Is Diversity in the Workplace Optional - Coursework Example

Diversity in the Workplace Name Institution Course Date Diversity in the Workplace Introduction As the world increasingly globalizes, so is the workplace that increasingly becomes more diverse comprising of people from different backgrounds and cultures. In the modern world, individuals no longer work in an insular environment; rather now form part of the global economy competing within global environment (Edewor & Aluko 2007, p. 2). Today, when one looks around in the workplace, it is easy to notice that not everyone around is just like them. Instead, the workplace has a mix of people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. The Australian workforce demographics have changed significantly over the past five decades. In the last five decades, over 50% of the Australian workforce was made up of white males. However, the nature of the country’s workplace demographics has changed significantly as Australian workforce has become more diverse to the extent that it has a better reflection of the country’s population which has a mix of racial and ethnic communities, genders, age, religion, color, sex among others (Saxena 2014, p. 76; Loysk 1996, p. 42). Accordingly, workplace diversity is no longer an option, but is a source of competitive advantage to the extent that any company that hopes to succeed must make diversity part of its business model. Studies conducted in the recent times indicate that long-term success of any organization now requires the creation of diverse talents that are able to bring new ideas, views and perspectives in the workplace (Lauring 2009, p. 385). This paper will discuss the concept of diversity in the workplace and highlight its benefits and challenges to an organization. Diversity Defined Diversity has become buzz concept in the present day business environment. The concept of diversity implies acknowledging, understanding, embracing and valuing the difference among individuals in terms of their cultural backgrounds, such as race, culture, skin color, language, religion, gender, sex, class and disability among others (Roberge, & Van Dick 2010, p. 301). Workplace diversity, therefore, means creating a workplace consisting of people from different cultural backgrounds. This implies having workers from different genders, age groups, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, educational backgrounds, physical ability and work experience among others. As the world increasingly become a global community, employers are forced to embrace diversity and make it part of a business practice to remain competitive and to ensure success (Esty et al. 1995, p. 54). Globalization witnessed in the 21st century has resulted in situation where companies come into contact with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. As such, companies are forced to promote diversity and find ways of becoming inclusive considering that diversity has the potential to ensure greater productivity and competitive advantage. Edewor and Aluko (2007, p. 4) believe that diversity has become an invaluable competitive asset that no company can afford to overlook today. The author adds that managing diversity has become a principal component of effective people management at work. State of Diversity in Australian Companies Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world consisting of people from diverse cultural backgrounds. The diverse nature of the Australian society has increased in the recent times due to increased migration from people from all over the work, the majority of who come to live and work. According to ABS study, the number of skilled migrants has more than quadrupled in the last 15 years with many more still in the visa list awaiting entry into the country (Marshall McAdam 2016). Besides migrants and immigrants, Australia is made up of people from different genders, race, skin color, cultural orientation, ethnicity, religions and physical disabilities. Therefore, Australian companies have been forced to embrace diversity and inclusion as part of their business model to remain competitive. Reports indicate that Australian firms have made significant strides towards improving cultural diversity by implementing inclusive employment of individuals of cultural backgrounds, generations and races. For instance, reports show that more than 9.3% of Australian labor force is made of up Asian born employees (Marshall McAdam 2016). At the same time, it has been found that about 12% of the employees in Australian ICT sector are migrants from the UK, India, China and New Zealand (Australian Government 2016). Additionally, the state of glass ceiling in Australian companies have reduced significantly over the last few years as more and more Australian companies are acknowledging the contributions of women who currently occupy powerful managerial positions in Australia. According to Malone (2016), an ABC reporter, about 42% of directors of the top 200 Australian listed companies are women compared to just 5% in 2009. Overall, women now occupy about 23.6% of directorship positions compared to 8% in 2009. The above figures just reveal how the cultural composition of the Australian workforce is changing as companies increasingly recognizes the value of embracing diversity in employment. In fact, other than globalization that drives demographic changes, equal employment opportunity legislations demand that companies review their management practices and come up with more creative ways of managing people (Australian Government 2016). The legislation outlaws any form of discrimination in the workplace. The equal employment opportunity law requires employers to create a workplace devoid of discrimination and harassment of any form. Benefits of Diversity in Workplace Foster Innovation and Creativity Diversity has many benefits to an employer and key among them being the fact that it enhances innovation and creativity. In today’s businesses environment, competition has become so stiff to the extent that companies are forced to differentiate from rivals to remain relevant. Innovation and creativity have proven to be valuable resources that a company