Diversity management is a tool that has been used by organization to focus on the difference within the organizations workforce. It also focuses on capitalizing the benefits of diversity while minimizing the challenges within the organization (Room, Flood, 1996). Management of diversity in an organization contributes significantly to the efficiency and productivity of the organization. It acknowledges the fact that people differ in many ways and identify the implications for the workplace that arises as a result of the diversity in the workplace. The other focus is that it suggests the strategies to ensure that these issues and challenges are addressed in the interest of the organization.
Diversity management has been taken as a strategy that is intended to maintain a positive working environment (Brinkman, 1997). It is usually initiated by the human resources professionals and managed by the departmental heads and supervisors. This is done in order to promote good recognition and respect for the individual differences among the workforce in the organization so as to enable the workforce to work together for a common purpose to meet the organizations objectives. It is therefore imperative for every organization to be able to manage the uniqueness of every individual which includes the different personal attributes, values and organizational roles despite the challenges.
Challenges of diversity management
It is very important for human resource to manage the diversity of the workforce in every organization. However, there are a number of challenges that are faced by diverse organization in their pursuit of managing the diversity. The process of diversity management has been described by a number of human resource professionals as the mindset and culture of an organization and the varying perspectives that has been brought by the workforce in to the organization as a result of race, workplace styles, disabilities etc.
All this diverse differences posses a major challenge to human resource professionals especially in dealing with the management of diversity within the organization (Room, Flood, 1996). Therefore managing diversity has not been an easy task among many organizations. These challenges has mostly been attributed to the exclusionary nature of the workforce employment, conditions of work, societal constrains, prejudice and adverse cultures, workforce speaking in different languages, and moreover, the problems arising from the diversity policy of the organization itself. On the other hand, the workforce could be affected by the prejudice in promotion, rewards and compensation, performance and appraisal due to the differences in cultural backgrounds (Plummer, 2003).
Exclusionary nature of workforce employment
Every organization whether non profit making or profit making requires highly qualified personnel in order to function effectively and efficiently. With regards to hiring the workforce of any organization, some other groups may feel discriminated by the policies of an organization. As a result of the technological innovations and creativity, many organizations have become more exclusionary since a number of personnel like clerks have been made obsolete (Brinkman, 1997). Moreover, most governments have responded to demands for cutbacks and privatization and this has led to downsizing and restricting the opportunities of the unqualified workforce especially with regards to promotions and appraisals. Therefore, greater proffessionalization in an organization and the need for higher technical qualification have led to the exclusion of a larger proposition of the population in hiring and even firing of employees who are not technically qualified (Plummer, 2003). This has led to a huge challenge especially in terms of management among the human resource professionals.
Condition of work
Diversification may sometimes be imbedded where the organization contains one preserve group which excludes all others on the grounds of race, ethnicity or gender. In corrupt organizations, either public or private, there may be an opposition to hiring certain groups and openness in both recruitment and advancement as a single group of workforce may have a tight control of office and its rewards (Brinkman, 1997). This pathological scenario may lead to cases where the minorities are unable to gain foothold and therefore may be restricted to lower positions and work categories. In such organizations, equal opportunities exist only in theory but it is basically restricted by narrow job description and barriers to advancement in the organization. The in flexible work facilities may sometimes preclude other groups like women with children or the disabled workforce from the full participation of the organizations careers development and growth of the workforce (Room, Flood, 1996).
Societal constrains
In areas where there is a widespread poverty and illiteracy as a result of a non universal and poorly adapted to producing the workforce with the required skills, ,the organizations surrounding such environment will find it difficult to attain diversity in the workplace (Plummer, 2003). Therefore, in such situations, when diversity arises in the organization, its management will face a lot of challenges especially with regards to gender issues. In such organizations, women will be excluded from taking active roles in the organization and advancement. On the other hand, organizations that are primarily available only in the urban areas and draws its workforce from the cities, the workforce that originates from the rural areas may face prejudice and discrimination from other employees and may not get equal job opportunities in the organization by virtue of their origin (Room, Flood, 1996). Therefore these posses challenges to the management of diversity within the organization.
