Diversity Management and Organizational Culture - Essay Example

? Learning Journal- Diversity Management Learning Journal- Diversity Management Through studies and researches relating to diversity management in employment, I have found out that it has become one of the most fundamental principals in human resource management in recent years. Diversity in employment is based on the principals of equal employment opportunities to everybody irrespective of inherent differences such as gender, race, religion, age, ethnicity as well as physical disabilities (Sappey et al, 2006). I understand that businesses and companies are being encouraged to adopt more inclusive approaches in their employment strategies so as to accommodate everybody and help do away with the negative effects of discrimination and marginalization of certain groups and individuals. In order to fully achieve inclusiveness, most companies have been encouraged to adopt policies that reflect affirmative action and those that are in line with anti discrimination laws and regulations. The companies should also have various practices that embody different approaches to managing diversity dimension. Various studies I came across in human resource have focused on the question of diversity management and how firms can incorporate policies to ensure a more diverse workforce and how this will benefit the organizations. A common understanding is that managing diversity in the workforce can help an organization become more innovative and adaptable to the ever changing business environment as well as helping the organizations meet their performance objectives (Verspaandonk, Holand & Horne, 2010). I found out that in some jurisdictions, the issue of workforce diversity has been backed with a legal foundation. Companies are expected to comply with set out legislations concerning employment procedures so as to avoid discrimination. In some cases, it’s mandatory for organizations to have guidelines and policies to ensure inclusiveness in terms of gender, race and disability (Dickens, 2000). The other relevant fact I came across in my study is that in order to achieve equality in employment, organizations have to take in to account both affirmative action and anti discrimination legislation as well as other approaches to managing diversity dimension. Affirmative action refers to the various policies that are used to ensure inclusiveness in areas of business, education and employment in terms of race, religion, sex or age. Diversity in the workforce refers to the policies and practices that aim at including people with certain qualities in the workforce, which the current staff does not have. This could either be on the basis of age, disability, experience, gender or special talents. In our country Australia, the idea of workforce diversity has been welcomed by organizations both in the public and private sector (Strachan et al, 2010). Our Department of Immigration and Citizenship has been at the forefront at ensuring diversity at all levels of the department. This has enabled the department to be among the best performers in the public sector (Strachan et al, 2010). Diversity involves a wide range of issues in an organization. These issues are both internal and external to the organization but influence to a large extent the business operations (Dickens, L. 2000). Among the issues that affect diversity dimension in an organization include the organizational culture, ethnicity, religion and political power, disability, sexual and gender issues employee representation among others (Verspaandonk, Holand & Horne, 2010). In my opinion, in order to effectively manage diversity, businesses have to employ various strategies as well as following guidelines as well as working within the various laws and regulations from the state that aim at ensuring inclusion of marginalized individuals in the workforce. I also understand that diversity management is a key issue in human resource and has been the center of focus in recent studies and research in human resources, especially the business case for diversity management (Strachan et al, 2010). This seeks to portray diversity management as a positive strategy to help organizations become more competitive in the ever changing business environment and achieve their goals and objectives. In my endeavor to fully understand diversity and its implications on business operations,I realized it is very important to examine the various issues that revolve around the diversity dimension and how organizations respond to them (Dickens, 2000). Some of the main issues in diversity management that organizations need to address include; Organizational culture We can define organizational culture as the total of all values, attitudes, norms and beliefs that have accumulated in the organization over a long time, and which comprise of the collective meaning or shared understanding of the organization as a group (Dickens, L. 2000). It basically refers to the way organizations do conduct their businesses from day to day as influenced by their values and beliefs. The other way I can approach organizational culture can be describing it as the process of recognizing, utilizing, valuing and benefiting from the different backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles of the people within an organization. The more diverse the staff of the business is, the richer the organizational culture. The main issues I came across, that need to be fully understood when studying the organizational culture is cultural diversity, the impact of culture to an organization, demographic diversity of the location of the business is situated the political environment among other issues. Cultural diversity in an organization implies the variety of languages, dialects, physical appearances, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, age, sex and gender of the people in the organization. Diversity refers to inclusion of most of these characteristics at various levels of the organizational structure (Dickens, 2000). One other factor that I came across when it comes to maintaining cultural diversity in the organization is that the top management has to establish the norms and behaviors that have to be adhered to by all staff in relation to respecting and accommodating people from other cultures. Selection of new employees and the whole employment policy of the organization should only focus on merit and how well the candidates will fit in to the organization as opposed to the their cultural backgrounds. The candidates for a specific post in the organization should be provided the information about the company without biases. New employees should be given an orientation to introduce them to the business culture. They should be made to understand the history of the organization, the values, and the basic attitudes that guide employees in