Diversity Management in Modern-Day Businesses

Discuss About The Diversity Resistance Organizations Psychology.

In companies all around the world, people have come from different cultural and regional backgrounds (Bell, et. al 2011). Companies have to manage the diversity in a better way so as to make sure that they have a positive environment within the organisation. Previously when the impact of globalisation was not present so much, companies were slow in responding towards diversity management. This has become a serious issue in the modern day multinational firms. In the past it was seen that women were not understood to be an effective employees. But in the 21^st century the role of the female workers within the organisations have increased. Previously it was seen that women were not allowed to reach at the top of the organisations. Glass ceiling approach was taking place in most industries. But today they have managed to get at the top position of the various organisations. This has also become possible due to the fact that organisations have understood the importance of managing the diversity at the workplace. This report highlights the reason due to which diversity has been given so much attention lately. It also showcases the workforce diversity challenges and opportunities faced by new managers in the 21^st century.

Diversity has become one of the most important issues in almost all the industry. In multinational firms diversity management has been understood as the most important aspect in their operations (Cascio, 2018). But this was not so few decades back. There were large factors of discrimination that were prevalent in the businesses all around the world. Diversity was not supported in most of the workplaces and the people at these places were partitioned in groups. Mainly from same cultural backgrounds did not allowed people from other cultural or ethnic background to grow. This remained the challenge for many years. Such practices brought negative impact on the performance of the employees as well as have made the environment unhealthy.

But in the later part of the 20^th century it was understood by the organisations that team culture as become important to achieve goals on time (Ewoh, 2013). This has forced the organisation to make plan so as to manage the diversity at the workplace. The most important aspect of the modern day business is to make everyone work together irrespective of their cultural and language barriers (Barak, 2016). It was seen that people who were minorities always faced difficulty in adapting the culture. It reduced the efficiency of the firm. In the later stage of the 20^th century this became major problems since variety of people came to the organisations from across the globe. The problem which was not understood as important in the earlier part of the century became an urgency in the later part. In many companies when the study was conducted between the employees regarding their performance. Details revealed that many employees were not satisfied within the organisation just because they were not given importance at the workplace. Study of organisational behaviour helped the managers to understand the need of managing diversity at the workplace as it was understood as a factor that impacts the performance of employees. It was understood in the later stage that managing diversity had a greater impact on the operations of the firm.

Gender Diversity Management

It was not just that the diversity was not managed in terms of cultural and ethnic backgrounds but the differences were also very deep in terms of gender. In the starting, managers did not promoted female employees at top positions. Most of the female staffs experienced glass ceiling at the workplace as it was understood that they do not have the ability to lead the team or to make highly effective strategic decisions (Lynch, 2017). This mind-set of the people sitting at the higher levels of organisation restricted the growth of employees within the industry. This affected the female employees in the negative sense as they were highly demotivated and left their jobs at the early stages of their life. It can also be understood by the fact that employees performs better when they see their growth within the organisation but the glass ceiling was an obstacle in the business (Thomas, 2011). When many female entrepreneurs came up in various parts of the world then most part of the world understood that they also have leadership skills. Women empowerment played a very vital role in this.

In this regards very crucial role was played by the governments all around the world. The laws implemented by the government played very important part in giving women their rights (Syed, 2011). If all these would have been done years back then the whole issues would have been addressed in the early stages of industrialisation. When ethics became the crucial aspect of the business then it became important for the organisation to manage diversity (Thomas, 2012).

There are several types of diversity that exist within the workplace. It has become essential for the companies to make sure that they align all the employees as one unit (Guillaume, et al., 2013). In this process new managers in the 21^st century are facing many kinds of challenges (Deane, 2013). Diversity adds new opportunities for the companies. This is due to the fact that diversity gives firms to add new ways of thing in its decision making process. When diversity is managed within the organisation, then more productivity can be achieved by the firm. It is to be understood that new managers are facing various kinds of challenges. Some of the challenges that are faced by the modern day managers are dangerous for the productivity of the firm (Castellano, 2013).