Prejudice and adverse cultures
It is well known that every individual in organizations tend to select their own image and looking for their own traits while believing that this will satisfy the demands of the job in the organization. It is in this essence that a dominant group tends to perpetuate its dominance in the organization. With this regard therefore, formal job qualification may be framed in accordance with this image even though the position in question may not really require the skills stipulated (Room, Flood, 1996). In this scenario, the unexpressed objective may be to keep out the minorities, women or other groups in the organization. Such formal and informal practices make the management of diversity in the organization very challenging and this has been attributed to the unfriendly diversity culture in many organizations. This could be evident in many organization for example valuing masculine, aggressive and competitive traits against feminine, soft, dependent emotional and intuitive traits of the workforce in the organization (Brinkman, 1997).
Diversity policies
The efforts to implement policies towards greater diversity and integration in the organization may have dysfunctional effects which may defeat their aim (Jones, 2004). Organization may attempts to favour previously under-represented groups or favouring them against past injustices may provoke a backslash from applicants and candidates from the majority groups because they will find themselves disadvantaged as a result of the policies to address the diverse environmental workplace. In cases where the minorities are promoted or appointed, they may become targets of resentments and isolation (Brinkman, 1997). They may also be subjected to pressures to conform to other unprofessional practices or may be forced to resign. Furthermore, the need to distinguish the protected groups may cause an emphasis on the stereotyping of individuals as belonging to certain race, gender or ethnic groups and therefore may intensify racism and prejudice rather than alleviating it (Room, Flood, 1996).
The specific challenges to management of diversity has been found to take a number of forms, this usually depends on the nature of the organization and the relationship between the organization and the society. There are other challenges that affect the management of diversity in the organization. These challenges are basically the problem of exclusion, that is who is to be kept outside the organizational employments and the problem of inclusion, who is o be allowed in the organizations employments (Plummer, 2003). The problem of inclusion originates from the historical fact tat governance has largely been confined to certain individuals in the organization because of their connections. In public organizations, governance holds the keys to power, status ands class, in private organizations business may be monopolized by a few wealthy families.
Discrimination in organization has therefore posed a greater challenge to management of diversity (Brinkman, 1997). Women for example are either discriminated or excluded or primarily limited to lower positions in a male dominated organization. However, theoretically, in such organizations, positions are open to all but a few women obtain equal opportunities in a male dominated organization. This therefore leads to greater challenge in diversity management. In public organizations, minorities may be heads of department and in higher level management while the majority of the population or the workforce is excluded. With regime changes, a problem of integrating the majority in to the organization without victimizing anyone from the previous ruling majority may arise and this may lead to problems in managing the diversity in the organization (Room, Flood, 1996).
In most organizations, there exists a scenario of exclusion of groups that are not classified by either gender or ethnicity. Such groups like the disabled, homosexuals and non-conformists of all kinds tend to have difficulties in acceptance. The paradox of the diversity management is that greater diversity is valued for bringing about a more just and tolerant society as well as a more effective, efficient and productive organization. It is therefore the responsibility of the human resources managers and other managers both in the lower and high level to ascertain that the diversity in the organization is well managed because it may also lead to inefficiencies and poor productivity of both the workforce and the organization (Brinkman, 1997).
Strategies for diversity management
Diversity management in many organizations is a relatively new phenomenon and it is therefore by no means which strategies are likely to succeed in a particular organization. This is because the strategies used to manage diversity depend largely on the circumstances and this differs from organization to organization (Room, Flood, 1996). Therefore, with regards to the strategies of diversity management, a successful experience in a given organization is unlikely to succeed in other organizations.
On the other hand, the strategies used in organizations to manage diversity differ not only in their means but also in the objective of the organizations. In most cases, each strategy has both advantages ands disadvantages and therefore it is imperative for the organization to combine the strategies depending of the circumstances they face. There are a number of strategies that are used in organizations to manage diversity, these includes, legal strategies, educational strategies structural and societal strategies. All this strategies depend largely on the nature of the organization, the circumstances facing the organization and the objectives of the organization (Golembiewski, 1995).
