The Importance Of Managing Diversity In The Workplace

Individuals, by nature, were created different from each other. From the visible differences mainly, age, gender, social status, to the invisible, which are political views, culture, and behavior, each person acts based on their own orientation. These differences are seen not only on how they deal with their primary environment but also observed in their respective workplace.

Diversity, as defined by Cambridge Dictionary, is a range of different things or people included in something (2017). It means understanding each individual’s uniqueness and differences in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs or other ideologies (Gladstone, 2017).

This mutual respect among employees thus reduces the possibility of conflict to arise. The differences and similarities are directed toward achieving common goals like production and quality which also preserves the quality of employees’ relationships between one another. The accomplishment of these goals will then build a great reputation for the business until it reaches markets in foreign countries. A global marketplace may open doors for employees with diverse language skills and multicultural understanding to build global profit

According to a Journal entitled: Managing Diversity Through Human Resource Management: An International Perspective And Conceptual Framework, one of these is the tendency to take advantage of individual differences, mainly cultural pluralism, in order for all people to maximize their potential, which is beyond legal compliance-oriented equal employment opportunity (Shen, Chanda et al, 2009). In addition to this, practice of diversity may lead to forming in-group and out-group in an organization. Those individuals who belong to the ‘dominant’ group within an organization tend to have higher job satisfaction and commitment as they experience higher co-worker support. For those outside the dominant group within an organization, job satisfaction can be lower, particularly where they do not have access to equal rewards or advancement opportunities (Shen, Chanda et al, 2009).

In the Philippines, international companies practice diversity in their workplace. Some of these are the likes of Coca-cola, Starbucks, Pepsi, etc. Meanwhile, in the United States, these are also multinational companies like Loreal, Ford Motor Company and Bayer. They were included in Diversity Inc’s Top 50 companies who pave the way for the future of diversity and inclusion as included in the article “Leaders in Diversity and Inclusion: 5 Lessons from Top Global Companies”