Advantages Of Workforce Diversity

INTRODUCTION

Workforce diversity is a multifaceted occurrence to manage in an organization. The management of workforce diversity as a tool to increase organizational effectiveness cannot be ignored, especially with current changes widespread across the globe. “It is argued that organizations that value diversity will definitely cultivate success and have a future in this dynamic global labor market” (Jain and Verma, 1996).Workforce diversity management has become an important issue for both governments and private organizations. Its importance has mainly been brought about by the free movement of labor due to globalization and the fight for human rights by certain minority groups who feel excluded from the employment sector. The workforce

Diversity includes cultural factors such as race, gender, age, color, physical ability, ethnicity, etc. “Diversity requires a type of organizational culture in which each employee can pursue his or her career aspirations without being inhibited by gender, race, nationality, religion, or other factors that are irrelevant to performance” (Bryan, 1999). Diversity in the workplace strives to make people of all backgrounds feel comfortable working within the organization. It further encourages equal opportunities among all employees or prospective employees to be hired and promoted based on merit not race, gender or belief.

Advantages of work force Diversity

Diversity at the workplace creates an opportunity for employee’s personal growth. When workers are being exposed to new cultures, ideas and perspectives, it can help each person to intellectually reach out and have a clearer intuition of their place in the global environment and therefore their own surroundings. “Managing diversity can create a competitive advantage. Potential benefits of this diversity include better decision making, higher creativity and innovation, greater success in marketing to foreign and domestic ethnic minority communities, and a better distribution of economic opportunity (Cox, 1991; Cox and Blake,

This increase comes from costs related with seminars, programs and lectures given to support diversity in the corporation. These types of training are given to all levels of staff within the organization. “They teach employees how to accept the personalities and ideas or thoughts of others. These programs also teach one how to deal with conflicts and prejudice in a professional and civil manner” (White, 1999).

Although workplace diversity benefits an organization as a whole, some employees and managers may not react positively to changes made. Employees who oppose workforce diversity usually reject new ideas and make work environments more difficult. If the company doesn't handle opposition properly, workplace diversity initiatives may not provide the intended benefits to the company.

Achieve the desired level of efficiency in a multicultural team is a big challenge to businesses because too much time is spent on sorting out misunderstandings, setting expectations and make everyone on the team pursue the same