needs to remain relevant and competitive (Loysk 1996, p. 54). Fortunately, studies have found that having a diverse workforce fosters creativity and innovation that a company needs to compete effectively in an industry. Diversity promotes creativity and innovation in the sense that it brings together people from different cultural backgrounds with different viewpoints and perspective to an organization (Saxena 2014, p. 78). Accordingly, this results in creative ideas and perspectives that results in effective decision making and problem solving. According to the 2010 HR Council employer survey, it was found that 73% of the respondents in the study stated that having a diverse workforce enhances innovation and creativity by bringing together people from diverse backgrounds with divergent perspectives and viewpoints over an issue. This finding has been supported by many other studies conducted in different industries in different countries that also show a strong link between diverse workforce and innovation. “The more your network includes individuals from different cultural backgrounds, the more you will be creatively stimulated by different ideas and perspectives," says Professor Roy Y. J. Chua of the Harvard Business School (Kreit 2008, p. 101). Some of the most innovative companies such as Samsung and Apple have managed to remain top on the game by hiring diverse talents. According to Jack Immelt of Apple, to remain innovative and top on the industry, the company hires people from different backgrounds that bring different perspectives, views and ideas into the company. Using the different ideas and view, the company is able to come up with innovative products that meet the changing needs of customers in the market. The same applies to Samsung, which though is a South Korean company, the technology giant has a large proportion of its workforce comprising of people from diverse cultural backgrounds, nationalities, race, ethnic background and gender among others (Lauring 2009, p. 389). Like Apple, Samsung management reveals that hiring diverse talents has been key to promoting creativity and innovation in the company. Accordingly, evidences from these technology giants implies that any company that hopes to achieve long-term success has no option but to embrace diversity and inclusivity so as to help attract a pool of diverse talents. Increased Productivity In order for a company to succeed in an industry, it must have productive workforce. Fortunately, studies have found that diversity promotes productivity, which in turn ensures the success of a firm. Having diverse workforce implies having diverse set of skills that when brought together results in greater productivity and organizational success (Loysk 1996, p. 61). This is because diverse skills and competencies results in the development of creative ways of solving problems and improved productivity. Dizikes (2014) study found that gender diversity helps companies become more productive. Better Client Services As the business environments become more competitive, firms must ensure that customers are provided with quality services. Today’s customers are so mindful of the quality of services they get from companies. Fortunately, workforce diversity results in better customer service that in turn makes a company successful. When a company is made up of people from diverse cultural backgrounds, this makes the company gain valuable cultural knowledge that enable them better understand the needs of the customers they service (Cox 1991, p. 89). For instance, a female employee have a better understanding of the needs female employees than their male counterparts and act better in the identification of relevant services and goods for the female employees which result in increased customer satisfaction. Similarly, employees with disabilities have a better understanding of the needs of the disabled clients and can be a good resource for a company in identifying the goods and services for these clients (Saxena 2014, p. 79). On the same note, workers from diverse ethnic communities or linguistic backgrounds are better placed to serve people from their communities because of their understanding of the cultural issues and the language of such clients (Cox 1991, p. 91). Practically, as the world becomes increasingly diverse, Australia become more diverse, meaning that companies have to address the needs of different customers from different cultures and nationalities. Therefore, to better address the needs of diverse customers, a company must ensure that its workforce composition is representative of diverse nature of the customer base to ensure the provision of quality services to all customers (Lauring 2009, p. 391). For instance, it is no longer uncommon to check in an Australian restaurant and find Blacks, Chinese, and Asians serving customers. This is because these devise people understand the needs of customers from their communities better and are better placed to deliver quality services that would make them remain loyal customers, which ensures long-term company success. Make Recruitment Easier Competition for top performers is fierce across industries. Nevertheless, studies indicate that diversity can help a company recruit top-notch talents easily. According to a recent Glassdoor study, it was found that more than three-thirds of individuals polled cited that diversity was a factor that they look for when assessing a company and job offers (Marshall McAdam 2016). This study indicated that regardless of the position that a company is recruiting, the majority of talented employees are more willing to join a company that promotes diversity. Companies that do not promote diversity are feared by talented employees for fear that they might not embrace differences and provide employees with the opportunity to express their diverse views that might be different with what the company holds. As such, any company that intends to attract talented people from across the globe has no option but to embrace diversity and make it part of its recruitment and business culture; otherwise they might not be competitive in attracting top performers that they need to remain relevant in the modern