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Running head; DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT 1

DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT 8

Diversity in the Workplace -Rough Draft

Managing a Diverse Workforce

Jeff Rover

09/11/17

Diversity Management

Abstract

Diversity management revolves around the practices undertaken by the management of an organization to address and support multiple lifestyles and personal behaviors and characteristics within a defined group in the organization. The groups in an organization are the employees who have been put in teams by the management. The management then carries out a range of activities which involve educating and ensuring that support is available for the employees to accept and respect various social, racial, political, geographic backgrounds, among others (Llopis, 2011).

Diversity management has been considered as the current driving force behind the growth in businesses as well as the attainment of the competitive advantage by an organization (Llopis, 2011). Those organizations who strive to remain relevant in the global market and eventually succeed are in most cases which appreciate diversity in the relevant organization. These are the organizations which carry out their activities in such a manner as to respect diversity among the workforce. Such organizations do act, think and innovate concerning a diversified environment. Diversity is a totality on its own which revolves around how an organization treats people throughout the organization structure.

Therefore, the topic of diversity management is a problem or rather an opportunity which every organization has to clinch to remain relevant in the business competitive environment.

Body

Diversity management is an opportunity has forced organizations to come up with solutions to handle this important matter. The solutions are ways which many organizations undertake to ensure that diversity in the workplace is managed effectively and efficiently. The varying solutions adopted by organizations to realize effective diversity management entails the following:

i. Recognition

As the management of an organization, it is advisable to realize that people working in an organization have significant differences. The differences are in the form of culture, generation and physical, among many others (Ryan, 2017). These factors can never be the same among the workforce. Instead, the management should put it as a priority within an organization to appreciate and celebrate the differences with the employees. Moreover, they should encourage the employees to show their individualities as this is a step towards enhancing cohesion and building an organizational culture.

It is also worth to note that recognition makes employees feel part of an organization and that they are appreciated. This is a source of motivation to the employees which enhance their productivity in the organization.

ii. Fairness

It is inevitable that the management of an organization should undertake to act fairly on all the employees in an organization. Regarding fairness, we are not talking about acting uniformly since these are two different terms. In acting fairly, the management is expected to respect the differences among the workforce by taking steps to demonstrate a fair attitude as well as respecting the diversity. A good example of a situation where management can demonstrate respect to diversity and fairness is avoiding organizing mandatory meetings which fall on religious holidays as this will show insensitivity and discrimination among the workforce who will be prejudiced by the act (Ryan, 2017).

iii. Focusing on oneself

Diversity management in the work place may be fostered by the ability of employees to manage their attitude and behavior in the workplace. An employee should be motivated to focus on those factors which are likely to impact on the view he/she has for others. This will entail emphasizing on employees to avoid issues like prejudgments and learn how to respond to a variety of communications while interacting with others. It is good to understand that in focusing on oneself, an employee will be in a position to develop self-awareness. Remember, self-awareness enhances the development of a safe and fair place of work for a diverse pool of employees.

iv. Regular employee assessments

Employee assessment is a common phenomenon in organizations. Such reviews are in most cases conducted to examine the performance of employees in an organization regarding productivity. It is important for managers to assess the attitudes of employees since this play a critical role in determining the overall performance of an employee. For example, in a case where you notice a certain employee is delegating duties to employees of a particular race, it takes the efforts of a manager to resolve the issue.

Moreover, it can be in a form that an employee is a font of discrediting the ideas or contributions of employees or other stakeholders above or below his/her age, this is more of an attitude developed by that employee and a good manager takes the initiative to address the issue by advising the employee accordingly (Ryan, 2017). Employee assessment is important if and if only conducted objectively with more emphasis on attitude and behavior. A manager ought to identify issues among employees and then raise the issues as areas of concern when assessing performance.

v. Encourage interactions

The management of an organization should be able to handle diversity-related issues expressed by employees in a non-confrontational manner. This will involve engaging the employees in friendly conversations and advise on how such diverse factors can contribute to the attainment of the set goals (Ryan, 2017).

