Human Resource Diversity - Essay Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Human Resource Diversity Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Human Resource Diversity 3 Introduction 3 Human Resource diversity 3 Importance of human resource diversity within an organization 4 Challenges of workforce diversity 6 Managing challenges of workforce diversity 7 Planning a mentoring program 7 Strategic organization of talents 8 Workforce Diversity management 9 Managing Human Resource Diversity within an organization 10 Conclusion 12 Bibliography 12 Human Resource Diversity Introduction The term Human Resource refers to the function inside an organization that has the overall responsibility of implementing strategies and policies relating to the supervision of employees who are the within the organization. The human resource of an organization must minimize monetary risks and maximize return on investment in the human capital of the organization. Human resource managers achieve this through alignment of supply of qualified and skilled individuals and improving the capabilities of the present workforce. By doing this, the organization is able to use the continuing business strategies and plans to maximize return on investment and secure future survival and success of its business. To make sure these objectives are achieved, the human resource works to implement the organizations human resource needs efficiently and reasonably, taking into account ways of retaining the respect and support of the workforce ( Elsa & Emmanuel, 2007). Human Resource diversity Diversity can be defined as the variation of cultural and social identities among employees existing together in a defined market setting or employment. There is narrow and broad definition human resource diversity. Narrow definition tends to reflect equal employment opportunity law and define human resource diversity in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and religion. Broad definition of human resource diversity includes personality characteristics, values, language, education, lifestyle, marital status, beliefs, and physical appearance and background characteristics like tenure with the organization, economic status, and geographical origin. In simple term, diversity is all the ways in which individuals differ. Currently, human resource diversity is not just about anti discrimination legal compliance but is the concept is the impact of inclusion and corporate performance (Robert & John, 2007). Corporations view diversity as a competitive advantage that contributes to economic benefits when it is realigned to the corporation’s strategic business goals. Human resource diversity is as an issue of employees that focuses on the similarities and differences that individuals bring to a corporation. As a concept, diversity is seen to be inclusive of every employee within an organization. In several ways, diversity initiatives match the non discrimination compliance programs through creation of a workplace atmosphere and the culture of the organization for making differences work. Diversity involves learning from individuals who are not same, respect and dignity for all, and creation of workplace practices and environments that encourage learning from other people and capturing advantage of diverse perspectives (Randy, L., 2008). Importance of human resource diversity within an organization Through the implementation of modern technologies, the business world has turned into a global village. Modernization in communication has enabled numerous organizations to extend their businesses in diverse parts of the globe. When multinational corporations set up businesses in new places, it offers greater chances of employment to personnel and experienced individuals of that particular geographical location. Such practices occur on state, city, country or province level. The organization extends its business and at the same time building a diverse environment to accommodate the diverse workforce. Therefore, the human resource manager should not be biased by the differences in gender, age, race, physical abilities and qualities, nationality and ethnicity and the only and most important tool of judgment should be work experience, expertise and educational background (Beth, 2004). Differences may exist on the interpersonal level as a result of inequality in work styles, personalities, organizational skills and communication skills. However, decisions within the organization should be taken through ignoring employees differences so that the needs of all employees are met irrespective of their differences. Human resource manager should put efforts utilize diversity meaningfully and effectively and make sure that every ability of diverse individuals are utilized in meeting the organizations goals and objectives. It is not satisfactory to merely acknowledge differences amongst employees. Having knowledge on the similarities amongst diverse human resource diversity is significant in constructing a high performing work group. An important way of approaching similarities in organizations is through determining the objectives and goals to be achieved, and the formation of a group of employees whose similarities will produce synergy and whose differences will complement each other (Stephen, 2005). The final outcome of such diversity is a working atmosphere that is inclusive of every employee in spite of their differences. It is significant for the human resource manager to look out for and identify the individual talents together with the contributions that each and every employee offers to the organization. In so doing, the similarities and differences will promote the achievement of the goals of the organization through a labor force that is creative, effective and prolific. At times, organizations get extremely diverse consumer markets in terms of preferences and attitudes. In the place of work, these differing perspectives can generate the creativity that is required for the success of an organization. Opinions and ideas developed in a diverse working environment are very significant because unique perspectives and approaches can contribute to creative resolutions for business matters. Multinational group and organizations work with diversity on basis of cultural differences and required to develop cultural competencies. Organizations are supposed to search for a mutual understanding amongst their diverse employees in order to attain effective business outcomes. Exposures of different employees within an organization promote innovation and creativity (Helen, 2007). Increase in diversity of workforce contributes to a great continuum of interests, backgrounds, views and ways of doing things within the organization. Different ideas given by workers bring useful solutions to tribulations, improve quality of decision making and promote expansion