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Unit 1, Managing diversity_business environment
- 2. What is Diversity in the Workplace? • Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between individuals in an organization. Diversity not only includes how individuals identify themselves but also how others perceive them. Diversity within a workplace encompasses race, gender, ethnic groups, age, religion, sexual orientation, citizenship status, military service and mental and physical conditions, as well as other distinct differences between people. •
- 4. The Importance of Diversity Management In The Workplace
- 5. How Has Diversity Management In The Workplace Evolved? • Originally, diversity management was primarily about avoiding discrimination in recruitment and promoting tolerance within the company. But, over time and with multiple factors, things have evolved to where companies recognize the importance of diversity in the workplace as a key competitive advantage.
- 6. How to Manage Diversity in the Workplace
- 7. Individual strategies for dealing with diversity • Understanding • Empathy • Tolerance, and • Willingness to communicate
- 8. Organizational strategies for dealing with diversity • Organizational Policies • Organizational Practices • Diversity Training • Organization Culture
- 9. NEW CHANGE
- 10. Accenture • Employees Worldwide: 513,000+ Diversity & Inclusion: Accenture believe that “no one should be discriminated against because of their differences, such as age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, religion or sexual orientation.” • The organisation also hosts a company-wide celebration of International Day of Persons with Disabilities as well as endeavour to help their employees with various supports, like assistive technology, flexible work arrangements and additional training.
- 11. Coca Cola • Employees Worldwide: 86,200+ • Diversity & Inclusion: At Coca-Cola, diversity is seen “as more than just policies and practices. It is an integral part of who we are as a company, how we operate and how we see our future.” Diversity education programmes include Diversity Training, a Diversity Speaker Series and a Diversity Library.
- 12. Effectively Managing Diversity in the Workplace is a Competitive Advantage in the Modern Business Market
- 14. Thankyou!!
Editor's Notes
- For an organization looking to cultivate a more diverse and inclusive workplace, it is important to understand what constitutes workplace diversity. When people think of diversity, they may think first of ethnicity and race, and then gender; however, diversity is much broader than that. In Workforce America! Managing Employee Diversity as a Vital Resource, diversity is defined as “otherness or those human qualities that are different from our own and outside the groups to which we belong, yet present in other individuals and groups.” Dimensions of diversity include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience
- Having a diverse workforce with multi-lingual employees and employees from varying ethnic backgrounds can also be helpful for organizations who want to expand or improve operations in international, national, regional and local markets. MORE BENEFITS TO HAVING DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE: Employees from diverse backgrounds imbue organizations with creative new ideas and perspectives informed by their cultural experiences A diverse workplace will help organizations better understand target demographics and what moves them A diverse workplace can better align an organization’s culture with the demographic make-up of America Increased customer satisfaction by improving how employees interact with a more diverse clientele and public
- A diverse workplace can help organizations in a variety of ways. Mainly, it can serve as a reflection of a diversifying world — thanks to demographic changes, globalization, and digitization, workplace diversity can help teams become better attuned to the many needs of their customers. A diversity strategy allows you to make your business more open and welcoming to all: staff and customers alike. Diversity strategies have many aims; to increase the number and seniority of ethnic minority staff within your business, make your workplace environment and culture friendly to all, and/or ensure your business is meeting its legal obligations, for example. Diversity strategies help you gain the benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace – more perspectives, greater employee wellbeing, increased innovation, a larger talent pool, better customer understanding, improved problem solving, and enhanced business performance.
- In order to show an in-depth understanding of a range of customers, a hiring policy geared toward diversity and inclusion pays dividends. That’s why companies such as Airbus, Porsche, Zeiss, and Volkswagen have long since put their faith in workplace diversity. In its Wolfsburg location alone, Volkswagen employs people from over 100 countries.
- Managing diversity in the workplace presents a set of unique challenges for HR professionals. These challenges can be mitigated if an organization makes a concerted effort to encourage a more heterogeneous environment through promoting a culture of tolerance, open communication and creating conflict management strategies to address issues that may arise. For leadership to effectively manage diversity in the workplace, they need to understand their backgrounds and how their behavior and beliefs can affect their decision-making within a diverse environment.