their day to day duties (Dickens, 2000). The organizations strategy on culture outlines how the employee and the organization respond to the cultural diversity within the organization, including the issues that affect the diversity. The strategy should address the issue of cultural sensitivity and how staff should go about it. Cultural sensitivity refers to the various emotive issues that affect the organizational culture such as politics, religion, and corruption treatment of women among others. There should be a business protocol for addressing issues relating to cultural sensitivity. The organizations should also outline guidelines on how and when to talk about such sensitive issues. It is also vital for us to understand the concept of culture shock in understanding organizational culture. We can define culture shock as the psychological disorientation hat individuals experience when they move between cultures. From this definition, we understand that culture shock can happen to both domestically and on the international level when employees switch from one organization to another. Culture shock can be quite frustrating and depressing to individuals especially if the new culture is completely different from what they believe in. Some employees may be greatly affected and even wish to return to their home and their culture. This can greatly affect the performance of new employees. Australia and cultural diversity Our cultural diversity cultural diversity as the Australian people and the lifestyle we experience today has been shaped throughout the history of the nation. The past historical events that have helped shape our culture include the colonial by the British, the indigenous population and the big immigration from other countries that was experienced in the 1880s. The majority of the population in Australia now consists of Australian born citizens. 50% of the population has their ancestral origins in other countries other than Australia. 41% have either one of their parents born overseas while 22% of the people have been born in other countries, a majority which are from England, New Zealand, China, and 14% of them are born from other non- English speaking countries (Dickens, 2000). About 2.3% are aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Australians speak about 200 different languages, a reflection of the diversity of the people in the country. The primary language spoken is English; however there are other languages such as Chinese, Italian, Greek, Arabic, Thai, tagalong, Hindi among others. There are about 50 indigenous languages that are still actively spoken in Australia. Indigenous Australians are the people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin. The indigenous community in Australia is highly diverse and consists of various cultural groups speaking different languages (Dickens, 2000). The indigenous community in our country is the most disadvantaged when it comes to employment opportunities. They have historically been excluded from industrial relations, education systems, and health and from the whole society at large. The unemployment rate among the native Australians is three times higher than the national unemployment rate. There are efforts from the government to include the indigenous community in employment in both public and private organizations. However, we understand that significant progress has only been made in the government sector. Most of those employed get inferior jobs because of their low education levels and skills. In most cases they are not given the opportunities for employment and education despite showing growing interest to acquire new skills through education and training and to apply them in good jobs. The various diversity management strategies to accommodate the indigenous communities and other disadvantaged people in employment include a reconciliation statement of commitment or a reconciliation action plan (RAP) and an Indigenous Employment Strategy (IES) (Sappey et al, 2006). A reconciliation statement of commitment is unique to each organization and acknowledges the peoples traditions as well as the cultural significance and the history of the area in which the organization is situated. It also gives an outline of the organizations commitment to the indigenous people. A reconciliation action plan gives the organization’s commitment to bridging the gap between the indigenous people and the non indigenous population. It assists organizations to build positive relationships with the indigenous population. It also shows the contribution of the organization to the national efforts in a bit to improve the social and economic conditions of the indigenous Australians. The Indigenous Employment Strategy is a statement that outlines practical measures that aim at attracting and retaining indigenous people in employment. One other important strategy we can recommend that organizations employ counter disparities in employment statistics is through mentoring on diversity. Mentoring can be effective in developing careers of the members of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) such as the disabled, women, native people and other minorities such as races and ethnic or religious backgrounds. Mentoring can be both formal and informal. Mentoring can focus on issues such as cultural sensitivity, counseling, Support and Guidance on cultural issues as well as organizational culture (Sappey et al, 2006). Corporate Culture, power and Politics This is also a major issue affecting diversity management. This involves the various strategies and ways in which power politics and religion relate to the organization. Understanding the influence of power politics and religion helps individuals to work and operate in a very diverse environment. We can define power as the ability to influence peoples’ actions and behaviors. The sources of power can be legitimate, rewards, or referent. Legitimate power comes from elections or appointments and is given by the followers of the leader. Rewards are based on the control of the things that followers value most. Referent power is based on personal relationships and respect. This can be developed by any person based on their likeability, dedication in teamwork and their respect from peers. This type of power is very critical between peers, leaders and their followers as well as leaders and their superiors. Other types of power include expert power, which comes from ones skill, knowledge and expertise. It makes other people dependant on the skilled individual. Information/knowledge or resource power is that which comes from one’s control of information, data and other resources and equipment. Connection power comes from one’s associations with the influential individuals through networking, business deals and politics (Sappey et al, 2006). Networking is the key to rise to top management. It’s