of creativity. Challenges of workforce diversity Today, organizations are within an increasing globalized environment leading to the increasing need to relate and work efficiently with people from diverse cultural, economic and societal backgrounds. As a result, diversity has become an important issue in the life of an organization and the exploitation and management of diversity is important to meet the diversity challenge. The future success of every organization depends on the capability to manage a diverse body of aptitude that can contribute innovative ideas, views, and perspectives to their work. The problems and challenges faced in workforce diversity can be changed into a strategic asset of the organization if the organization is capable of capitalizing on the diverse talents. With the combination of aptitudes of diverse genders, cultural background, lifestyles and ages, a corporation is able to respond to business opportunities more creatively and rapidly particularly in the global field and this acts as an important goal corporation goal to be achieved (Ronald, 2005). However, if the corporation fails to broadly support diversity, it is at threat of losing talents to business competitors. This is particularly factual for multinational companies who operate on a global scale and employ workers of diverse countries, cultural and ethical backgrounds. The challenge of workforce diversity is prevalent among the medium and small enterprises of Singapore. With a small population of four million people only and the nations endeavor towards knowledge based economy and high technology, distant talents are employed to share their expertise in these business fields with the local population. Therefore the local human resource managers must undergo cultural based human resource management training to supplement their capabilities to motivate a cluster of personnel who have high qualifications but are culturally diverse. In addition, the human resource manager should guarantee the native personnel that the foreign talents do not pose a threat to the advancement of their careers. In several ways, the success of workforce diversity management relies on the skilful balancing action of the human resource manager. On of the major reasons for unsuccessful workforce diversity management is the inclination to pigeonhole workers, inserting them in a dissimilar place on the basis of their diversity profile. Organizations which respond to human complexity through leveraging the aptitudes of a broad human resource are likely to become the most efficient in developing their businesses along with their customer support (Peter, 2008). Managing challenges of workforce diversity Planning a mentoring program One of most excellent ways to deal with workforce diversity is by initiating a diversity mentoring program. The program can entails involvement of managers in different departments in a mentoring program to coach and give feedback to workers who are different from one another. For the program to work effectively, it is important to offer practical training to the managers or seek assistance from experts and consultants in this business field. Generally, this program enables the employees to air their personal opinions and ideas and discover how to resolve disagreements which might occur as a result of their diversity (Pieter, 2005). More significantly, the function of the diversity mentoring program seek out to encourage workers to go beyond their individual cultural frame of orientation in order to identify and take complete advantage of the productivity potential inbuilt within the diverse population. Strategic organization of talents Several organizations are identifying the benefits of workforce diversity. As more corporations are expanding their markets globally either virtually or physically, there is a need to use diverse talents in order to recognize the several market niches. For instance, when China was opening up its markets and exporting its products globally in the late 1980s, the Chinese companies such as Chinas electronic giant Haier were looking for market expertise of Singaporeans. This was so because Singapore’s marketing talents were capable of understanding the native China markets comparatively well (about 70% of Singaporeans are of Chinese origin) and together with being accustomed to the markets in the West due to Singapore’s open economic policies and the English language capabilities. With this type of trend, the local human resource manager should be able to organize the band of diverse aptitudes strategically for the benefit of the organization. He must reflect on how a diverse workforce can help the organization to acquire new markets and other goals of the organization in order to exploit the complete potential of workforce diversity. An organization which views the presence of diverse workforce as an organizational asset other than a liability would ultimately assist the organization to confidently take some of the less helpful aspects of workforce diversity. The human resource manager must advocate for a diverse workforce by making diversity evident at every organizational level. When this is not accomplished, the workers will swiftly conclude that the organization do not hold a future for them. As the human resource manager, it is relevant to demonstrate respect for workforce diversity issues and endorse positive and clear responses to the diversity issues. The human resource manager show display a high degree of commitment and be capable of resolving issues relating to workforce diversity in responsible and ethical manner (Donald, 2003). Workforce Diversity management Diversity management refers to the effective utilization of diversity within a corporation. Management of diversity requires the organization to plan and implement practices and systems to manage employees so that the potential positive effects of diversity are maximized and the potential negative effects are minimized. Diversity management is concept that might help an organization in attaining competitive advantage. Whereas aspects like the legal environment or ethical consideration may also be of great importance, the economic motive is viewed as the main reason as to why several organizations manage diversity (Susan, 2008).The human resource managers must play a major function in the successful organization of human resource diversity. Organizations that do not emphasize on attracting and retaining diverse talents may find themselves in terrible consequences as a result of the change in competitive market and environment as their competitors might outplay them in the strategic use of their human resources. With the growth in competition globally and locally, organizations are supposed to be more focused on their customers and employees in order to succeed. The human resource role must be business driven and be