Management Of Diverse Workforce Remains †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Management Of Diverse Workforce Remains? Answer: Introduction Globalization is increasing the demand for the people in organizations across the world to interact with other people from across different and diverse cultures, background, beliefs and practices (Green, Lpez, Wysocki Kepner, 2002). People are not confined to the safe boundaries of their organizations. Instead, employees are forced to compete in a flatter world and economy with stiff competitions from across the entire world. Therefore, organizations have no option but to open up to the reality of the world and establish systems and processes that embrace the concept of diversity if they hope to remain relevant and competitive (Kulik, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to explore the available information and the rationale for diversity in the contemporary business environment. The paper is arranged as follows. The first section provides a definition of the concept diversity in relation to human resource and business management. The paper provides a detailed discussion of the rationale of diversity management in business context. An examination of the demographic drivers and their implication for diversity and human resource management is conducted. A discussion of the challenges and opportunities of a diversity management program is then presented, including the related advantages and disadvantages and how human resource is able to meet and address the issues of diversity management. A discussion is presented on the argument to make to Mark French regarding the business case for diversity management in CERA. A conclusion is then made on the trends and outlook of diversity management and the positioning of the human res ource managers to implement the diversity program effectively. Concept and Definition of Diversity Diversity refers to variety or differences in a given composition. In management, diversity is a broad term suggesting the talent mix and differences evident in the organization workforce and workplaces. The concept, understanding and application of diversity varies from one person and organization to another (Wagner III Hollenbeck, 2014). According to Okoro and Washington (2012), diversity entails recognizing, appreciating and embracing employees differences in terms of age, ethnicity, class, gender, race, sexual orientation, physical and mental capabilities, and spirituality, among other individual differences. Surface level diversity refers to the observable differences among people, including the physical attributes, age, ethnicity, gender race, while deep level diversity refers to the psychological differences among employees that include attitude, personality, beliefs and values (Fisher, Bell, Dierdorff Belohlav, 2012). Regardless of the definition adopted, the concept of div ersity remains the same, and this are the salient differences among the workforce that affect that affect work relationships, performance and achievement. The Rationale for Diversity in HR and Business Management Today, organizations contend with issues of migration and the resulting population mix, ethnic and racial diversity, giving rise to many dilemmas (Castles, De Haas Miller, 2013). It should be noted that with the increasing differences in the world populations, coupled with the opening up of the globe, management of diversity is becoming increasingly important. Companies are under pressure to develop open and inclusive systems, procedures and work structures that appeal to, attract and manage a diverse workforce. This is especially important given that research evidence point to a positive relationship between embracing diversity with improved productivity, profitability and sustainable competitive advantages among organizations (Wagner III Hollenbeck, 2014; Andrevski, Richard, Shaw Ferrier, 2014; Lu, Chen, Huang Chien, 2015). It makes business and management sense to attract, manage and retain a diverse workforce to reap from the obvious accruing opportunities and advantages presented by the practice (D'Netto, Shen, Chelliah Monga, 2014). Workforce diversity constitutes an important competitive asset in the contemporary business organizations (Richard Miller, 2013). It is important for organizations to shift their perspectives concerning diversity and invest in valuing and appreciating workforce diversity if they hope to have effective human resource management, and reap from the value of improved workplace performance and productivity (Richard Miller, 2013). Demographic Drivers of Diversity The workplace is changing at a very fast rate. The most obvious change is the increased intake and control of women in the work environment (Kirton, G., Greene, 2015). Women are increasingly becoming active in the workplace as employees, managers, CEOs, heads of organizations, business owners, challenging the previously male dominated areas (Davidson, 2016). The women are increasingly tasked with contribution to the family income, forcing them to seek competitive employment alongside their male counterparts. Moreover, there is a blurring of the social roles, implying that women can now go for the jobs that were once considered male careers. Consequently, diversity issues are evident across the gender and racial divide. Other than increased uptake of women in employment, another driver of diversity is the ongoing trend of organization restructuring evident across the globe. Today, issues of restructuring, downsizing, rightsizing, business process outsourcing and adoption of robotics technologies are affecting the way that organizations hire and manage people (Cummings Worley, 2014). The workforce has significantly reduced as organizations look to get efficiency and cost management through intensive investment in technology, trends that continue to influence the ways organizations manage its human capital and ability of the company to reap from the benefits that accrue from having a diverse workforce (Cummings Worley, 2014). Technology, globalization, service explosion, internet and increased working hours are continuously transforming the understanding of the traditional workplace, creating new challenges and possibilities of human resource management, and pushing for a significant reduction in the size of workforce that the organization can sustain. The biggest driving force for diversity is the legal environment, which makes discrimination illegal. Consequently, employees enjoy equal rights and opportunities for employment irrespective of their individual and personal differences (Visconti, 2015). People from racial and ethnic minorities are able to enjoy the same rights and opportunities to employment available to the majority groups in the society (Travers, Smaldone Gross Cohn, 2015). The legal framework defines the rights, responsibilities and obligations of both the employees and employers thus ensuring that the management of human resource is fair and just, and that all people have access to all the employment opportunities available without discrimination. Challenges and Opportunities of Diversity This section aims to examine the various opportunities and advantages offered by implementing diversity programs in human resource management. It also examines the challenges, threats and disadvantages arising from the adoption of diversity programs in human resource management in the contemporary business organizations. The benefits and opportunities of diversity accrue to both the employer and the employees. Employees mainly enjoy the benefits and opportunities of gaining equal employment without discrimination (Guillaume, Dawson, Woods, Sacramento West, 2013). Moreover, employees are able to work with and learn from different people, creating cultural