- Understanding The first of these is understanding the nature and meaning of diversity. Some managers, for example, have taken the basic concepts of equal employment opportunity to an unnecessary extreme. They know that, by law, they cannot discriminate against people on the basis of sex, race, and so forth. Thus in following this mandate they come to believe that they must treat everyone the same. But this belief can cause problems when translated into workplace behaviors among people after they have been hired because people are not the same. Although people need to be treated fairly and equitably, managers must understand that differences among people do, in fact, exist. Thus any effort to treat everyone the same, without regard to their fundamental human differences, will only lead to problems. Managers must understand that cultural factors cause people to behave in different ways and that these differences should be accepted. Empathy Related to understanding is empathy. People in an organization should try to understand the perspective of others. For example, suppose a woman joins a group that has traditionally comprised white men. Each man may be a little self-conscious as how to act toward the new member and may be interested in making her feel comfortable and welcome. But they may be able to do this even more effectively by empathizing with how she may feel. For example, she may feel disappointed or elated about her new assignment, she may be confident or nervous about her position in the group, and she may be experienced or inexperienced in working with male colleagues. By learning more about her feelings, the group members can further facilitate their ability to work together effectively. Tolerance A third related individual approach to dealing with diversity is tolerance. Even though people learn to understand others, and even though they may try to empathize with others, the fact remains that they may still not accept or enjoy some aspect of their behavior. For example, one organization reported that it had experienced considerable conflict among its US and Israeli employees. The Israeli employees always seemed to want to argue about every issue that arose. The US managers preferred to conduct business more harmoniously and became uncomfortable with the conflict. Finally, after considerable discussion it was learned that many of the Israeli employees simply enjoyed arguing and saw it as part of getting work done. The firm’s US employees do not enjoy the arguing, but they are more willing to tolerate it as a fundamental cultural difference between themselves and their colleagues from Israel. Willingness to communicate A final individual approach to dealing with diversity is communication. Problems often get magnified over these issues because people are afraid or otherwise unwilling to openly discuss issues that relate to diversity or multiculturalism. For example, suppose that a young employee has a habit of making jokes about the age of an elderly colleague. Perhaps the young colleague means no harm and is just engaging in what she sees as good-natured kidding. But the older employee may find the jokes offensive. If the two do not communicate, the jokes will continue and the resentment will grow. Eventually, what started as a minor problem may erupt into a much bigger one. For communication to work, it must be two-way. If a person wonders if a certain behavior on her or his part is offensive to someone else, the curious individual should just ask. Similarly, if someone is offended by the behavior of another person, he or she should explain to the offending individual how the behavior is perceived and request that it stop. As long as such exchanges are friendly, low key, and non-threatening, they will generally have a positive outcome. Of course, if the same message is presented in an overly combative manner or if a person continues to engage in offensive behavior after having been asked to stop, problems will only escalate. At this point, third parties within the organization may have to intervene. And in fact, most organizations today have one or more systems in place to address questions and problems that arise as a result of diversity
- A broad definition of diversity should encompass all aspects of the employees from background, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and family status among other things. However, the presence of “invisible minorities” means that companies might not be aware of potential diversity issues. Furthermore, non-minorities can find themselves discriminated in some countries because of their marital status (unmarried couples) or specific situations (single parents.) Families of assignees can also be the target of discrimination even if the assignees themselves don’t belong to discriminated groups. These issues could be easily overlooked by the company unless they are flagged by the assignees themselves. Inclusion goes one step further to effectively integrate minority groups in the mobile workforce. The end goal is not just to increase the number of females or minorities but to ensure that this numerical increase translates into real participation at managerial level and contributes to breaking the career glass ceiling. The objective is to create an environment where the best people can bring their full selves to work.
- Diversity training within the company is broken into 3 different categories: 1.) Diversity Awareness – to help people understand the benefits of working with a diverse organisation. 2.) Diversity Management – to equip executives to manage diverse teams. 3.) Professional Development – to enable women, LGBT and ethnically diverse employees to build skills for success.
- In 2017, a new parental benefits policy was implemented, whereby 6 weeks of paid leave is extended to all new mothers and fathers. The move was championed by ‘Coca-Cola Millennial Voices’, a group of young employees tasked with making sure there is a healthy level of employee retention in millennial consumers and staff members. 174,000+ Diversity & Inclusion: Named as one of the ‘World’s Best Multinational Workplaces by Great Place to Work’, the world’s largest annual study of workplace excellence, Marriott International extends their commitment to creating an inclusive guest experience to their workforce around the globe. Women-owned business enterprises make up approximately 10% of Marriott’s supply chain and they vow to spend $1 billion with diverse-owned businesses by 2020. LGBT inclusion is also a top priority for Marriott International. They received that ‘Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality’ accolade when they earned a perfect score on the HRC’s 2016 Corporate Equality Index, a widely recognised benchmark for diversity and inclusion.
- Organizations have long realized that diversity translates to good business. Embracing a multitude of viewpoints and cultures and valuing the wide array and style of input and efforts that results from a diverse workforce, ultimately drives innovation, improves decision-making, increases employee productivity and retention, and leads to better-served customers. The goal of diversity in the workplace should be a central pillar in any organization’s path towards success.
- Diversity is no longer just a buzzword. It's become an essential ingredient for any organization that wants to build happier, more productive, and more effective workplaces. In fact, diversity is one of the criteria job seekers use to evaluate potential employers. A survey by Glassdoor found that 67% of active and passive job seekers consider diversity when considering job offers and employers. Attracting better employees is only one of the benefits of a diverse workplace