Legal strategies
Most organization has come to adopt this kind of strategy. A legal strategy is an effort to use law and regulation to achieve an equal re presentation within the organization (Plummer, 2003). The main objective of this strategy is to enable the underrepresented group of individuals, either the workforce or candidates to have an equal share of the benefits and equal employment and career development including promotions and appraisals in the organization. With this strategy, there is a legal prohibition all the unfair practices like discrimination and prejudice as well as the eradication of all the barriers to equal opportunities to all in the organization (Brinkman, 1997). The only issue with this strategy is the individual merit. It also aims to amplify and redress the past wrongs in order to afford a certain measure of compensation. According to this strategy, there a re two distinct approaches (Room, Flood, 1996). The first is to provide an equal opportunity to every employee in the organization and eradicate the discrimination as a result of race, disability, gender, religion, ethnicity or age. The second is an affirmative action that requires the workforce of the agencies whose employees does not conform to the characteristics of the organizations in question. This is aimed at making good faith efforts to promote, appraise and recruit individuals of under-represented groups (Brinkman, 1997).
According to this strategy, laws and regulations sends clear signals regarding what is and what is not acceptable in the organizational environment especially with regards to recruiting, training or promoting the staff of an organization. Most of this laws and regulations are reinforced by the commissions empowered to hear cases alleging to discrimination and unfair treatment in the organizational environment. It also provides the victims with the ability to sue in court. This strategy therefore enables the organization to have an equal treatment to its entire workforce while making the management of diversity a less challenging task (Plummer, 2003). This enables the workforce to work together for a common objective.
Educational strategies
This strategy is aimed at replacing an existing organizational culture with a multi-cultural point of view. The aim of this strategy is to amalgamate all the diverse culture in the organization and to sensitize the workforce to learn to appreciate the diverse culture in the organization and to enable them to work together without prejudice and discrimination. According to this strategy, am organization should move from an initial stage of a mono-culture, through a transitional stage as a non discriminatory culture to a multi-cultural perspective (Brinkman, 1997).
This strategy lays more emphasis on the group rather than the individuals in the organization. It also begins with the cultural assessment of the organization and moves towards an increased level of cultural awareness and appreciation of differences that exists among the workforce in an organization. This could also be done by ensuring that all the employees in the organization undertakes personal training, communication and cultural sensitization where the employees are enlightened and made to realize that change is not a threat or is an imposed subject but rather a unifying factor in the organization where by all the employees are required to participate in the changing process (Plummer, 2003). This strategy enables proper management of the diversity in the organization and enables the workforce to work together as one in order to achieve the objectives and goals of the organization.
Structural strategies
This structural approach to diversity focuses mainly on the way the organization is organized (Jones, 2004). In this strategy, diversity is regarded as a means to and a result of the bureaucratic reforms within the organization. It starts with the preposition that bureaucratic organizations are hostels to diversity and therefore posing greater challenges to diversity management (Brinkman, 1997). Due to the narrow specialization of such organizations, their focus on the process and productivity of the organization is limited to pre-existing and pre-assigned categories of employees. In order to enable proper strategic management ion an organization, it is imperative to change the policies of the organization with regards to the way the workforce carry out their functions.
This will enable the organization to redesign certain jobs and structures so as to encourage diverse recruitment and promotion within the organization (Brinkman, 1997). On the other hand, other actions also need to be taken in order to ensure that diversity is not only in appointments but also in the provision of equal opportunities for all the employees to advance in the organization rather that for certain groups of employees. This strategy is aimed at improving the diversity management in the organization and enabling the workforce to have equal recruitment and promotion opportunities. It is therefore imperative that diversity management is built into strategic planning which will enable the organisation to express commitment to diversity in its mission statement and objective while measuring it performance on a regular basis (Brinkman, 1997).
Suggestions to consider in diversity management
There are other factors and suggestions that an organization may consider in order to manage diversity in an efficient manner. This includes concentrating on the strengths of the employees (Jones, 2004). When a manager discovers the tasks where the employees usually excel in, they should be assigned to them as they are expected to be more productive on those fields of the job.
Understand the abilities and the potential of each employee present in the organization. These potential assets of the employees could as well be used by the company itself in aiming for the goals that it has set up for the future.
