Background
In every company, the employees exhibit different personalities that are significant in the accomplishment of the performance goals. Diversity encompasses the employees’ perceptions of on themselves and others. Various perceptions are observed to be directly or indirectly affecting their workplace relationships and activities.
The organization’s competitiveness and success are based on the effective implementation of diversity in the workplace by handling issues related to discrimination against one’s race, color, beliefs, and religion among others. This essay describes the diversity gap existing in the workplace by examining the possible underlying causes of the performance problems or improvement opportunities.
Problems arising from workplace diversity have been closely associated with differences in gender, job positions and rankings, and ethnic backgrounds. Although human resource management has ensured the smooth running of global businesses with respect to diversity, a plethora of challenges are encountered as organizations strive to achieve their goals.
One of the primary challenges is discrimination that results from the poor understanding and appreciation of different cultures. The existence of a gap between the ongoing actions and expectations of the organization worsens the state of discrimination based on gender and ethnicity among other aspects.
Workplace diversity can be seen as an opportunity for the effective management of employees to understand and appreciate the differences that exist amongst them. This situation will result in the improvement of performance amongst various teams. On the other hand, it can be seen as a source of a decrease in performance and productivity since the conformity amongst employees who do not embrace workplace diversity is difficult.
As a result, a thorough management of diversity is needed to address the issue with respect to human research, organizational change and development, leadership, and strategic management.
Human Performance Enhancement (HPE) Strategy
It is perceived that the gap that exists amongst various individuals in any organization mostly occur due to problems related diversity. It is realized that the promotion of work diversity provides a solution that minimizes the gap. Organizational strategies that embrace inclusion are paramount to the promotion of improved performance among the employees who have varying characteristics in aspects such as gender, race, ethnic groupings, personality, age, tenure, lifestyle, organizational hierarchy and functions, and education among others.
Diversity inclusion is a technique that has been embraced in organizations owing to the fact that employees have been dividing along the cultural, racial, religious, and/or hierarchical lines among others. The strategy of inclusion brings in the interaction that exists between the management and employees. It also promotes the development of sound relationships amongst the employees.
The policies, programs, and structures offered should be designed to improve the interactions amongst the organization, customers, and suppliers among other stakeholders. The inclusion strategy embraced to promote the achievability of goals entails various factors that should be implemented by the management to increase the performance with a view of alleviating the existing diversity gap.
Such factors include commitment to the implementation of diversity, access to equal opportunities, accommodation of all developmental abilities, offering communication that is based on the 360 degree technique of sharing information, provision of chances for continuous learning, encouraging participation, and proper alignment of organization’s culture and process among others.
An effective embracement of inclusion strategy requires a training program that the organization should conduct to facilitate initiatives such as recruitment, retention, development, partnership, proper communication, staffing, and infrastructure development. Such strategies were addressed to the employees during a three-month program on Human Performance Enhancement (HPE) Strategy as indicated in Table 1.
After the training, a self-assessment questionnaire that indicated the objectives and achievements based on a three-point Likert scale with 1 denoting ‘Disagree’, 2 for ‘Agree’, and 3 for ‘Strongly Agree’ was provided. Table 2 indicates how the management and employees assessed themselves with respect to the understanding of the inclusion strategy to promote the performance based on diversity.
The Human Performance Enhancement Implementation Process
The taskforce in the Florida Department of Health was divided into two distinctive categories namely the committee and staff. The management formed a committee that conducted meetings on a weekly basis during the initiative program that took three months. The committee prepared questionnaires that had demographic information such as race, gender, and ethnicity among others.
They were also included to perform the initiative training in diversity to guide the process and speed up various follow-up activities. These activities were conducted in the form of a survey during the training period. The staff was engaged in conducting the survey (outreach initiative). They elected their leader who handled the coordination of the activities during the period.
After the training, the survey and assessment forms were completed. The management board reviewed the findings with a view of sharing the relevant information with the staff, volunteers, and other stakeholders who were beneficial to the organization. The measures taken included both quantitative and qualitative methods.
The quantitative measures included demographic data, pay equity, promotions, the cost of recruiting, retention, and training costs among others. The qualitative measures included interviews, self-assessments, climate, motivation, diversity goals, training, performance data, customer satisfaction, and team efficiency among others.
The assessment revealed various issues that arose from poor diversity inclusion in the Florida Department of Health. Most of the respondents showed the lack of energy and enthusiasm to accept their poor performance. There an unclear vision and direction, poor judgment of processes, lack of collaboration, and resistance to new ideas. They were also unprepared to learn from mistakes with poor interpersonal and communication skills among others.
Strategy Initiatives and Recommended Interventions
Table 1: Strategy Initiatives and Recommended Interventions
Timeline of the Project Compared to Steps in the Project
Table 2: Timeline of the Project Compared to Steps in the Project
Costs of implementing the HPE Strategy: Project Budget
Table 3: Project Budget
Benefits of the Inclusion Strategy the Florida Department of Health
The implementation of inclusion strategy to the Florida Department of Health on is beneficial in many ways if the measures are executed effectively.
Most organizations that have embraced the inclusion strategy to enhance performances have registered significant improvements in performance, communication and feedback, and leadership.
For instance, the implementation of this strategy in the Florida Department of Health has shown reduced turnover rates, effective ways of resolving conflicts, and improved resource allocation.