Success of Diversified Workforce - Case Study Example

Success of Diversified Workforce Course Tutor Name Date Introduction This chapter will discuss the background of study, the aim of study, and the structure of the paper. Background of study Diversity can be defined as a way of understanding, accepting and recognizing individual difference based on their race, age, ethnicity, culture and class not forgetting the physical ability as well. In addition, spiritual and sexual orientation are considered when taking about business or organizational diversification. Various scholars support this idea thus, they add by saying that individuals have unique traits but share a number of biological and environmental characteristics. Diversity is classified into two dimensions; the first dimension that is considered as the primary one considers factors such as gender, age, and sexual orientation of the people (this dimension shows the main differences between people or individuals) (Barbosa & Cabral-Cardoso 2007). This first dimension is used as a filter through which people view the world since it plays part as the initial encounter whereby individual difference can be easily noticed. The second dimension is commonly termed as secondary dimension it contains factors such as income, education and religion etc, that individual poses. These factors of diversification are considered secondary since they change thought different encounters that individual portray in an organization (Day 2007). Secondary dimension are only noticed when individuals interact in an organization. The first and the second dimension all lead to cross-cultural understanding or management of an organization (Hoobler, Basadur & Lemmon 2007). Thus, the paper purports that through cultural understanding managers are able to run organization which in return leads to efficient and productive organizations. Aim of study The cogent behind this paper is to determine the significance of implementing organization diversity as well as to explain the impacts that an organization can get from efficient and effective diversification. In order to attain positive outcome through diversification cross-culture is embedded in the study as an important component or as a diversity management tool. Structure of the paper The first part of the theoretical understanding of the research problem will discuss the concept or idea of what workplace diversity is and also explains to the reader why organizations should consider it in the contemporary society. In addition, the first part will discuss why organization culture as well as cross-culture cannot be ignored in organization diversification. The second part of the paper will be consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of workplace diversity as well as the challenges that organizations face to implement it. The third part will discuss the reasons for workplace diversity management as well as the key responsibilities of the players in workplace diversity. Concepts in Diversity Management In order to take part in change and to be creative, many organizations in their own perspective have diversified their workplaces. Improving organization diversity has turned out to become a vital issue for management in the coming years as a result of the changing workplace. Managing diversity has still remained a challenge to many organizations therefore, managers opt to learn managerial skills that concerns multicultural environments in order to educate others within their organizations to treat all employees with care and dignity and to value their respective cultural differences (Iverson 2000). Despite the fact that some managers consider diversity as a challenge to them it holds no limitations and has also no organizational boundaries. Diversity management is defined as a process of organizing and planning as well as applying inclusive management qualities for the development in which all the employees in an organization with their differences or similarities can effectively and efficiently contribute to the competitive advantage or an organization. Diversity stands for denotes several similarities and differences in persons (Lewis 2001). For diversity to be real then it must apply to all employees and should not only be limited to certain spectrum of difference but to the entire personal difference that make people bear unique qualities needed for an organizations success. Thus, diversity cannot be determined by the religious or racial differences, but a generalization of both racial and religious since the two are the main components of individual culture. Diversity concepts define the existing differences among people as well as their similarities, therefore, the act of diversity management calls for both similarities and difference to be managed at the same time (O’Leary & Weathington 2006). Thus, organization managers are expected to incorporate the mixture between personal differences and similarities in the workplace. As such, affirmative action is used as a method to attain integrated and diversified personnel; this is considered as an artificial method objected to offer management a priority to correct outright mistakes and does not foster leadership changes about diversification management. The best method that organizations are doing to foster organization diversity is by implementing diversity awareness. It is a focused and deliberate method that organizations use to allow employees to maximize their potentials. A good example of how organization diversity can benefit an organization is that of Israel (Pless & Maak 2004). The country has a diverse population that entails varied social and cultural differences; the population consists of immigrants who have varied cross-cultural practices that have constantly become an obstacle to organization productivity. Israeli government converted this problem into a national cake that needed attention so that both international and domestic investors could find a conducive environment. It has been the dream of many organizations to attain competitive advantage through diversity management. As a result, organizations have opted to come up with corporate culture to bridge then gap between country and individual difference which have been for long a barrier to business mostly international investment (Stoner & Russell-Chaplin 1997). Changing the current attitudes towards organization diversity not only involves adoption of the best leadership approaches but also includes implementation of the best accommodative cultural policies for all employees as it affects intra and intra-relationship. Therefore, managers must exhibit management traits such as organizing and planning. Diversity management is an organization’s competitive necessity and strategic priority. According to Daniel point of view, diversity is not a tool since it might lead to organizations demise. In this sense, understanding the culture of the target market as well as