Human Resource Strategies Proposal
1. Propose
This document will explore what a company can do to foster diversity in the workplace. The business case highlights the development and implementation of organizational initiatives that could:
A increase the numerical representation of historically excluded groups,
B empower a diverse workforce once it is in place to participate fully in organizational decision making,
C ensure the inclusion of a diverse workforce in every aspect of organizational life[1]
2. Introdution
In an ideal world, every person is treated equally when it comes to getting a job, advancing in his or her career and being treated fairly in the workplace. Unfortunately, discrimination still exists in hiring, firing and promotions; and the diversity of the workforce regrettably can cause hostility in the workplace when individuals do not appreciate and respect the differences among themselves and their co-workers.
Businesses that promote diversity in today's global marketplace are better able to attract and retain the best talent. Employing a diverse workforce allows a company to utilize the potential within the job market to its fullest and contributes to overall economic growth and prosperity. Differences among co-workers should not divide a workplace. Rather, differences among co-workers should be used to foster creativity and innovation, thereby driving profitability and business success.
3. Diversity - What Is It?
Traditionally, diversity refers to an assortment of races, ethnicities, genders, ages, disabilities and perhaps sexual orientations. A definition of diversity, however, should not be constrained by traditional categories such as these. Such a definition should also include categories such as religion, educational level, life experience, geographic location, socio-economic background, marital status and work experience. Indeed, each person employed by a company possesses unique qualities that encompass many factors.
The Dimensions of Diversity encompasses two Dimensions[2] (see the presentation Slide 5).
4. Factors that motivate companies to diversify their workforces
Here is a overview of seven predominant factors that motivate companies, large and small, to diversify their workforces, As a Social Responsibility, As an Economic Payback, As a Resource Imperative, As a Legal Requirement, As a Marketing Strategy, As a Business Communications Strategy, As a Capacity-building Strategy.
For whichever of these reasons that motivates them, it is clear that companies that diversify their workforces will have a distinct competitive advantage over those that don’t.
5. How To Diversify the Workforce
Having diversity in the workplace allows for greater growth within a company due to the different opinions and perspectives of people from all walks of life. To remain competitive, many companies are being advised to recruit, develop and retain men and women of all different backgrounds, ages and races (Cox and Blake, 1991). By doing this and also accommodating the needs of their demographically diverse workforce, companies will become much more appealing places to work therefore reducing turnover and absentee
Diversity in the workplace is very important in today’s global workforce because workers in the economy all over the world are currently made up of many different ethnicities, varied cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds. People that are involved in management such as managers, and supervisors could greatly benefit from being accustomed to diversity in the workplace because their job entails dealing with a multicultural work environment on a daily basis. Knowing how to handle diversity in the workforce and having the necessary skills for supervisors would be beneficial not only to them but also to the success of the company and economy because a strong, diversified workforce will create a more “creative, innovative, and productive workforce.” (Kerby, 2012).
Diversity is a highly important issue in today’s business, especially in a globalized company. Workplace diversity helps to get better solutions to business problems (Schawbel, 2012). When you have a group of individ...
Diversity is vital to the success of today’s business model. Companies small and large have demonstrated benefits from an economic standpoint as well as talent management perspective. Canas & Sondak outline four pillars of change necessary for a successful program. These pillars are described as “demonstrate leadership support”, “engage employees as partners”, integrate diversity with management practices” and “link diversity goals to business goals” (Canas & Sondak, 2014). Novartis as a global company validates the theory to lead diversity within its organization.
Barak, M. E. (2005). Managing diversity: toward a globally inclusive workplace. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
The impact of diversity in the workplace is contingent upon several factors. Across companies diversified workforces are becoming increasingly common. To successfully manage a diverse workforce, organizations are ensuring that employees understand how their values and stereotypes influence their behavior toward others of different gender, ethnic, racial, or religious backgrounds; are gaining an appreciation of cultural differences among themselves; and behaviors that isolate or intimidate minorities are being improved (Noe et al., 2010, pg. 302).
Cox, 1991; Cox and Blake, (1991) argued that “managing diversity can create a competitive advantage, better decision making higher creativity and greater success and a better distribution of economic opportunity.”
Implementation of diversity in the workplace policies - Build and implementing a customized strategy to maximize the effects of diversity in the workplace is by no means easy. Continuous tracking of performance with standards and revision of policies is crucial when the results may be falling short of expectations. Successful Management of Diversity in the Workplace - Diversity training alone is not sufficient for an organization’s diversity management plan. It has been observed by diversity advocates and HR personnel that there has been a ‘diversity fatigue’. It has been reduced to a
One of the challenges organizations face today is obtaining and retaining human capital while evolving parallel to the continuous changes within our society and diversity in the workforce. (Bohlander & Snell, 2013) Maak & Pless (2004) suggests that the challenges are not based on compliance with legislation, but rather organizations’ ability to embrace and utilize its diverse workforce to the advantage of achieving organizational goals. (as cited in Sabharwal, 2014) In-groups and out-groups can create an inclusion-exclusion continuum and discrimination in the workplace. However, if an organization promotes inclusion (i.e. allowing employees to influence organizational decisions), and supports cultural differences by utilizing employees
Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between people in an organisation, Diversity comes down to acceptance, respect and understanding of one another in the workplace, even when you may disagree, you need to be understanding and try your best to relate to everyone and embrace their unique differences.
The researcher believes, in this fast-changing era, any kind of company or organization should be able to improve the quality of workplace diversity by having some important main factor to boost the new paradigm of a diverse workplace, such as:
The process of intentional including issues of workforce diversity into management is called diversity management. Diversity management refers at least to three disciplines: human resources management, work law, marketing and change management, which mutually derive from their work. However, data collected from global surveys during ongoing downturn show that is first closely related to strategic management (Minchington, 2013, pp. 2–3).
Consultants and the managers as well as business leaders believe that effectively managing and handling the diversity is the competitive advantage. This advantage stems from the process in which diversity management affects the organizational
Diversity is all around us and how organizations deal with the notion of diversity can be complex and quite diverse. We know that being diverse in the workplace is important to the organization's success, should be recognized, accepted, and embraced. It’s how the organizations live up to what they believe in and must go above and beyond legal compliance and requirements to promoting diversity and inclusion. Otherwise, employees may view the organization's vision and policies as lip service and only be tolerant of diversity because the organization said so.
The importance of diversity in the workplace that it can aid in a competitive framework