilitators are Human Resource Management staff. And the providers are specialists in the field. Each of these groups has its own agenda and motivations, which sometimes conflict with the agendas and motivations of the others. The conflicts that are the best part of career consequences are those that take place between employees and their bosses. Tempting as it is, nobody ever enhanced their career by making the boss look stupid. Training an employee to get along well with authority and with people who entertain diverse points of view is one of the best guarantees of long-term success. Talent, knowledge, and skill alone won 't compensate for a sour relationship with a superior, peer, or customer. Typical roles in the field

One of the objectives that the team discussed was diversity in the workplace. Major corporations have encountered issues concerning diversity in the work place. Our team can directly relate to this subject in the workplace since all of us are diverse minorities in our individual work place. It was discussed in the group that diversity in the workplace is the manager’s responsibility to insure that the workplace is a diverse environment. Managers in most companies are required to hire a diverse staff. Managers have the ability to use race, religion, and tenure as qualities to inspire success and

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)

Furthermore, spoiled work, damages, and accidents to equipment and machinery can be kept to a minimum by well trained employees, continued training helps employees develop their ability to learn by adapting themselves to new work methods, learning to use new kinds of equipment, and adjusting to major changes in work relationships and job content, also, through training, new employees learn to measure up to standards for performance, thereby satisfying their human need for personal growth and increasing their value to the organisation (Pigors and Myers 1977).

The world's increasing globalization requires more interaction among people from diverse cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds than ever before. People no longer live and work in an insular marketplace; they are now part of a worldwide economy with competition coming from nearly every continent. For this reason, profit and non-profit organizations need diversity to become more creative and open to change. Maximizing and capitalizing on workplace diversity

Another practice that helps to achieve career growth and development is offering training opportunities for the employees. The employees are offered benefits that help them to further their education and achieve higher qualifications. This is a strategy which helps to increase the skills, qualifications and competence of the employees. In this way, the staff are at a better position to gain promotions within the organization as education qualification is not a barrier for them. The employees become motivated as they become more competitive in the market which is good for their career (Branham, 2012).

With the changing demographics of the U.S. workforce (Ng & Burke, 2005) and the need for organizations to continually innovate their products and services to remain competitive, embracing diversity and the benefits its brings is going to be key to driving a successful organization

Businesses are recognizing the need and importance of investing in diversity and addition as part of their inclusive talent management practices and to frequently challenge their organizations to make the connection between those values and their group performance.. Diversity is especially fundamental in today’s global marketplace, as businesses cooperate with