competence and personal development through establishment of different social relationships (Chrobot-Mason Aramovich, 2013). Organizations that embrace diversity are able to attract talent , skills, competence and experience by recruiting people from different backgrounds that has potential to improve organization performance, productivity and profitability (Singh, Winkel Selvarajan, 2013). Through adherence to diversity, organizations are able to reduce lawsuits arising from discriminations and poor treatment of people from different backgrounds. Moreover, recruitment of a diverse workforce improves organization image and reputation as an equal employer thus attracting qualified talent and auguring well in the market (Guillaume, Dawson, Woods, Sacramento West, 2013). In addition, diversity creates room for creativity, innovation and different working styles through fostering an environment where different ideas from different people are nurtured to create a competitive organization (Chrobot-Mason Aramovich, 2013). A diverse workforce enjoys flexibility, creativity, adaptability and synergetic working relationships that drive organization performance, creating excellent and high performing teams that ultimately contribute to the bottom line of the organization (Singh, Winkel Selvarajan, 2013). Despite the opportunities enumerated above, diversity also has its own downside, which can have negative effects on the organization. Managing a diverse workforce is a serious challenge for human resource managers in modern organizations (Espinoza Ukleja, 2016). The biggest challenge to diversity is employee resistance and the changes it represents, which creates a serious management hurdle for the HR manager (Espinoza Ukleja, 2016). Moreover, diversity is not just hiring different people, it entails establishing a strategic management approach that encompass appreciating individual differences, inclusiveness, dealing with discrimination and promoting constructive feedback (Podsiadlowski, Grschke, Kogler, Springer Van Der Zee, 2013). The organization culture, pre-existing structures, and negative attitudes in the workplace can easily thwart efforts aimed towards attaining diversity with serious repercussions on the morale, workplace relationships and overall organization productivity and performance (Kirton Greene, 2015). Moreover, HR managers face the challenges of addressing stereotypes, discriminations and prejudices against specific groups of people and employees in the organization. There is a risk that these prejudices can infiltrate the hiring, recruitment, retention and promotion decisions in the organizations (Vance Paik, 2015). In the event this takes place, bias and doubt is introduced in the organizations, killing any chances of synergy and leading to the disintegration of the workplace, with potentially damaging organization outcomes. A Case for CERA Following a review of the literature and examination of pros and cons of diversity in the workplace and organizations, I am thoroughly convinced that diversity is a strategic component of any human resource management strategy. My argument to Mark French is pegged on the value of diversity in fostering sustainable competitive advantage for CERA. It is important for CERA to pursue and embrace diversity as this contributes to organization creativity, innovation and success through attracting the right pool of talent, hiring the people and fostering effective work relations that have the potential to improve the performance and productivity of CERA. Nevertheless, to create a highly successful and diverse workforce, CERA needs to invest in systems and infrastructure that support diversity, including promoting effective human resource managers. It is important for Mark to understand that discrimination is a serious threat to diversity and its consequences have the potential of wrecking the organization and destroying any performance and profitability attained by CERA over the years that they have been operating. It is important for the managers at CERA to examine their own cultural biases and attain cultural competence to avoid the chances of their bias influencing their decisions in managing human resources since this has the potential to limit ability of the organization to appreciate, attain and embrace diversity in managing the workforce. Diversity in human resource management is not about managing the different groups of people, but rather appreciating the fact that people are essentially different yet their differences represents varied value prepositions and usefulness that they bring to the team, workplace and organization setting. It is important to learn how to tap into the different abilities, values, abilities and skills of people to create business value for CERA. Organization learning on effective management of diverse workforce is critical to the attainment of current and future goals and objectives. CERA will be able to attain competitive advantage and stay ahead of the rest if effective programs are implemented to attract and retain diverse workforce. Since diversity extends beyond affirmative action and development of equal employment policies, it is important for CERA to adopt a transformational shift in its organization culture systems and processes to focus more on employee development. This is the mo st important step in attaining diversity and ensuring development of a strong, diverse and competitive workforce. Conclusion The world, the marketplace and the workforce is changing at a relatively fast rate, creating opportunities for adoption and diversity in the management of human resources. Though there are obvious challenges and threats to implementing diversity in the workplace, this study has demonstrated that the practice is invaluable in promoting organization performance, productivity and profitability that all contribute to a sustainable competitive advantage. A review of books and peer reviewed journal articles on the subject of diversity points to the immense opportunities available for strategic human resource managers to take advantage of diversity management programs to harness the value and benefits of a diverse workforce. While diversity can bring about significant benefits and value to the organization, its implementation is often difficult and challenging, requiring high level of skills and expertise from the human resource manager and adoption of a strategic approach to human resources management. It is important to utilize various tools and programs to promote and embrace diversity in the workplace. The starting point is assuming a cultural shift and transformation of attitudes to ensure adoption of an open and inclusive culture that fosters integration and working together of people from different backgrounds. Carefully crafted and employee driven employment policies and programs can be a real deal breaker in attaining diversity and ensuring synergy and effective relationships in the workplace. Since modern workplaces have diverse cultures with people from different backgrounds it would be important to nurture a learning organization that is flexible enough to adapt to meet the different needs an d expectations of the different mix of people. References Andrevski, G., Richard, O. C., Shaw, J. D., Ferrier, W. J. (2014). Racial diversity and firm performance: the mediating role of competitive intensity.Journal of Management,40(3), 820-844. Castles, S., De Haas, H., Miller, M. J. (2013).The age of migration: International population movements in the modern world. Palgrave Macmillan. Chrobot-Mason, D., Aramovich, N. P. (2013). The psychological benefits of creating an affirming climate for workplace diversity.Group Organization Management,38(6), 659-689. Cummings, T. G., Worley, C. G. 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