Allow communication lines be open at all times. It is very important for managers to be good listeners. The ability of hearing what the employees want form the company as well as to how they could be of bigger help to the organization could be used as a resource of ideas for the company as well.
Make the employees feel that they too have a sense of authority in the company. However, this type of authority should not overstep that of the administrations. It should be clear that this authority could only be exercised at specific times and places when it is permitted. This may often refer to an open door policy that deals with an easier type of agreement between the employees, which could give them a chance to affect how the organization is being managed (Plummer, 2003). They are then allowed to give suggestions however, no suggestions are implemented unless approved by the administration.
Make sure that all employees understand the business goals and objectives. It should always be remembered that a well-informed employee, whether young or old, is a productive employee.
A manager should always remember that heshe is supervising people with feelings who are valuable members of the organization, hence, treating them with great respect at all times no matter what culture they come from is one of the most important virtue any manager could post as an example for hisher colleagues.
Treating everyone fairly and sensitively is the key to creating a fine working environment (Golembiewski, 1995). It should be remembered that because of the different clutters of the people, they all have different preferences they have different personal obligations and other more. Considering the fact that dealing with multicultural workforce also involves dealing with their differences of belief, a manager could as well consider fairness at all times to be able to set a common ground for everyone else in the organization.
Keep everyone else busy and going all the time. Feeling ones worth is usually measured on the things they are able to do for the organization in a day. In this manner, it could be said that regardless of ones difference from the others, being able to do something for the company and being of worth to the organization makes an employee feel that even though there are differences, one still belongs to the organization one is working for.
Keep employees informed of the ins and outs of the organization (Golembiewski, 1995). Keeping employees in the dark when some changes within the organization arise may give them the notion that they are not given importance by the administration of the company.
Acknowledge the employees efforts, years of work, talent, creativity and good job attributes. Doing so would help everyone else strive for the best while they are working in the company.
Diversity management is an important function in every organization. It is therefore imperative for the managers to ensure that the employees in the organization work together as one rather that a divided team. Proper management of diversity ensures that the organization and the employees operates efficiently and productive in order to meet the objectives of the organization (Plummer, 2003). Though there has always been diversity in every organization with its subtle differentiation, discrimination and prejudice, it is imperative for every organization whether public or private to lay down strategies to overcome the challenges of diversity within the organization.
Diversity management has been taken as a strategy that is intended to maintain a positive working environment (Brinkman, 1997). It is usually initiated by the human resources professionals and managed by the departmental heads and supervisors. This is done in order to promote good recognition and respect for the individual differences among the workforce in the organization so as to enable the workforce to work together for a common purpose to meet the organizations objectives. It is therefore imperative for every organization to be able to manage the uniqueness of every individual which includes the different personal attributes, values and organizational roles despite the challenges.
Challenges of diversity management
It is very important for human resource to manage the diversity of the workforce in every organization. However, there are a number of challenges that are faced by diverse organization in their pursuit of managing the diversity. The process of diversity management has been described by a number of human resource professionals as the mindset and culture of an organization and the varying perspectives that has been brought by the workforce in to the organization as a result of race, workplace styles, disabilities etc.
All this diverse differences posses a major challenge to human resource professionals especially in dealing with the management of diversity within the organization (Room, Flood, 1996). Therefore managing diversity has not been an easy task among many organizations. These challenges has mostly been attributed to the exclusionary nature of the workforce employment, conditions of work, societal constrains, prejudice and adverse cultures, workforce speaking in different languages, and moreover, the problems arising from the diversity policy of the organization itself. On the other hand, the workforce could be affected by the prejudice in promotion, rewards and compensation, performance and appraisal due to the differences in cultural backgrounds (Plummer, 2003).
Exclusionary nature of workforce employment
Every organization whether non profit making or profit making requires highly qualified personnel in order to function effectively and efficiently. With regards to hiring the workforce of any organization, some other groups may feel discriminated by the policies of an organization. As a result of the technological innovations and creativity, many organizations have become more exclusionary since a number of personnel like clerks have been made obsolete (Brinkman, 1997). Moreover, most governments have responded to demands for cutbacks and privatization and this has led to downsizing and restricting the opportunities of the unqualified workforce especially with regards to promotions and appraisals. Therefore, greater proffessionalization in an organization and the need for higher technical qualification have led to the exclusion of a larger proposition of the population in hiring and even firing of employees who are not technically qualified (Plummer, 2003). This has led to a huge challenge especially in terms of management among the human resource professionals.
