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ma_DiversityPlanningintheWorkforce07312020.edited.edited21.docxRunning Head: DIVERSITY PLANNING 1
DIVERSITY PLANNING 2
Diversity Planning in the Workforce
Mekdes Asaminew
Rasmussen College
07/30/2020
Diversity Planning in the Workforce
The workforce of the United States and the global workforce, in general, has, over the past decade been inclusive of people from different cultures, racial ethnicities, and many minority groups. Racial diversity is, however, still a challenge in the workplace. Since there have been policies like affirmative action that have helped ensure that workplaces are diverse and inclusive, a relatively smaller population of racially different professionals make it up to the managerial positions. Some companies still discriminate when offering job vacancies, recruitment, promotions, and reward systems based on racial grounds. Diversity planning is the process through which Human Resources Directorates and diversity committees develop objectives and strategic plans to ensure that their respective workforces are diverse and inclusive.
Workforces need to be diverse and inclusive because the result of this is beneficial to the company. Diversity ensures that the workforce remains happy and motivated. When Everyone in the workforce feels appreciated, they are motivated to interact and express themselves more freely. This, in turn, will reduce instances of employee turnover. Also, with diverse workforces, there is improved innovation and knowledge-based decision making because of perspectives brought by people from different racial ethnicities (Ozgen, Nijkamp & Poot, 2017). A happy workforce and inclusive one ensures that there are teamwork and collaboration. Horizontal information flow in the workforce will work towards ensuring that the output of the company's workforce is increased. Horizontal information flow ensures that there is a consolidation of ideas to ensure best practices in the workforce. Finally, companies with diverse workforces attract talent from different racial and minority groups because of a lack of discrimination.
The goal of this diversity plan is to have a workforce that appreciates individuals from different minority groups and promotes everyone's inclusion while promoting equality in the workplace. Steps Involved in the Diversity Planning
First, there will be a collection of data. This can be done through interviews, online employee surveys, and questionnaires and observation of attitudes in the workplace. We will collect impressions of employees about diversity, instances of discrimination and personal opinions on workplace diversification.
After that, there will be identifying areas that require diversity intervention (Dahanayake et al., 2018). From the responses gathered, thematic analysis will be used to determine areas within the company that need intervention. These are areas that clearly show discrimination against diverse workforces.
The next step would be to identify the business objectives in line with diversity and inclusion. All business processes should be aimed at the achievement of business objectives. Therefore, identification of business objectives will allow the diversity plan to align in line with these business objectives.
After identifying the areas that need these interventions, there will be review of existing policies. In these policies, we will identify aspects of discrimination in them. There may be policies in the workplace that intentionally or unintentionally promote racial discrimination. For instance, employee referral programs could be developing a workforce that is not diverse because employees could be recommending members from their racial ethnicities. The policies will be reviewed following business objectives and diversity objectives.
Once this has successfully been implemented, the next thing would be to procure the support and buy-in from the senior management. Organizational cultures trickle downwards, and so the help of the senior management is profound. Presentation of a business case to the senior management identifying the benefits of diversity to them will secure their support for the plan.
After securing the buy-in, the strategies will be implemented and communicated to all stakeholders (Dahanayake et al., 2018). Internal memos will be issued to all departmental heads to communicate these changes. Mass emails will also be sent to all employees and stakeholders to ensure the correct information has been passed. This is to ensure that all stakeholders adopt all of the strategies outlined in the company's diversity plan. Finally, the program will be measured for success and reviewed and adjusted if such adjustments need to be made. Measurement will involve using different key success indicators like social accolades, employee retainment, change of culture of the organization, and employee surveys.
Nominations for the diverse company awards will be an indicator of the success of this diversity plan. Reduction in the number of employee turnover from the time of implementation of this strategy will also be used as a measurement of success. Further, the appreciation of people from diverse ethnical backgrounds through continued recruitment and promotion will indicate the success of the diversity plan. Asking employees how they feel about their colleagues from different ethnicities and organizational leaders how they feel about subordinates from other ethnicities will give insights on the success of the plan.
Challenges in Implementation
In the Global Workforce: The main challenge we are likely to experience in implementing the global workforce is the lack of cooperation from the workforce. Although the workforce might buy in the idea, the issue of discrimination will always be a problem (Sharma, 2016). The resistance of employees towards change and adoption of the diversity plan will see the failure of this plan. It is a step to bring in various people from minority groups. It's another to make them be recognized in various activities in the organization and feel like they belong in the organization. Different people from different cultures all over the world have different view as towards diversity in the workforce. Ensuring that all of them buy into the idea of diversifying the workforce will be a challenge.
In the United States: In the united states, the main challenge in ensuring diversity with be cultural differences. Inasmuch as there are policies to prevent instances of racial discrimination, we still have companies that exhibit such bias. For example, we have companies that are concerned with the preservation of American culture. Such companies may not want their managerial positions to be occupied by members from other cultural differences as they pose a threat to such beliefs. In the world workforce, this idea will be faced with a lot of resistance. With the beliefs that people of a nationality hold, having a workforce that does not exclude minority groups will be a threat to the indigenous communities because the minority groups are being empowered.
Control Measures
In the collection of data, we will need to ensure that the protection of the identities of the respondents has been maintained. This will work to ensure that the information given in such interview sessions and questionnaires have been answered truthfully without fear of victimization. While identifying policies, the company’s policies will be viewed wholesomely to identify all potential areas that work against diversity in the workforce.
To ensure success of the program, all of the business objectives will have to be considered and diversity policies formulated in accordance with all of these business objectives. This will ensure that the diversity plan ensures that the company moves forward in achievement of both diversity and business goals. Securing the buy-in from the senior4 management will need a substantial business case.
The business case will identify the reasons for such policies and what the company stands to gain when such a policy is implemented. With a buy-in from the executive win, the policy will successfully be implemented and incorporated into the culture of the firm. Finally, periodical audits will have to be done. The audits will review all aspects of the policy and collection of these audit materials will be done while preserving anonymity of the respondents to boost their confidence and provide truthful reflection of the workforce.
Conclusion
Diversity and inclusion in the workforce are essential in the workforce to ensure that the company has a more collaborative and productive workforce. With a diverse workforce, employees are more motivated and collaborate to ensure that decisions are made towards meeting business objectives. This diversity plan collects data and identifies areas of insufficiency towards diversity; it then formulates policies following business objectives. After that, the strategies for diversity are implemented and measured through auditing techniques to determine success. This plan will work to ensure that the company leverages diversity to improve workforce output to attain a competitive advantage.
Reference
Dahanayake, P., Rajendran, D., Selvarajah, C., & Ballantyne, G. (2018). Justice and fairness in the workplace: A trajectory for managing diversity. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: An International Journal. Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EDI-11-2016- 0105/full/html?fullSc=1
Ozgen, C., Nijkamp, P., & Poot, J. (2017). The elusive effects of workplace diversity on innovation. Papers in Regional Science, 96, S29-S49. Retrieved from https://rsaiconnect.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/pirs.12176
