The Human Resources Implications of Greater Ethnic Diversification - Essay Example

These policies have combined with demographic shifts to leave more and more companies with the most diverse workforce, both in terms of gender and ethnicity, than they have ever had before. Despite this, the human resources implications of greater ethnic diversity have far from ended, rather, they are getting exceedingly more complex. The fact is that, while hiring initiatives have led to greater diversity in the work force, this has led to a whole swath of other implications for human resources professionals.

Furthermore, the process through which much of the diversity has been achieved, such as affirmative action hiring, have failed to have either positive business or social justice outcomes. Growing diversity has requires human resources professionals to innovate new methods of team formation and culture shifts in companies, which seem to be the only way to make the gains made by having an ethnically diverse workforce sustainable. The gains of having an ethnically diverse workforce have been well understood for some time now. . thnically diverse backgrounds provide insight into their own positions as well as for their coworkers (Jackson et al 1992), while corporations that have a great deal of ethnic diversity on amongst their board of directors tend to perform better in a wide variety of metrics, including profitability and revenue stream (Singh 2007).

Furthermore, companies that seek to go beyond simply generating ethnic diversity through hiring practices, but also entrenching cultural values that promote and respect diverse modes of thought have a whole slew of other benefits. Their workforces tend to have more a more collective orientation, more open modes of communication, and are better able to recognize talent from individuals of diverse backgrounds (Martin-Alcaraz 2011). While some indicators of the gains of diverse companies may seem coincidental (and there is a chance, especially with instances with small population studies, such as boards of directors), it does seem that a great deal of ethnic diversity has direct positive impacts for companies that foster such an atmosphere.

The goals of diversity initiatives are also obviously not founded solely on improving performance, though this does seem to be an effect of a positively constructed diversity program. Diversity is also important for companies to meet social and ethical requirements and behave as good “corporate citizens.” The fact is, that with the growing ethnic diversity that has come with globalization, a work force that is not diverse represents a form of oppression rather than a lack of outreach or other such measures.

A workforce should resemble the population that surrounds it, and if it has a significant difference, then the company needs to ask itself how and why it is actively excluding portions of the