MN7181-Managing Diversity

"MANAGING diversity”

A management system which eliminates the difference found in a multicultural work force in a manner which results in the highest level of productivity for both the organisation and the individual. In other words, managing diversity means managing people in the best interest of employee as well as employer.

Managing diversity is an on-going process that explores the various talents and capabilities which a diverse population brings to an organisation, so as to create wholesome. It also involves creating a supportive culture where all employees could be effective. In creating this culture it is important that top management strongly support work place diversity as a company goal and include diversity initiatives in the company’s business strategies.                                                                                                               

In many organizations, it is common for the managers to discriminate against particular racial and ethnic employees because they would be playing favorites with those employees of their own kind. These needs to be avoided at all costs and the senior leadership should send an unambiguous message that discrimination and harassment would not be tolerated at any cost. Further, in Asian countries, it is often the habit that employees lapse into their own language without considering the implications that it would have on the employees who do not speak their language. These needs to be avoided at all costs as well and strict enforcement of the language of communication (whether it is local or global) must be done. The point here is that in many industries, the managers need to communicate in the language that the workers are comfortable with. Therefore, there are no issues in this case since the language of communication can vary. However, in corporate settings and in services sector companies, there are employees from diverse backgrounds who feel lost when the manager and the employees communicate in languages other than the official language of communication.

The next aspect is that the workplace must be gender sensitive, which means that managers and employees must not comment on matters that are sensitive to women. For instance, it is common in many organizations to pass overt and covert comments against women and to speak in demeaning ways. This must be avoided at all costs and we cannot emphasize more the importance of being gender sensitive at the workplace. The point here is that unless the work environment is free from gender stereotyping and racial and ethnic biases, the output from the organizations suffers.

Organizations with diverse employees are better suited to serve diverse external customers in an increasingly global market. Such organizations have a better understanding of the requirements of the legal, political, social, economic, and cultural environments (Patrick and Kumar, 2012).

References

Patrick, H. and Kumar, V. (2012). Managing Workplace Diversity: Issues and Challenges. SAGE Open. [online] Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2158244012444615 [Accessed 6 Jan. 2019].

Juneja, P. (2019). Managing Diversity at the Workplace. [online] MSG MANAGEMENT STUDY GUIDE. Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/managing-diversity-at-workplace.htm [Accessed 4 Jan. 2019].