individual difference is mandatory for organization success (Willcoxson & Millett 2000). Adopting a diverse workforce Workplace diversity concepts differ from one organization to the other depending on the rules and regulations of the organization. This is because, organizations have different visions and missions that they opt to purport and also the essence of workplace diversity to the organization. “No one can pay an organization for goods or services that does not hold the ideal value of the services or goods”, an organizations that utilizes diverse employees aim at improving productivity (Wilson 2000). There are several factors that ought to be taken into consideration when adopting diverse management such as organization culture, location and type, but for the case of this paper organization culture will be greatly highlighted. Organization culture is a prerequisite in attaining diversification; it is defined as values shared within an organization reflecting the organizations activities. Organization culture is composed of five components involved in its practices, history, values, vision, the people and place. Organizations have different organization structures thus; any decision made by specific organizations is based only on the organizations norms and beliefs (Kreitner & Kinicki 2001). Therefore, organizations have come up with cultural mentorships programs important in managing diverse workforce. The ideal aim for this program is to ensure than different employees coming from varied cultural backgrounds are orientated to the new environment or activities they have found themselves in the new organization. This programs comes in many ways such as seminars, a group of people, individuals as well as associations so as to work with different people with different believes and culture. With the sharing of cultural understanding and business traditions employees will have some running in-terms of interpersonal communication etc (Mark, Philip & Adrian 2003). Managers ought to identify mentor groups or associations to bring cultural conflicts to rest within an organization. Various social and business scholars have come up with theories such as the social theories that help in understanding personal and group difference as well ways of bridging the gap between these differences to come up with common similarities that could be used in managing people. As such, managers should consider these common similarities as a stand point for future organizational changes towards diverse workforce. Adding to the understanding in the relationship between managers and their employees, the impacts of diversifying a workforce not only improves the organizations productivity and smooth running of organizations but it also helps in organizations policy creation, planning and implementation. Most organizations appreciate the importance of workplace diversity as acts as a collective tool towards the success of an organization. Though the prevailing idea seems to be concrete enough stating the overwhelming benefits of workplace diversity, some organizations disagree basing the arguments to the disadvantages related to this diversity; they believe that is causes low performance in the organization, leads to lack of concentration due to preferential treatment and employees discrimination (Litvin 1997). It is relevant to consider that organization diversity has the capabilities of improving productivity and workers job satisfaction in an organization, but it also comes with various demerits. It is evident that organization diversity has enabled organizations to get maximum returns as well as heartened workers or employees to share common and pending issue. But the question that has been unanswered for quite sometime is the issues concerning the effects of diversity to works most specifically, international ones. However, is can be brought on board and defended in this paper based on the research made that organization diversity is an efficient way of improving productivity as well as improving communication in an organization. Merits and demerits of Diversity management Since the paper seeks to determine if diversity management leads to organization success, it will discuss the merits and demerits of diverse workforce. It offers insight as a decision making platform of organizations seeking to diversify it workforce. The part acts as a significance of the study since it will be used by both corporate and individual investors and managers. Merits Increased levels of Productivity: one of the biggest challenges that managers face in organizations is to ensure that the organizations increases its productivity. Since different organizations have varied or unique goals and objectives, they deduce different strategies to address the challenges in order to maximize productivity (Litvin 1997). One of the strategies that most contemporary organizations use is adoption of workforce diversity and effectively implementing it. This is possible when the management of such organizations considers the welfare of workers by offering them with suitable employee appraisal and health care. As a result, workers feel accommodated in the organization irrespective of their difference in cultural backgrounds; shown by their hardwork and loyalty that turns to increase in productivity. Exchange of Ideas and Skills: for efficient delivery of goods and services in organizations, teamwork sharing of skills and ideas has been advocated as the best way to attain this. It is considered that an individual multitasking cannot outperform a team undertaking the same task since each team member comes with different skills and ideas offering a unique perspective that can be used in decision making and problem solving (Kreitner & Kinicki 2001). Group and individual growth and Learning: Diversity in the workplace comes with opportunities that allow employees to foster personal growth. Exposure to new ideas, knowledge and culture helps and individual to have clear insights as well as build intellectual understanding of the universal business environment and surrounding as well (Stoner & Russell-Chaplin 1997). The more time an employees or manager spends with diverse co-partners helps in breaking down obstacles of either ethnocentrism or xenophobia hence heartening employees to be useful and experience members of the society. Effective and efficient Communication: By making communication more effective, organizations such as business companies are able to strengthen their relationships with their clients; this is only possible if diversity exists in the workplace. One of the most crucial departments in such organizations is the customer care department hence effective communication is mandatory in such areas. Thus, most business organizations (companies) prefer employing personnel coming from the same area as the clients so as clients may feel comfortable with their own hence the company. For example, companies in Asia prefer