Condition of work
Diversification may sometimes be imbedded where the organization contains one preserve group which excludes all others on the grounds of race, ethnicity or gender. In corrupt organizations, either public or private, there may be an opposition to hiring certain groups and openness in both recruitment and advancement as a single group of workforce may have a tight control of office and its rewards (Brinkman, 1997). This pathological scenario may lead to cases where the minorities are unable to gain foothold and therefore may be restricted to lower positions and work categories. In such organizations, equal opportunities exist only in theory but it is basically restricted by narrow job description and barriers to advancement in the organization. The in flexible work facilities may sometimes preclude other groups like women with children or the disabled workforce from the full participation of the organizations careers development and growth of the workforce (Room, Flood, 1996).
Societal constrains
In areas where there is a widespread poverty and illiteracy as a result of a non universal and poorly adapted to producing the workforce with the required skills, ,the organizations surrounding such environment will find it difficult to attain diversity in the workplace (Plummer, 2003). Therefore, in such situations, when diversity arises in the organization, its management will face a lot of challenges especially with regards to gender issues. In such organizations, women will be excluded from taking active roles in the organization and advancement. On the other hand, organizations that are primarily available only in the urban areas and draws its workforce from the cities, the workforce that originates from the rural areas may face prejudice and discrimination from other employees and may not get equal job opportunities in the organization by virtue of their origin (Room, Flood, 1996). Therefore these posses challenges to the management of diversity within the organization.
Prejudice and adverse cultures
It is well known that every individual in organizations tend to select their own image and looking for their own traits while believing that this will satisfy the demands of the job in the organization. It is in this essence that a dominant group tends to perpetuate its dominance in the organization. With this regard therefore, formal job qualification may be framed in accordance with this image even though the position in question may not really require the skills stipulated (Room, Flood, 1996). In this scenario, the unexpressed objective may be to keep out the minorities, women or other groups in the organization. Such formal and informal practices make the management of diversity in the organization very challenging and this has been attributed to the unfriendly diversity culture in many organizations. This could be evident in many organization for example valuing masculine, aggressive and competitive traits against feminine, soft, dependent emotional and intuitive traits of the workforce in the organization (Brinkman, 1997).
Diversity policies
The efforts to implement policies towards greater diversity and integration in the organization may have dysfunctional effects which may defeat their aim (Jones, 2004). Organization may attempts to favour previously under-represented groups or favouring them against past injustices may provoke a backslash from applicants and candidates from the majority groups because they will find themselves disadvantaged as a result of the policies to address the diverse environmental workplace. In cases where the minorities are promoted or appointed, they may become targets of resentments and isolation (Brinkman, 1997). They may also be subjected to pressures to conform to other unprofessional practices or may be forced to resign. Furthermore, the need to distinguish the protected groups may cause an emphasis on the stereotyping of individuals as belonging to certain race, gender or ethnic groups and therefore may intensify racism and prejudice rather than alleviating it (Room, Flood, 1996).
The specific challenges to management of diversity has been found to take a number of forms, this usually depends on the nature of the organization and the relationship between the organization and the society. There are other challenges that affect the management of diversity in the organization. These challenges are basically the problem of exclusion, that is who is to be kept outside the organizational employments and the problem of inclusion, who is o be allowed in the organizations employments (Plummer, 2003). The problem of inclusion originates from the historical fact tat governance has largely been confined to certain individuals in the organization because of their connections. In public organizations, governance holds the keys to power, status ands class, in private organizations business may be monopolized by a few wealthy families.