day competitive business environment. Avoid High Turnover Companies have been struggling with increased turnover rates across industries in recent times. According to a report by the U.S. Labor Department, more employees are resigning from their jobs now than they have since 2008 (Marshall McAdam 2016). The same trend is observed in most developed countries across the globe, Australia not an exception. This implies that retention has become a priority for managers. According to Glasdoor study, more than 57% of the respondents in the study stated that their company needs to do more to increase diversity in the workplace. Currently, most managers understand that when their talented employees leave, getting the correct replacement is not just difficult, but expensive (Roberge, & Van Dick 2010, p. 299). Therefore, diversity is beneficial to a company since it minimizes the perception of people from diverse cultures that they do not fit the company. Challenges of Diversity in Workplace The first major challenge of diversity as presented in a wide body of literature has to do with communication challenges. When a company hires people from diverse cultures and linguistic backgrounds, this result in a situation where communication becomes a problem due to language barriers (Cox 1991, p. 94). Unfortunately, when there is a misunderstanding among employees due to language barriers, these results in confusion, low employee morale and lack of team work which affects the performance of an organization (Joplin & Daus 1997, p. 7). Resistance to change is another challenge associated with diversity in the workplace. Despite the fact that a company might be willing to implement diversity program, there are some employees that might not be comfortable with their social and cultural composition being changed (Edewor & Aluko 2007, p. 8). Accordingly, this results in difficulties in promoting diversity in the workplace. For instance, whereas an Australian company might was to hire people with disability or homosexuals, a section of employees might not be comfortable with this and resist such attempts. In the event that a company tries to hire the disabled or the homosexuals notwithstanding the resistance from other employees, this might create conflict in the workplace, which affects the success of the company. Lack of value is another challenge associated with diversity in the workplace. Employees want to work in a company, where they feel valued (Loysk 1996, p. 83). As such, when an employee feels that he/she is not valued in a particular company, they end up searching for other companies that may be competitors, who values them and their uniqueness. Solutions to Diversity Challenges in the Workplace There are various measures that a company can take to address the diversity challenges in the workplace. The first measure to solve diversity challenges is to eliminate resistance to change with inclusion. Pant and Vijaya (2015, p. 297) suggest that the employer needs to ensure that every employee is involved in the formulation and execution of diversity programs in the workplace. By including everyone, this makes everyone feel part of the diversity program, which helps eliminate resistance to change, which has proven a problem in diversity implementation in most workplaces. Second, employers can solve diversity challenges by fostering an attitude of openness in the workplace. According to Joplin and Daus (1997, p 6), the employer needs to encourage workers to express their opinions, attitudes and ideas freely as this will give a sense of equal to all. Accordingly, this will make every employee in the workplace to feel valued and part of the team regardless of their cultural backgrounds. Additionally, the diversity challenges highlighted above can be overcome through diversity training. Lauring (2009, p. 288) states that training is an important tool that a company can use to shape its diversity policy. Through diversity training, employees from different cultural backgrounds would be able to have a better understanding of each other and to embrace individual differences in the workplace. Training also gives employees a chance to learn about the languages of employees of other cultures and this helps address the problem of communication barriers, as well. Above all, the diversity challenges stated above can be addressed by promoting diversity in leadership. Pant and Vijaya (2015, p. 299) argue that diversity can only see the light of the day when the leadership of an organization, acknowledges, understand, value and are willing to embrace it. Therefore, addressing the challenges starts with promoting diversity in leadership positions. Conclusion The world has become a global community, thanks to globalization and technological developments that have made this possible. Because of this trend, companies get into contact with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Accordingly, to ensure success of a company, diversity has become a necessity and not an option. As demonstrated in the paper, diversity has many benefits to a company that include fostering innovation and creativity, increased productivity, better client services, makes a company attractive to talented employees and minimize turnover. However, to succeed in implementing diversity in the workplace, employers must be prepared to overcome the challenges associated with diversity that includes cultural barriers, such as communication challenges, resistance to change and lack of value as recommended in the paper. Notwithstanding the challenges, employers must understand that diversity is no longer an option in the 21st century workplace. References Australian Government 2016, Equal opportunity and diversity, viewed 9 January 2017 https://www.business.gov.au/info/run/employ-people/equal-opportunity-and-diversity Cox, T. 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Roberge, M., & Van Dick, R 2010, “Recognizing the benefits of diversity: When and how does diversity increase group performance?” Human Resource Management Review, vol. 20, pp. 295-308. Saxena, A 2014, “Workforce diversity: A key to improve productivity,” Procedia Economics and Finance, vol. 11, pp 76-85. Read More