Benefits and Challenges of Managing Diversity - Coursework Example

Diversity management Name Institution Diversity management Introduction The growing globalization of the world now needs more relations among individuals from the diverse cultures, backgrounds and beliefs than ever before (Aoun, 2007, p.68). People and businessmen and women no longer work and live within a narrow marketplace because people are currently part of the global economy as competition comes from almost all continents. Barak (2005, p. 97) claimed that globalization has led to scramble for best talents to help companies in reaching various markets and to develop products which satisfy foreign market needs. While some organizations view diversity as an encumbrance because they represent multiple challenges, there are other organizations who view diversity as a significant benefit in today’s competitive workplace. The truth is that, despite the challenges which come with diversity, it has several benefits and competitive advantages such as empowerment, improved customer satisfaction and adaptation to global change. Therefore, this essay will discuss the benefits and challenges of managing diversity and use examples from organizations to determine their relevance today in the 21” century management. Managing diversity Diversity Dictionary (1996) described workplace diversity as the difference among people who are working or interacting in an organization. Differences can be in terms of languages, ethnicities, cultures, sexual orientations, social classes, abilities, ages, sects and religion. Welch and Welch (2008, p.345) claimed that the intensification of globalization in the 21st century is compelling managers, suppliers and, customers and employees to meet and interrelate with one another across the linguistic boundaries. As stated earlier, language is regarded as one of the workplace diversities which require to be managed by the company executives. Languages, ethnicities, disabilities, ages, religion and other diversity challenges create the purpose of managing diversity. Some of the purposes for managing diversity include to inculcate cultural intelligence, innovation, to attracting talents and to create an organizational strategy. Schwabenland and Tomlinson (2008, p.324) urged that Managing diversity also means hiring and training culturally diverse candidates to fit into the organization and help the organization understand the need of the new target market. Therefore, the purpose of managing diversity is to foster cultural intelligence among the employees and management (Ozbilgin & Tatli, 2008, p. 76). When workmates and clients have diverse backgrounds, the opportunities are created for the stakeholders to learn and understand what values some cultures hold sanctified. Being used to these values as one of the company’s main product and message it creates understanding among the cultures. HP Company has stores or production plants in 18 countries hence it has taken direction of working talents from other countries. Apple took this initiative after realizing that clients prefer to purchase products and services from companies that are diverse (Kamal & Ferdousi, 2009, p.165). HP Company stated that one of the main reasons for a company to be truly successful globally is to be authentically diverse. According to Kamal and Ferdousi (2009, p.163), having wider cultural experience that drives innovation is one of main reasons of employing diverse workforce. Whether a worker has an entry level, management or mid level, as long as all of them have the same background in their place of work, therefore a creative process which involves solving of problems and innovation is the same. Organizations that accept authentic diversity may end up noticing that it is not enough to have only the required number of minorities in the place of work. Therefore, Podsiadlowskia et al., (2013) claimed that companies are introducing chief diversity officer duties who will dwell more on not only human resources and recruitment. These chief diversity officers will be in a position to concentrate more on sales, strategy and marketing Challenges of Diversity Diversity management generally requires more than just recognizing differences in individuals (Konrad, Prasad & Pringlr, 2006, p.112). Some of the good ways of creating a good dialogue includes combating discrimination, promoting in that each member has an opportunity to talk and also to listen, and to appreciate value differences. Aoun (2007, p.69) contended that challenges of diversity automatically lead to organization failure in terms of human resource management. Other challenges of diversity include working relationship between staffs, cultural which is like communication and discrimination based on gender and ethnicity among others. Language differences normally impede effective and efficient communication. Employees who may not be fluent in the key language majorly spoken at the organization might have complications in articulating their needs and answer questions from customers and even from colleagues (Williams, 2007, p.597). When there is language diversity, a client may not be able to understand a staff that lacks command of the primary language thus could be distressed. Williams (2007, p.603) claimed that language is also a key issue in employee’s self identity as it enable him or her to articulate their share emotions, feelings, communicate complex messages and tell stories. Singaporeans sometimes depend on non-verbal communication like facial expression, tone of voice, and body language rather than spoken words unlike in Australia. Gender diversity on the other hand is a major challenge especially in the previous two decades when organizations were dominated by males. As more women now get into workforce, the culture of male dominance in workforce still dominates as most men still thinks most tasks are reserved for them (Zanoni, 2011, p.107). The perspective of dominance has kept women of top jobs like top and middle level managers even if they qualify. What some male managers still do not realize is that women can also help also have special skills like secretarial, reception and customer services. Women also have a competitive advantage in attracting women customers to an organization. Zanoni (2011, p.111) went ahead to state that currently, gender diversity has become a major issue in the world market as consumer look for gender balance before deciding to purchase products. Another gender issue women still face today are equal payment and sexual harassment (Schwabenland & Tomlinson, 2008, p.328). For instance, women face sexual advances and even unwelcome behavior of the sexual nature. Even though, more