Management of Diversity in the Organization
[Name of the Writer]
[Name of the Institution]
Management of Diversity in the Organization
Introduction
The diversity and making sure that the more inclusive environment is created at the workplace has become an important aspect for the organizations these days. The more and more people are having this realization that it is important that people from all the demographics are supposed to be the part of the workplace and the key aspect of creating a positive and dynamic workplace is to make sure that a diversified workplace is being created. The idea behind the whole thing is to make sure that all the corresponding stakeholders must be in synch when such a decision is needed to be made. Even though the businesses and organizations realize the value of having the diversified workforce, at times it is quite hard to make sure that such a workforce is being created at the workplace. In this paper, it is going to be seen that how the problem of lack of diversity at the workplace is supposed to be resolved and what are some of the ways through which the organization can make sure that they are taking care of this balance.
Background of the Problem
It is important to understand the background and context behind the fact that how more and more organizations are trying to be more diverse in terms of their workforce. As the workplaces have started to become more diverse, the idea among all the stakeholders is to make sure that how the workplaces should be able to replicate and mirror the sensibilities of the market. To make sure it happens, there is a need for all the members of the workforce to make sure that they are in the position to determine how the right balance can be achieved and the sense of perspective can be gained in terms of the broader business advantage at the particular point of time. The more clarity there is going to be in terms of the way problem solving methodology is supposed to be carried out, the greater is the likelihood that the things are going to be turning out well in the long run. Not only that, there is realization among the broader demographics and different ethnicities that they need more exposure in the corporate world, and at times, the organizations have not been able to make sure that the workplace demographics are such that they are able to take care of such sensitivities at the particular point of time. So, all these aspects of the way broader management of the diversity and more inclusive culture are supposed to be kept in mind when working out the broader trends that are witnessed at the workplace. Now some background and context are developed about the whole subject, it is important to look at how the problem is defined at the broader level.
Problem Definition
It is important to have a sense and an idea first that what is meant by the diversity and inclusion at the workplace. When one talks about how the diversity and inclusiveness is talked about at the workplace, it means that how there is going to be acceptance and understanding of the different school of thoughts, genders, languages and racial ethnicities at the workplace. In the recent times, it has gone beyond creating an understanding and now the focus is upon making sure that how the workplace environment should be such that must allow all the stakeholders to take the appropriate decision at the particular point of time. The term that is being used most of the times is how the more inclusive culture is needed to be developed. It has to be noted that at times people have this notion that when one talks about diversity, the only aspect that is supposed to be discussed is the age, religion and the sexual orientation of the person but there is a lot more to it as compared to what is being witnessed in the conventions. The skill set, the level of experience as well as the knowledge base all are some of the thing that are important when the decision has to be made as far as the way more inclusive culture is supposedly developed at the workplace. The importance of the whole thing is reiterated by many organizations these days as they talk about the fact that how the mission and strategy is developed in the manner that the diversity is made the major part of how the corporate decision making is carried out. The idea at the end of the day is to make sure that how the advantages of such a diverse workforce are going to be used in the manner that they are eventually going to be creating a competitive advantage for the business.
Solution Generation
Even though there are many organizations that are of the point of view that the more diverse workplace is needed to be created, the problem is that there is not set pattern or mechanism that can be used to ensure that the more diverse workplace is being created. Workplace comprises of the people who have varied set of skills and not only that, the dynamics of each of the business are quite different from one another so one strategy that might turn out well for one organization might not be suitable for some other business. There are some ways though which it can be made sure that the amicable solution can be created as far as the management of the diversity is supposed to be carried out.
Using the software packages and tools can go a long way towards making sure if there is any address bias, then it has to be taken care of appropriately.
The approach that can be used further to increase the odds for hiring any person from the minority group can be done with the help of the technique that is called the two in the pool that allows much more robust mechanism as far as the odds of hiring the right minority candidate.
Most of the times, the referrals and the recommendations that are coming from the employee that are coming from the diverse set of backgrounds can go a long way towards ensuring that how the demographical imbalance in the organization can be looked after.
The branding that is needed to be done at the level of the organization should be such that must allow better prospect as far as the hiring of the diverse group of the employees are supposed to be working out.
