Diversity in Organizations - Essay Example

Both these aspects are considered unhealthy for organization’s growth and sustenance. To tackle issues arising from discrimination, organizations have started to adopt diversity management as a tool to tackle discrimination at workplace. This can be best evidenced by the Kosek and Lobel’s model (1996), cited by Mor-Barak and Travis (2005), of diversity management approach through diversity enlargement, diversity sensitivity, cultural audit and strategies for achieving organizational outcomes.

Diversity management policies to promote equality in organizations have been widely adopted worldwide, in compliance to legislation and also to derive better business results. However, the results are not uniform across all nations and across same organizations in different regions of the world. Various factors attributing to distinct results and impacts of diversity management policies point to the differing perceptions, attitudes, social behaviors, and interpretations of policies. All these factors describe the diversity climate within the organization.

Diversity climate is defined as "organizational members' attitudes and perceptions toward people from cultural groups other than their own." It is important to assess the diversity climate in order for organizations to implement diversity management practices and/or bridge gaps wherever necessary. . The main questions in the questionnaire include: 1. How would you rate your management/leadership support in terms of communication of opportunities and work performance. 2. To what extent is diversity addressed in formal policies like organizational mission statement, HR policies, practices etc. 3. To what extent do you get opportunities to refer your friends and other members belonging to diverse cultural groups for a job at your workplace? 4. To what extent do you and your colleagues get fair treatment by your supervisors/managers? 5. To what extent do you feel your workplace practices attempt to include all members of the organization. 6. How would you rate the way the organization and your leaders welcomed you when you joined. 7. Do you get adequate resources and support to carry out your work in an appropriate manner? 8. To what extent do the organizational activities encompass different cultural perspectives? 9. How would you rate your overall positive experiences with respect to diversity at workplace? 10. To what extent have you heard someone passing comments that depicted discrimination?

This questionnaire could be measured on a 5-point Likert scale, from 1 to 5 (1=Strongly disagree; 2=disagree; 3=neither disagree nor agree; 4=Agree and 5=Strongly Agree). Based on the rating, responses can be categorized into three main categories namely, benefits of diversity, inclusion of diversity policies, and justice with respect to discrimination. This categorization will help in assessing which aspect is outweighing the diversity climate within the organization. Accordingly, necessary actions can be taken in terms of training and diversity management practices.

Kossek and Lobel’s