One of the biggest challenges faced by the companies is resistance towards accepting the diversity. There are many people inside the firm who are not ready for accepting the diversity at the workplace. It becomes a difficult job for the managers to maintain the diversity in the case when some of the people are not ready to accept the diversity (Saxena, 2014). This negative mentality can degrade the morale and has serious impact on the productivity of the firm. A serious of workshop needs to be done by the manager so as to teach everyone about the benefits related to working as a team irrespective of the differences they have.

Challenges and Opportunities for New Managers

Other than this company has faced serious problems related with training of diverse workforce (Garmise, 2014). This is due to the fact that there are many kinds of language barriers between different staffs. Providing them training can be a difficult task. People within the organisation have different set of understanding due to their cultural background. This restricts them from getting trained through common program and making a person selective training program can be a difficult task. It is also to be made sure that the people from different parts of the world had different experience and hence they have a different perception about diversity.

The biggest problem that is faced by the new managers is related with the selection and recruitment of staffs (Simons and Rowland, 2011). Since the rate of unemployment is increasing at much faster rate. In the increased unemployment ratio people from the local cultural backgrounds do not want that employees get recruited from other cultural backgrounds (Bedi, Lakra, Gupta, 2014). This is a setback to the managers who are making efforts to increase the diversity at the workplace.

In many of the government firms it is seen that for promotion, the first preference is given to the people that are coming from a particular ethnic or cultural backgrounds. This demotivates the employees from other cultural backgrounds. It is not healthy for the environment of the companies as the other employee who does not get promotions starts feeling envy from the other specific diverse people who got promotions. This is a problematic situation for the managers as they have to think of making the process that promotes people based on the performance.

In regards to the female employees new managers are facing challenges like the increasing violence at the workplace as well as making abusive remarks against the female employees. In many of the cases managers faces problems related to the women’s safety at the workplace. Providing them safe environment has become a serious challenge for the new managers at the firm. In an insecure environment female staffs are unable to work and hence lead to reduction in the number of employees working at the workplace.

Conclusion

From the above report it can be concluded that in the modern day business environment it has become important for the companies to manage diversity. Managing diversity was not considered as an important task within the organisation. This led to decrease in the productivity of the staffs which was ultimately affecting the operations of the firm. After a long period of evaluation it was understood that diversity management is a crucial aspect of the modern day business. Glass ceiling has remained a problem for the female workers in many industries. This did not allow improving gender related diversity at the workplace. For the new manager workforce diversity management has brought many challenges and opportunities. It is confronting their management in the 21^st century which is having negative impact on the operations of the firm.

References

Barak, M.E.M., (2016) Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications.

Bedi, P., Lakra, P., Gupta, E., (2014) Workforce Diversity Management: The biggest challenge or opportunity For 21^st Century Organisations. [Online].  Available at: https://iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol16-issue4/Version-3/P01643102107.pdf. [Accessed on 10 April 2018].

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Cascio, W., (2018) Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.

Castellano, W.G., (2013) Practices for engaging the 21st century workforce: Challenges of talent management in a changing workplace. FT Press.

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Ewoh, A.I., (2013) Managing and valuing diversity: Challenges to public managers in the 21st century. Public Personnel Management, 42(2), pp.107-122.

Garmise, S., (2014) People and the competitive advantage of place: Building a workforce for the 21st century. Routledge.

Guillaume, Y.R., Dawson, J.F., Woods, S.A., Sacramento, C.A. and West, M.A., 2013. Getting diversity at work to work: What we know and what we still don’t know. Journal of occupational and organizational psychology, 86(2), pp.123-141.

Lynch, F.R., (2017) The diversity machine: The drive to change the white male workplace. Routledge.

Saxena, A., (2014) Workforce diversity: A key to improve productivity. Procedia Economics and Finance, 11, pp.76-85.

Simons, S.M. and Rowland, K.N., 2011. Diversity and its impact on organizational performance: The influence of diversity constructions on expectations and outcomes. Journal of technology management & innovation, 6(3), pp.171-183.

Syed, J., (2011) Akbar’s multiculturalism: lessons for diversity management in the 21st century. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences/Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l’Administration, 28(4), pp.402-412.

Thomas, K.M. ed., (2012) Diversity resistance in organizations. Psychology Press.

Thomas, R.R., 2011. The management of workforce diversity: A continuing evolution. Employment Relations Today, 38(3), pp.1-9.