The performance management system can be developed in the manner that it must be encouraging the diversity outcomes at the particular moment of time specially in term of how the prevalence of such incidents is needed to be controlled.
Additionally, company perks like remote work, advanced workspace options (such as standing desks or creative commons), and employee appreciation events can all foster a positive company culture. Good workplace environments then result in positive employer reviews and can draw a more diverse candidate pool. Questions you should ask yourself:
Never make a hiring decision based on gut feelings or because you ‘clicked’ with an interviewee. Personality may be an important factor to consider when evaluating candidates, but hiring someone who can’t do the job doesn’t help you, the business, or them, regardless of how well you ‘clicked’.
Solution Evaluation
Once the mechanism is being setup as far as the diversity management in the organization is supposed to be looked at, the next step is to ensure that how the evaluation of the solution that is being proposed is going to be working out. The idea is that the efforts that are being put together for the control and other such mechanisms should be such that it must allow sustainable development and insight about the way diverse workplace workforce is going to be created at the particular point of time. It has to be noted that there has to be sense of accountability in terms of the way outcomes of the diversity measures are going to be looked at in the organization and by creating the greater sense of accountability, it can be made sure that the right balance is being achieved in terms of the way organizational development is needed to be done at the particular point of time. There are two methods that are being primarily used when such a technique is being used.
The first one is being done by the organization such as Deloitte where the compensation and some of the other benefits are being tied to the outcomes of the way diversity management is being done. Even though there are some organizations that tend to do that, at times it only creates a filler impact and there is no long-term improvement in situation.
The other method that has become much more popular is that how rather than making it the part of the compensation and benefits of the whole organization, there has to be an effort on the part of the strategic managers to make sure that the prevalence of such incidents is brought down and the degree of control is increased at the given point of time.
The key thing that remains to be seen is that how the cultural and social changes are going to be accepted and adopted and how the radical change in mindset is going to be made possible by all the stakeholders that are part of the organization at the particular moment of time. The appeal of diversity in the workplace is recognized by both sides of the recruiting equation. A Glassdoor survey found 67% of job seekers believe diversity is an important factor when considering companies and job offers, whereas 57% of recruiters say their talent acquisition strategies are designed to attract diverse candidates.
Implementation and Action Plan
There are two parts with regards to how the action plan is going to be working out, the first thing that has to be done is to make sure that the right mechanism is needed to be developed that is going to be done and how the sense of accountability is going to be created among all the stakeholders as far as the way diversity management is supposed to be done. Following are some of the ways through which the development of the action plan can be carried out.
The allowance has to be made for the current staff to make sure that even if they are leaving the organization, they should refer good candidates and the industry relationships are needed to be developed.
One thing that most of the organizations don’t tend to do is that how they are not looking at the educational institutes to make sure that they are finding the right pool of candidates that not only belong to the diverse backgrounds, they also bring about differing set of skills in terms of the way overall treatment is supposed to be carried out.
The job applicant pool has to be fresh and the hiring is supposed to be carried out in the way that the long-term goals of the organization are being taken care off. There does not need to be any rush in terms of how the hiring process is going to be working out and how the short- and long-term needs of the organization should work out.
Conclusion
The diversity and creation of the more inclusive culture has become the need of the hour for the organizations. The idea is to ensure that they should represent a working culture in their workplace that should allow people with varied set of skills and talent to make sure that they are brought on board. Not only it creates the good profile of the organization, it can also allow them to create competitive advantage. Workplace diversity is understanding, accepting, and valuing differences between people of different races, ethnicities, genders, ages, religions, disabilities, and sexual orientations, as well as differences in personalities, skill sets, experiences, and knowledge bases. Inclusion is having a collaborative, supportive, and respectful environment that increases the participation and contribution of all employees.
References
Cummings, J. N. (2016). Work groups, structural diversity, and knowledge sharing in a global organization. Management science, 50(3), 352-364.
Kilduff, M., Angelmar, R., & Mehra, A. (2018). Top management-team diversity and firm performance: Examining the role of cognitions. Organization science, 11(1), 21-34.
Ng, E. S., & Burke, R. J. (2016). Person–organization fit and the war for talent: does diversity management make a difference?. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(7), 1195-1210.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
