WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

Diversity can be defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, and valuing differences among people with respect to age, class, race, ethnicity, gender, disabilities, etc. (Esty, Griffin and Hirsch, 1995)

Greater workforce diversity will undoubtedly present managers and human resource practitioners with new challenges, but it must also be recognized that diversity could contribute to organizational effectiveness and responsiveness. Diverse populations have different experiences, insights, values and approaches to workplace issues, resulting in different perspectives and alternative solutions to work-related problems (Wilson, 1994: 27). Diversity is beneficial to both associates and employers. Although associates are interdependent in the workplace, respecting individual differences can increase productivity. Diversity in the workplace can reduce lawsuits and increase marketing opportunities, recruitment, creativity, and business image. (Esty, Griffin and Hirsch, 1995)

According to Blom- maert and verschueren (1998), it is not about managing diversity as such, but that it is about managing the negative side effects of unaccepted diversity: the fight against racism and discrimination. 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 (Harvey, Allard and Harvey, 2002)

The main three reasons for diversity management in organizations are the talent shortage, the range of consumer need and globalization.The advantages of workplace diversity are a high level of productivity, exchange of varieties of ideas and teamwork, learning and growth, effective communication, diverse experience, better financial results, global-level competition, fact-based decision-making, creative and innovative thinking, cross-cultural understanding and etc., The disadvantages are high cost, discrimination,  incorporation issues,  difficulty in transitioning, short-term cost outlay, communication issues and etc.

Workplace diversity can negatively impact communication in the company. It can place an obstacle in the way of effective communication, which can cause a decrease in productivity and dampen the cohesiveness among workers. Even though spending time with employees by getting to know them helps reduce and in some instances eradicate communication barriers during a long-term, co-workers orientation periods and an individual´s first impressions can be difficult to control when culture clash.

REFERENCES

Blommaert, J. and Verschueren, J. (1999). Diversity as a Business Strategy. Management Review , May 1999, 62., 20(04), p.503.

 Esty, K., Griffin, R. and Hirsch, M. (1995). Workplace diversity. Holbrook, Mass: Adams Publ.

Harvey, C., Allard, M. and Harvey, C. (2002). Understanding and managing diversity. New York: Pearson Education.

WILSON, P. (1994), "Cultural Diversity: An Organisational Asset", Public 18. Manager, 23, 27-30.