Discrimination in organization has therefore posed a greater challenge to management of diversity (Brinkman, 1997). Women for example are either discriminated or excluded or primarily limited to lower positions in a male dominated organization. However, theoretically, in such organizations, positions are open to all but a few women obtain equal opportunities in a male dominated organization. This therefore leads to greater challenge in diversity management. In public organizations, minorities may be heads of department and in higher level management while the majority of the population or the workforce is excluded. With regime changes, a problem of integrating the majority in to the organization without victimizing anyone from the previous ruling majority may arise and this may lead to problems in managing the diversity in the organization (Room, Flood, 1996).
In most organizations, there exists a scenario of exclusion of groups that are not classified by either gender or ethnicity. Such groups like the disabled, homosexuals and non-conformists of all kinds tend to have difficulties in acceptance. The paradox of the diversity management is that greater diversity is valued for bringing about a more just and tolerant society as well as a more effective, efficient and productive organization. It is therefore the responsibility of the human resources managers and other managers both in the lower and high level to ascertain that the diversity in the organization is well managed because it may also lead to inefficiencies and poor productivity of both the workforce and the organization (Brinkman, 1997).
Strategies for diversity management
Diversity management in many organizations is a relatively new phenomenon and it is therefore by no means which strategies are likely to succeed in a particular organization. This is because the strategies used to manage diversity depend largely on the circumstances and this differs from organization to organization (Room, Flood, 1996). Therefore, with regards to the strategies of diversity management, a successful experience in a given organization is unlikely to succeed in other organizations.
On the other hand, the strategies used in organizations to manage diversity differ not only in their means but also in the objective of the organizations. In most cases, each strategy has both advantages ands disadvantages and therefore it is imperative for the organization to combine the strategies depending of the circumstances they face. There are a number of strategies that are used in organizations to manage diversity, these includes, legal strategies, educational strategies structural and societal strategies. All this strategies depend largely on the nature of the organization, the circumstances facing the organization and the objectives of the organization (Golembiewski, 1995).
Legal strategies
Most organization has come to adopt this kind of strategy. A legal strategy is an effort to use law and regulation to achieve an equal re presentation within the organization (Plummer, 2003). The main objective of this strategy is to enable the underrepresented group of individuals, either the workforce or candidates to have an equal share of the benefits and equal employment and career development including promotions and appraisals in the organization. With this strategy, there is a legal prohibition all the unfair practices like discrimination and prejudice as well as the eradication of all the barriers to equal opportunities to all in the organization (Brinkman, 1997). The only issue with this strategy is the individual merit. It also aims to amplify and redress the past wrongs in order to afford a certain measure of compensation. According to this strategy, there a re two distinct approaches (Room, Flood, 1996). The first is to provide an equal opportunity to every employee in the organization and eradicate the discrimination as a result of race, disability, gender, religion, ethnicity or age. The second is an affirmative action that requires the workforce of the agencies whose employees does not conform to the characteristics of the organizations in question. This is aimed at making good faith efforts to promote, appraise and recruit individuals of under-represented groups (Brinkman, 1997).
According to this strategy, laws and regulations sends clear signals regarding what is and what is not acceptable in the organizational environment especially with regards to recruiting, training or promoting the staff of an organization. Most of this laws and regulations are reinforced by the commissions empowered to hear cases alleging to discrimination and unfair treatment in the organizational environment. It also provides the victims with the ability to sue in court. This strategy therefore enables the organization to have an equal treatment to its entire workforce while making the management of diversity a less challenging task (Plummer, 2003). This enables the workforce to work together for a common objective.
Educational strategies
This strategy is aimed at replacing an existing organizational culture with a multi-cultural point of view. The aim of this strategy is to amalgamate all the diverse culture in the organization and to sensitize the workforce to learn to appreciate the diverse culture in the organization and to enable them to work together without prejudice and discrimination. According to this strategy, am organization should move from an initial stage of a mono-culture, through a transitional stage as a non discriminatory culture to a multi-cultural perspective (Brinkman, 1997).
This strategy lays more emphasis on the group rather than the individuals in the organization. It also begins with the cultural assessment of the organization and moves towards an increased level of cultural awareness and appreciation of differences that exists among the workforce in an organization. This could also be done by ensuring that all the employees in the organization undertakes personal training, communication and cultural sensitization where the employees are enlightened and made to realize that change is not a threat or is an imposed subject but rather a unifying factor in the organization where by all the employees are required to participate in the changing process (Plummer, 2003). This strategy enables proper management of the diversity in the organization and enables the workforce to work together as one in order to achieve the objectives and goals of the organization.