able to influence major policies, decisions, and strategies that aim on personnel retention and development of talents. The human resource should fight for and promote ethics, values, spirituality, and beliefs within their corporations, particularly in the management of workforce diversity. In order to efficiently manage workforce diversity, a human resource manager is required to shift from an ethnocentric perspective of “our way is the best way” to a culturally relative view of ” let’s take the best of a variety of ways” (Keith, 2008). This change in attitude must be embedded in the administrative outline of the human resource manager in his organizing, leading, planning, and controlling of human resources within the organization. There are several excellent practices that can be adopted by the human resource manager in ensuring successful management of workforce diversity so as to achieve the goals of the organization. Managing Human Resource Diversity within an organization Managing diversity within the organization represents both an opportunity and a challenge for the management within the organization. In fact, managing workforce diversity is a challenge because it calls for organizational change. The challenge is as a result of having to deal with the situation where every person is different and having to value these differences in order to maximize the abilities of every employee. Several strategies have been constructed to deal with the challenges related to diversity (George, 2009). The creation of a diverse environment helps in the lessening of harms such as discrimination and prejudice Communication between the human resource manager and the diverse employees will help the manager in exploring and coping with the differences. Managing of workforce diversity can be very hard sometimes because people may be unwilling to shift from their traditional norms and views of appropriate behaviour. Managers are likely to attain efficient management of a diversified labor force through educational and training programs. Educational programs that support awareness of cultural disparity are the key means of addressing workforce diversity. Provision of staff training on the contributions of diverse cultures to the community aids to prevent racism, stereotype thinking and labeling within the workplace. The programs will provide precise information on cultural differences. Laying more emphasis on these programs will make sure that workers understand the commitment of the organization in building a positive and ideal working environment. Educational programs are more likely to improve and promote of human relationships within the organization (Norton, 2008). However, the programs are not likely to eradicate conflict because as a result of increasing diversity among workers within the organization and conflicts are unavoidable. Employees working within an organization have different characteristics and personalities. Conflicts are likely to emerge as different people have different ideas, opinions and views. Conflicts are reduced if essential rules of conduct for organizational relationships and behaviour are established. Rules assist to set suitable principles of behaviour and lead to conflict resolution. The role of the human resource manager is to create an environment of harmony and discipline to make sure diversity is effective within the organization. When these issues are established, the organization is likely to from great opportunities and advantages to acquire success. Rapid shifts in business operations as a result of progress in technology, and development of new products has acted as an advantage to organizations. However, organizations that pay great attention to workforce diversity are likely to gain from competitive advantage which includes attraction, motivation and retention of high latent workers who are innovative and efficient and lead to greater profitability and productivity Managers obtain these benefits when they passionately acknowledge diverse viewpoints and disseminate with a heterogeneous workforce. Organizations that adapt to a greater range of culturally diverse have a great opportunity of attracting and retaining the highly skilled employees and to utilize the beat talents from them. In any firm, it is significant that managers look into the interests of their employees irrespective of their sex, age, religion, race and colour (Randall, 2004). Conclusion Human resource diversity is the differences and similarities of employees within an organization. An organization is supposed to create a diverse environment that accommodates the diverse workforce. Diversity involves respect and dignity for every individual and learning from other people who are different from you. For effective running of an organization, diversity should be effectively managed and it is a challenge since it requires the organization to change, make adjustments and accommodations. Management of workforce diversity is the commitment of the organization to recruit, promote and retain a diversified workforce. The mission of the organization is to value the differences of the human resource and to capitalize on the potential of the employees. Bibliography Robert, L., & John, H., 2007, Human Resource Management, 12th Edition, Cengage Learning Press, London. Helen, D., 2007, Human resource management in Australia: strategy, people, performance, 3rd edition, McGraw-Hill Press, Australia. Elsa, P., & Emmanuel, A., 2007, OECD reviews of human resource management in government: OECD Press, Hollywood. Pieter A., 2005, Human Resource Management in South Africa, 3rd Edition, Cengage Learning Press, London. George, B., 2009, Managing Human Resources, 15th edition, Cengage Learning Press, London. Ronald, J., 2005, Reinventing human resource management: challenges and new directions. Routledge Press, New York. Norton, M., 2008, Human Resources Administration for Educational Leaders, Harvard Education Press, Harvard. Beth, M., 2004, Human resource management in today's academic library: meeting challenges and creating opportunities, Libraries Unlimited Press, England. Susan, E., 2008, Managing Human Resources, 10th Edition, Oxford University Press, London. Keith, A., 2008, Managing human resources: contemporary perspectives in New Zealand 3rd Edition, McGraw-Hill Press, Australia. Stephen, B., 2005, Managing human resources: personnel management in transition, 4th edition, University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Donald, W., 2003, 2004 U. S. Master Human Resource Guide, Oxford University Press, New York. Randall, S., 2004. Managing human resources in cross-border alliances, Routledge Press, New York. Peter, B., 2008, Managing Diversity in Intergovernmental Organisations, Springer Press, New York. Randy, L., 2008, Human Resource Development 5th edition, Cengage Learning Press, London. Read More