hiring personnel from their region but of bi-lingual nature so that they can be able to speak with others from Africa and the Western nations; they mostly prefer those customer care representatives who can speak both Asian language and English (Kreitner & Kinicki 2001). This is meant to main the cultural composition of the area so as to boost their business ventures. Diverse experience: varied experience and perception is brought on board during both group and teamwork only when the workforce is diverse. Bringing together diverse knowledge and skills of different cultural employees is prone to benefit an organization by strengthening it productivity and responsiveness in the adoption of the various changing conditions. Scholars of identified that every diverse culture has its own weaknesses as well as strengths, hence, every employee has different strengths and weakness as a result of this difference in their culture. As a result if the sole trait is managed effectively and properly in an organization it leads to leverage in strengths to highly brunt workforce (Willcoxson & Millett 2000). Demerits Diversity Management is costly: For employees in an organization to get Job satisfaction, the workplace diversity is a costly program. It is not easy to effectively manage workforce diversity within an organization since it entails diversity training which employees and other members of staff not forgetting managers are taught how relate with other employees as well as staff. In the contemporary business world, there are various diversity management programs that organization could choose from considering the size of the organization and the number of employees’ in the organization though some of these programs entail high participation, accommodation and travelling costs (Barbosa & Cabral-Cardoso 2007). Discrimination of staff/employees: This is an evident demerit of working in a diversified workforce. In such a workforce discrimination takes place between employees and their managers. This is feature of a poorly managed workplace or organization where cultural ties are not properly handled leading to cultural conflicts. When an employee is discriminated or when an act of discrimination crops in the workplace, work performance amongst the employees in reduced as well as the sensitivity of equity is compromised. In addition, it brings issue of litigation. Case study: Coca-Cola Company Introduction Coca-Cola Company is a multinational organization that manufactures non-alcoholic drinks, markets and distributes them. The company has its offices all over the world though it’s headquarter is located in Atlanta, Georgia in the US. The company was started by John Pemberton in 1886 but was later sold to Asi Candler in 1889. At the moment the company offers more than 600 brands scattered in more than 300 countries around the world. In addition, the company employs more than 5 million people (The Coca-Coca company 2013). Diversity Mission of Coca-Cola Company The universal mission of the company is to be identified as the leading organization when it comes to diversity leadership and fairness in all aspects of its workplace that includes both the business and the bigger workforce it has. Diversity management is the heart of the Company as it always strives to attain a conducive working environment offers access to information and opportunities to all its clients and staff as well. As a universal institution, the company cuddles multicultural understanding in its workplaces as well as the marketplace and it constantly projects to diversify its journey (The Coca-Coca company 2013). With respect to this point of view, the company has obtained various awards as recognition of its excellent work towards management diversification. For example, the company was ranked the 38th best inclusive and diversified companies in 2013 during the (Global Diversity Mission Award 2013) Coca-cola Diversity Challenges Diversity at workplaces comes up with various kinds of misconceptions and myths of all baggage. Managers at Coca-Cola have developed strategies to come up with strategies that can manage diversity at the workplace that has attracted several strategies. The following are the challenges that the company has faced but stills struggles to meet its clients needs and demands. Different cultures in each country: every country has its own culture thus, in all the countries that Coca-Cola operates, the culture of the state has to be considered when considering marketing strategies as well as designing the best organization structure to use. This has made Coca-Cola competitive for centuries (The Coca-Coca company 2013). The high cost of diversity management and Lawsuits: The Company spends huge amount of money trying to offer diversified training and other mentoring programs to its employees to inform workers on the significance of diversity. In various situations employees who feel that the company does against their race have always filled discrimination law suits. For example, in 2012, 20 workers filled lawsuits against the company due to discriminative concerns. Diversity implementation Measures Successful implementation of diversity in the workplace calls for some actions to be undertaken so as to ensure that the company is on the right track in ensuring that it maximizes it profitability. For these to be possible Coca-Cola company has put in place various diversity training programs as well as other stands for its employees to help in curbing diversity challenges. The company has come up with training and educational diversity programs grouped into three main pillars; diversity speaker programs or series whereby speakers are invited to speak to employees concerning diversity importance to organizations, diversity library where diversity information and data can be founds and finally diversity training and education which aims at educating workers deal with organizations cultural difference (The Coca-Coca company 2013). Conclusion It has been identified that ignorance on manager’s part concerning workforce diversity management has been the cause of poor productivity in many organizations thus; organizations should consider sponsoring their managers to attend conferences and seminars when need arises to as to equip them relevant skills and knowledge about workforce diversity. As seen from the successful growth and development of Coca-Cola company managers needs to communicate more efficiently with their employees to pave way for growth of positive organization culture. Diversification of cross-cultural concepts in organizations is considered as one of the main elements of organization success as portrayed through Coca-Cola company case study. For workforce diversity to be possible organizations ought to come up with visions and missions that align with their objectives keeping in mind the concerns of all the employees and the clients as well. 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