The process of global diversity management includes evaluation, forecasting, formulation, implementation, and control of strategies according to the specific needs of the management in a given institution. It is aimed at reducing the level of variation in the personal ability of organizational employees caused by cultural diversity. Management takes the initiative of improving employees’ involvement and productivity in multinational organizations. The process mentioned above helps in improving as well as coordinating the company’s activities both horizontally, vertically along the organization line of authority, as well as between employees to minimize challenges caused by diversity in origin (Barack, 2005).
With the help of research focused on offering solutions for reducing the level of multiplicity, two main elements of diversity have been considered. One of them is the factor affecting an individual country and its neighbors, for example, the geographical position in the globe and the countries’ law. Secondly, we consider the formulation of policies and their implementation in an effort to minimize the effects of cultural differences on the firm and between employees. The management identifies and manipulates what is common among these people to bring them together, with the aim of maximizing efficiency and marginal productivity of labor in the firm.
In addition to that, the companies may apply professional appraisal methods such as training, organizing, and hosting seminars for employees in their area of interest in addition to their area of weakness and taking them for tours to different parts of the world. The employees get acquainted with the existing cultural variations. Apart from that, they also improve their ability to embrace changes they get involved in as well as creativity and innovation. Lastly, the process leads to narrowing the variation gap and reduces resistance to the change that is implemented initially but is resisted during implementation. There are two aspects of diversity that exist while dealing with various circumstances. They include intranational and cross-national forms of diversity management (Meek, 2010).
In the intranational form of diversity management, the company implements policies that conform to the level of diversity within a given country. An example of the variation is the gender-based diversity, which may be caused by the varied beliefs of different people from different communities in the traditional role and responsibilities meant for a specific gender. For instance, most communities believe that a man must provide for his family, while others believe that the responsibility of women covers taking care of their families and husbands. In an effort to create a conducive environment in these firms, the company’s management should understand the nature of the people in question, depending on the nation they are dealing with. Based on their traditional values, the organization’s management should consider these beliefs in assigning duties and responsibilities to employees depending on their gender.
On the other hand, cross-national diversity management is the coordination between the expatriates and host country citizens. In most cases, the expatriates invest in their host country to diversify their investment and economic resources. If such relationships are poorly formed, it may lead to losses for both parties as a result of a misunderstanding between them. Consequently, only mutual trust and understanding could be the foundation of fruitful relationships that lead to success for both companies. In most organizations, both types of diversity management are applied in order to improve efficiency (Roosevelt, 1999).
References
Barack, E. M. (2005). Managing Diversity. London: Sage Publications
Meek, G. (2010). Global Diversity. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.
Roosevelt, T. (1999). Building a House For Diversity. AMACOM: England.