The increasing globalization of the world has resulted in the rates of interactions among people from diverse background, beliefs, and cultures than ever before. Individuals have since stopped working in insular marketplace since they are now a part of the worldwide economy that has competitive forces emerging from almost each continent. For such a reason, not-for-profit and for-profit organizations around the world require diversity for them to be more creative as well as open to change. Capitalizing and maximizing on the diversity of the workplace has emerged as a critical issue in the field of Human Resource Management (HRM). Even while workplace diversity has such perceived importance, literature also reports challenges that managers should be prepared to face because of a diverse workforce. This paper reports the opportunities that workplace diversity brings to the managers as well as the challenges associated with it. In addition, the paper reports on the strategies that managers may use if they want to create and manage and effective diverse workforce. It concludes that while diversity may be challenging to some managers, it is critical that they strive to have a diverse workforce because of the many benefits associated with it through understanding their individual prejudices and biases.
In general definitive terms, diversity refers to the acknowledgment, understanding, acceptance, valuing, and celebration of the differences among individuals with special respect to spiritual practice, sexual orientation, mental and physical ability, gender, ethnicity, age, and public assistance status (Bedi, Lakra, and Gupta, 2014). Issues of workplace diversity started to emerge in the US during the era of President Truman and public pressure caused him to sign an executive order that would desegregate the armed forces in 1948 (Dike, 2013). The issues then took more shape during the 1950s and 60s when the Civil Rights Movement was at its operational peak. In fact, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was specially meant to attain workplace diversity through illegalizing any forms of discrimination of workers at the workplace. Issues of diversity at the workplace have now important in the US based on the realization that the populace of the nation is quite diverse. Companies in the nation are now being required to become more diverse for the fact that it has the capacity of delivering a competitive advantage and greater productivity (Bedi, Lakra, and Gupta, 2014). In fact, other literature such as Dike (2013) posit that the management and valuing of diversity is a critical component for an effective management, which has the ability to improve the productivity of the workplace.
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Workplace diversity has many benefits for organizations. One of the main diversity principles suggests that a firm that has employees from diverse backgrounds has a better comprehension of the global marketplace (Prasad and Mills, 2007). The length of this paper may not be sufficient to comment on all the benefits of workplace diversity reported in extant literature, but will allow for description of the most important of such benefits. In this regard, it is reported that a diverse workforce is associated with high levels of productivity (Prasad and Mills, 2007). If the management of a given company puts the welfare of the workers at heart through offering them health care, proper compensation and proper appraisal, the workers develop a feeling that they belong to the company, which in return produces a positive effect on their productivity (Dike, 2013). A diverse workforce is also more creative for the fact that the management is able to benefit from the different abilities that each of the employees is endowed with. These abilities may be of critical importance during decision-making, and they may help the managers to make the most appropriate decisions for their companies. In addition, a diverse workforce, by way of the advantage of creativity, is useful during team working experiences since as support literature reports, the team members benefit from the experiences of each individual.
Employees are provided with a great opportunity to learn and grow if they work in a diverse workforce. The exposure of employees to new perspectives, cultures, and ideas allows them to have a different approach to issues of critical importance for the workplace such as decision-making and work ethics. In this perspective, therefore, there are plenty of opportunities for the workers to learn to avoid prejudiced perceptions and start embracing a culture and attitude that promotes collaboration. It is also indicated within extant literature that a diverse workforce promotes effective communication (Bedi, Lakra, and Gupta, 2014). To this, the cited study indicates that a diverse workforce may strengthen the relationship of a given company with a specific group of clients immensely through making communication more effective. For example, client service personnel could be paired up with clients from a particular location, which may make such clients feel at home with the representative as well as the company. As put in the advantages of workplace diversity as reported above, it emerges that workplace diversity is now being adopted by companies as a source of competitive advantage. To this, it should be noted that the competitiveness of the corporate world that globalization has occasioned requires companies to have strategies that will establish and maintain a strong competitive advantage. HRM has now emerged as an effective tool for the inclusion of employees in such strategies through providing them with the most preferential treatment as reported above.
On the contrast, workplace diversity is also associated with a range of challenges, which includes a difficulty in communicating the strategies of a firm to the workers. As reported in literature, managers who do not have effective skills of diversity management may struggle in the management of such a workforce and cause a communication stalemate. This challenge may be brought about by the fact that different background of people cause them to have different perspectives and beliefs concerning activities that may affect the effectiveness of management of the workforce such as decision-making (Bedi, Lakra, and Gupta, 2014). The managers may also find it difficult to manage change at the workplace since, as it may be thought, a diverse background of the workforce may mean that some of them might be resistant to change. Resistant to change may result from a strong belief in a given set of ideologies that some of the workers may consider dear and that they should only be executed in a manner that favors such beliefs. The challenges mentioned in this paragraph, therefore, may affect the implementation of organizational policies, with the management struggling to explain why some strategies need to be adopted.
Effective managers should be aware of the skills that are needed in the creation of a successful diverse workplace. First, the Human Resource Managers are required to comprehend discrimination and the effects that it may bring to their companies (Friday and Friday, 2013). Second, the managers should realize their individual cultural prejudices and biases since diversity does not concern the differences among groups, but rather about the differences among individuals. It should be noted that each person is unique and that they do not represent a given group of people. Lastly, the managers should show the willingness to change the organization should need arise as Dike (2013) argues. Unfortunately, success does not have a single recipe; it is dependent on the capacity of managers to understand what the best for their companies based on workplace dynamics and teamwork. As Roosevelt (2014) argues, the management of diversity is a comprehensive process for the creation of an environment of working, which includes all people. While creating successful diverse workforces, effective managers need focus on their personal awareness since it allows them to learn of their individual biases. Companies need to create, adopt, and maintain ongoing training processes for the fact that a single training session may not be effective in changing the cultural biases and prejudices that individuals hold. It is also needful to understand that fairness and equality are not always the same, and that the managers should strive to achieve both in their treatment of employees. The managers should also strive to promote a safe place for the employees to communicate as Friday and Friday (2013) suggest. A good example of such safe places is a public gathering in which each individual would be allowed to listen and be listened to.
In conclusion, workplace diversity poses significant challenges for managers in terms of change management, effective communication and the implementation of organizational policies. However, managers should strive to overcome such challenges for the fact that workplace diversity could be a source of a strong competitive advantage occasioned through HRM. To achieve this, it is noteworthy that managers avoid their individual cultural prejudices and biases and concentrate on the promotion of an inclusive environment for all workers.
References
Bedi, P., Lakra, P., & Gupta, E. (2014). Workforce diversity management: Biggest challenge or opportunity for 21st century organizations. Journal of Business and Management , 16 (4), 102-107.
Dike, P. (2013). The impact of workplace diversity on organisations: Masters Dissertation Thesis. Retrieved September 5, 2017 from http://theseus56-kk.lib.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/63581/Thesisxx.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Friday, E., & Friday, S. S. (2013). Managing diversity using a strategic planned change approach. Journal of Management Development , 22 (10), 863-880.
Prasad, P., & Mills, A. (2007). Understanding the dilemmas of managing workplace diversity. Managing the organizational melting pot: Dilemmas of workplace diversity , 1.
Rooselvet Jr, T. R. (2014). Elements of a successful “diversity” process. The American Institute for Managing Diversity.