Structural strategies
This structural approach to diversity focuses mainly on the way the organization is organized (Jones, 2004). In this strategy, diversity is regarded as a means to and a result of the bureaucratic reforms within the organization. It starts with the preposition that bureaucratic organizations are hostels to diversity and therefore posing greater challenges to diversity management (Brinkman, 1997). Due to the narrow specialization of such organizations, their focus on the process and productivity of the organization is limited to pre-existing and pre-assigned categories of employees. In order to enable proper strategic management ion an organization, it is imperative to change the policies of the organization with regards to the way the workforce carry out their functions.
This will enable the organization to redesign certain jobs and structures so as to encourage diverse recruitment and promotion within the organization (Brinkman, 1997). On the other hand, other actions also need to be taken in order to ensure that diversity is not only in appointments but also in the provision of equal opportunities for all the employees to advance in the organization rather that for certain groups of employees. This strategy is aimed at improving the diversity management in the organization and enabling the workforce to have equal recruitment and promotion opportunities. It is therefore imperative that diversity management is built into strategic planning which will enable the organisation to express commitment to diversity in its mission statement and objective while measuring it performance on a regular basis (Brinkman, 1997).
Suggestions to consider in diversity management
There are other factors and suggestions that an organization may consider in order to manage diversity in an efficient manner. This includes concentrating on the strengths of the employees (Jones, 2004). When a manager discovers the tasks where the employees usually excel in, they should be assigned to them as they are expected to be more productive on those fields of the job.
Understand the abilities and the potential of each employee present in the organization. These potential assets of the employees could as well be used by the company itself in aiming for the goals that it has set up for the future.
Allow communication lines be open at all times. It is very important for managers to be good listeners. The ability of hearing what the employees want form the company as well as to how they could be of bigger help to the organization could be used as a resource of ideas for the company as well.
Make the employees feel that they too have a sense of authority in the company. However, this type of authority should not overstep that of the administrations. It should be clear that this authority could only be exercised at specific times and places when it is permitted. This may often refer to an open door policy that deals with an easier type of agreement between the employees, which could give them a chance to affect how the organization is being managed (Plummer, 2003). They are then allowed to give suggestions however, no suggestions are implemented unless approved by the administration.
Make sure that all employees understand the business goals and objectives. It should always be remembered that a well-informed employee, whether young or old, is a productive employee.
A manager should always remember that heshe is supervising people with feelings who are valuable members of the organization, hence, treating them with great respect at all times no matter what culture they come from is one of the most important virtue any manager could post as an example for hisher colleagues.
Treating everyone fairly and sensitively is the key to creating a fine working environment (Golembiewski, 1995). It should be remembered that because of the different clutters of the people, they all have different preferences they have different personal obligations and other more. Considering the fact that dealing with multicultural workforce also involves dealing with their differences of belief, a manager could as well consider fairness at all times to be able to set a common ground for everyone else in the organization.
Keep everyone else busy and going all the time. Feeling ones worth is usually measured on the things they are able to do for the organization in a day. In this manner, it could be said that regardless of ones difference from the others, being able to do something for the company and being of worth to the organization makes an employee feel that even though there are differences, one still belongs to the organization one is working for.
Keep employees informed of the ins and outs of the organization (Golembiewski, 1995). Keeping employees in the dark when some changes within the organization arise may give them the notion that they are not given importance by the administration of the company.
Acknowledge the employees efforts, years of work, talent, creativity and good job attributes. Doing so would help everyone else strive for the best while they are working in the company.
Diversity management is an important function in every organization. It is therefore imperative for the managers to ensure that the employees in the organization work together as one rather that a divided team. Proper management of diversity ensures that the organization and the employees operates efficiently and productive in order to meet the objectives of the organization (Plummer, 2003). Though there has always been diversity in every organization with its subtle differentiation, discrimination and prejudice, it is imperative for every organization whether public or private to lay down strategies to overcome the challenges of diversity within the organization.
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