A forum where employees can discuss their diversities peacefully ought to be created by the management to enable employees to appreciate one another regarding their differences. A good example is when employees are placed or rather grouped in teams consisting of employees from different backgrounds (Ryan, 2017). Taking initiatives of such types of interactions encourages employees in an organization to learn and develop more on the talents, skills, and goals.

vi. Self determination

The management of an organization should be able to determine its preconceptions or rather prejudgments or biases before unraveling those of others. This is because it would result in a conflict of decisions. Understanding the biases that exist in an organization will enhance the development of framework or rather workable solutions towards the efficient and effective management of diversity in the workplace (Baxter, 2016). Remember, it would not be fair for the management to try to deal with the biases among the employees while their biases can be seen in the organization. Therefore, it becomes essential for the management to determine their preconceptions and biases first and handle them accordingly.

vii. Investing in diversity training

It is advisable for companies and its management to regularly hold meetings as well as seminars and workshops which are aimed at reinforcing policies and encouraging the appropriate behavior. Through learning and professional training, it becomes possible for employees to develop tactics to deal with challenges in the working environment-related to their diversities (Baxter, 2016).

viii. Team building and free flow of communication

This is the final point in this research and plays a critical role in ensuring the diversity is managed well in an organization. Members of the management team should take it as their responsibility to implement team building. Team building exercises facilitate the flourishing and trust among the workforce (Baxter, 2016).

Furthermore, free flow of communication is very important in ensuring that ideas flow all over the organization without any discrimination (Baxter, 2016). This ensure that everybody feels that their ideas are appreciated and included in the decision making of the organization.

Generally, this solutions to diversity management work effectively when management of an organization takes steps in combining two or more of them. For example, a manger can undertake to recognize the differences among the employees, practice fairness among all employees with respect to the differences and then invest in diversity training to ensure that employees understand their existing differences and maximize on the differences for the benefit of individual performance and that of the organization as a whole. Therefore, it is of essence to mention that these solutions when applied in totality and employees are involved in implementation yield positive results in as far as diversity management is concerned.

The solution which I consider the best among the highlighted alternative solutions is the team building and free flow of communication. Team building allows employees to go through the four major steps of team formation which result in employees understanding one another despite the many differences. Employees are in a position to develop shared values and beliefs and live as one. Free flow of communication will also allow the workforce to share their beliefs and attitudes without fear. When this solution is undertaken by managers of an organization, it is possible to learn of its effectiveness through the assessments conducted. For example, a manager can conduct interviews among the employees to assess how teams are effective and how information flows in the organization.

Summary

Organizations that effectively manage a diverse workforce benefits immensely. It also brings out the best of the individual skills and develops talents among the employees. Moreover, it will be possible for such an organization to increase chances of employees of being creative, innovative, experienced as well as knowledgeable. Successful management reflects positively on the stakeholders of an organization, especially the employees, then recognize the existing differences, practice fairness, encourage focus on oneself, assess the employees, encourage interactions in the organization, invest in training programs and finally facilitates employees to work in teams and allow for the free flow of communication in order to address and manage diversity well.

References

Baxter, J. (March 15, 2016). 7 Tips to Manage a Diverse Workforce.

Llopis, G. (June 13, 2011). Diversity Management Is the Key to Growth: Make It Authentic.

Ryan, T. (2017). Workplace Diversity: 5 Strategies for Dealing with Diversity in the Workplace.

Grading Rubric

Grade/Weight: 0-100

Content (Implicit/Explicit): 20/20

Met requirements (Paper length):25/25

Grammar and Spelling:10/10

Relevance in discussion: 25/25

APA Method applied: 20/20 total points (Breakdown of points below)

(Overview/Abstract (3 points.)

space indentation (2 points)

double spacing (3 points)

in-text citation (2 points)

Summary/Conclusion (5 points)

2 references (5 points): 1 online, 1 eBook, 2 online, 2 eBook)