According to Taylor Cox, managing diversity is “planning and implementing organizational systems and practices to manage people so that the potential advantages of diversity are maximized while its potential disadvantages are minimized” (Cox, 1993).
The modern global organizations have shifted the approach to human resource management and the way in which current employees’ management takes place. The increase in global corporations also creates a diverse workforce in terms of ethnicity, race, age, gender, religion, and sexual orientations among others. These issues are forcing organizations to review issues which they have traditionally ignored in their practices.
Most successful outcomes of managing diversity usually have their roots from recruitment, hiring, placement, and retention of the best workforce in an organization.
This indicates that organizations, which have strategies of managing their workforce diversities, must create a working environment that enhances satisfaction, commitment, and motivation of different people. Diversity management in the workforce also enhances firms’ performance and quality in terms of improving creativity, skills, flexibility, conflict management and problem-solving skills (Cascio, 2010).
What is the most challenging aspect of diversity in your organization? What would be some strategies to alleviate these issues?
Studies by Hayes showed that organizations can succeed at achieving effective management in diversity if the top executives have commitment and fully support the initiative (Hayes, 1999).
In the current changing workforce compositions, the organization adopt the concept of equal opportunity in order manage its diverse workforce. Organizations concentrate in business areas, such as compensation, hiring, transfers, promotions, and terminations with regard to its human resource management. Firms have introduced affirmative action and equal opportunity for any employees and potential employees.
The firms do this through conducting special programs solely for minorities, women, people with disabilities, and people with special disabilities mainly war veterans. The HR policies ensure equal chances for career growth and compensations. Firms consider effective management of their employees using diversity policies as strategic business objectives. This is what most companies expect every line manager to promote.
Training in diversity and other programs have ensured that different workers from different races and ethnicity interact openly, frequently, and working effectively in enhancing organization’s growth.
These are positive consequences of having different racial and ethnic employees. It also shows why an organization must strive to ensure that its workforce is a team and integrated. Interaction of different employees helps most firms in conflict resolution. This is how companies are managing their diverse work groups consisting of whites, Asians, and African America, and Hispanic among other minority groups.
There are gender-related issues that happen in an organization. Organizations have recognized the changing structure in employment and leadership with regard to women. As a result, organizations have embarked on hiring women in various areas.
This long-term approach has doubled the number of female employees in most organizations. Some firms run work-related programs purposefully for female employees. Such initiatives aim at supporting the growth, achievement, advancement, recognition and promotion of women in different fields of organizations.
Most organizations also accept generational diversity in the workforce.
Therefore, they aim to provide flexible workplace culture which allows employees to experience continued participation in the workforce duties without age-related barriers, flexible working hours and responsibilities, a variety of work style options, lifestyle choices, continued learning and job satisfaction, and an ongoing connection to different age groups in the organization.
References
Cascio, W. F. (2010). Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Company.
Cox, T. (1993). Cultural diversity in organisations: theory, research and practice. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.
Hayes, E. (1999). Winning at diversity. Executive Excellence, 3(2), 3-6.