progress is made to stop these behaviors, education and training are still needed. Another major diversity that cannot be ignored is age or generational differences at the workplace. The changes in workplace in terms of technology and speed of work encourages the hiring of young generation into workplace. However, even as the generation Y or millennial comes into workforce some companies still retain baby boomers to guide the new generation (Wesolowski, 2014, p.34). The existent of two different generations with different interests, goals, culture, behavior and expectations is a major challenge to the daily operations of every company. Ethnicity is another form of diversity which highly affect communication and relationship at the organization. Fiske and Lee (2008, p.134) argued that ethnic diversity often do not go well with minorities who have dissimilar views, communication and behavior in an organization. The problem starts when dominant groups want their opinions to dominate the decision making process and even discussions. Benefits of Diversity Diversity is important both to employers and associates. However, associates tend to be interdependent in the place of work, respecting the employees’ differences leads to rise in productivity (Martin, 2005, p.40). Some of the advantages of diversity include participation and involvement of employees, customer satisfaction and easy to adaptation to environmental uncertainty. Being associated with these companies creates networking opportunities that are excellent and also promotes collaborations with diverse candidates. Community involvement is an added advantage of broadening relationship between the workers because they are able work together for the groups that they appreciate more (Rice, 2010, p.57). A company that is genuinely involved in diversity rarely receives discrimination. A member of staff who is involved in legal action against an organization may only allege discrimination if he or she is victimized or terminated from the differentiation he or she owns from his or her fellow colleagues (Kamal and Ferdousi, 2009, p.164). However, if an organization exercises diversity amongst its members on each level such claims are easily avoided. An organization that is diverse can result to employee involvement. Barak (2005, p. 97) posited that since employees from diverse cultures have different experiences, they come to the organization and are allowed to introduce new ideas into their workplace. Therefore, recruitment of people from other culture and allowing them to give their opinion encourages participation. An organization that exercises diversity attracts more job seekers when it has vacancies. Candidates who have higher education and have experienced diversity while in campuses will prefer a diverse company due to the fact that it helps them adapt into a new environmental uncertainty and global changes (Ewoh, 2013, p.114). In addition, diversity can also bring customer satisfaction. Barak (2005) argued that normally, culturally diverse employees from certain market can help the company understand the needs of his people, hence enabling the company manufacture products that meet their demands and provides satisfaction. Leadership approaches to managing diversity In this competitive 21st century, a sustainable benefit of globalization depends mainly on the abilities and skills from a leader who can control diversity while introducing complex business ideas (Barak, 2005, p.43). Participative leadership and its tenets are highly required in this perspective. Global participative leaders normally has the knowledge and negotiation skills from cross cultures which ensures such process keep up with international competitiveness (Bryson et al., 2013, p.54). They should be in a position to exchange messages and questions effectively since different characteristics and personalities may lead to misinterpretations and misunderstandings. Participative leaders are often motivators. Bryson et al., (2013, p.47) stated that diverse workforce requires participative leadership because it encourages and inspires the staff especially when facing diversity challenges, even if everyone has special dynamics and unique talents among the different communities they come from. Diverse workforce normally wants to be involved in conversations and decisions making to make everybody feel appreciated within the organization (Singh, 2008). The situation need participative leader who will bring everybody on board and allow them to be heard. Conclusion In conclusion, a diversified workplace reflects a market place and also a world that is changing. From the essay, it is evident that benefits of diversity are far much more than challenges. In the current business environment, competition and globalization now demands that an organization have a plan for recruiting talents from diverse background to various benefits such as empowerment, customer satisfaction, global market adaption, increase of productivity, reduction in lawsuits and the improvement of company’s image. However, companies also find themselves in an awkward situation when diversity is not managed properly. Companies which have not managed diversity face challenges such as poor working relationship, promotion and communication breakdown. Research shows that companies which practices diversity have improved tremendously over the years hence managers must often stick to diversity policies to survive in global markets. Recommendations Based on essay, it has been found out that diversify affects relationship, teamwork and staffing policy hence reducing the effectiveness of workers in the foreign environment. Therefore, this essay recommends some of the ways the firm can use to decrease these challenges Training The company needs to invest in more training of employees both from parent country of the company and new target market. Training has the capacity to inspire cultural intelligence on workers and to make the global citizens. In that way, the staff will drop cultural difference and concentrate on corporate culture. Polycentric Staffing Another best option is to hire nationals from host-country for lower positions to the high top level managers with only a few slots for foreign employees. Since the firm operates in another country, it will have reduced the effects of cultural diversity. References Aoun, G. (2007). Report of an international forum on managing diversity. Equal Opportunities International, 26(1), 67 – 70. Barak, M. E. (2005). Managing Diversity Towards a Globally Inclusive Workplace. London: Sage Publications. Bryson, J.M., Quick, K.S., Slotterback, C. S., & Crosby, B.C. 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