about building positive professional relationships and friendships and requires a lot of social skills for one to be effective. In our country, networking has been a contribution in the past to women’s inability to rise to top management because of the connections that had been built by men. As I found out, networking is also good in helping one to find a job because most of them are not advertised and it requires one to be well connected so as to get one. In Australia, 60% of the jobs are not advertised to the public (Sappey et al, 2006). Power is one of the most important issues in leadership and management because it grants one the force to do what they wish for the organization. It has however to be approached from a legal perspective so as to avoid situations of abuse of power or abuse of office. Religious Dimension of Diversity This refers to the beliefs linked with ones culture, attitude and the behavior displayed in the workplace. Christianity is the most dominant religion in Australia, with a wide range of beliefs such as Methodists, Baptists and Catholics (James, 2005). Our Australian religious diversity includes Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindu and Taoism. There are various challenges associated with religious diversity in our country. One such challenge arises from the fact that employers are not obliged to grant leave requests to their employees based on their religion (James, 2005). This may in some cases be looked at as religious discrimination. Some employers are already recognizing this need is allow their employees to attend to their religious matters. Issues involved in religious diversity include issues such as the dress code, employees’ access to leave, working on weekends, prayer time at work, as well as requests to work outside religious permitted hours (James, 2005). Religious biasness and intolerance can result to low productivity and tension in the workplace. There is need for religious diversity training so as to increase awareness of the uniqueness of the religious identities of each individual (James, 2005). This will also facilitate dialogue and sharing of various religious experiences. It will also help people to deal with prejudices and stereotypes related to other religions and develop an attitude of appreciation to the religious diversity we have. The other approaches that we can use to deal with religious diversity include; accepting the norms of the host country or region where one is working. This will help one to understand fully the religion as opposed to the prejudices that may be associated with it. It will also help one to relate with their workmates who belong to that religion and reduce cases of tension in the workplace. The other strategy is to decide not to deviate from the ethical standards set by the host country or region (James, 2005). This will help you not to have problems with the local authorities as well as your employer. Finally you can accept and integrate practices of the local people while still maintaining your own principles. Sexual and Gender Identity at Work This involves understanding the gender and sexual orientation differences that may be at ones workplace and accommodating each one of them without any bias. It relates to ones sexual identity in the workplace and how this affects their relationships with colleagues and the whole organization (Beth and Rachel, 2004). The issues of gender and sexuality are among the most common challenges that organizations have to deal with in relation to diversity of their workforce. Sexual identity refers to one’s sex which may be male, female or transsexual (having both male and female hormones). Sexual orientations refer to ones preferred sexual relationships which may be heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbianism. The acronym LGBT is commonly used to refer to the various sexual orientations, Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Bisexual people. Issues relating to sexuality, gender identity and expression have not been given enough attention by organizations and the government as well in as much as they have addressed issues to do with race, ethnicity and disability (Beth and Rachel, 2004). There are still cases of discrimination against people attracted to the same sex. Issues of the sexual and gender nature range from treatment of women in certain professions to discrimination against people of certain sexual orientations. The role of ‘visual appeal’ played by women in certain businesses and organizations has been criticized as demeaning to the female gender and portrays women as ‘selling their sexuality’ to benefit their organizations (Beth K. M and Rachel K. W. 2004). Certain career structures and professions have made it difficult for people from other sexual orientations to enter and work effectively. Workplace Experience for the LGBT Studies that I came across on diversity indicate that this group of people has been alienated from the mainstream employment opportunities; they are alienated from their colleagues at work and may as well experience cases of harassment and discrimination, including assault in the workplace. Statistics show that one in every six lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people experiences discrimination and violence or harassment from their colleagues at work (James, 2005). This has prompted many workers to avoid sharing their sexual orientations and identities with their colleagues. Our country is a signatory to the International Convention on Civil and political rights, which details various significant principles that relate to the rights of gender diverse people, which includes their rights to non discrimination (James, 2005). All states in Australia have made laws that protect the rights of LGBT since 2003. In 2008, the federal government introduced a set of laws to amend 60 federal laws that relate to financial matters so as to remove legal discrimination against same sex couples and their children (James, 2005). Disability Diversity in Australia According to the International Labor organization (ILO), one out of every six people in the world has a disability. The number of disabled people worldwide is therefore estimated to be about one billion people. In our country the number of disabled people, as given by the Australian Network on disability is over four million people. This represents about a fifth pof the entire population. As noted by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2005, the disabled people form a very significant proportion of the working age population in the country, which is about 16.6%. The big question then arises about just how much they play part to the growth of the economy through significant employment. Statistics indicate that the disabled peoples’ participation in the workforce is still at lower rates (Monicah and Pepper, 2007). Disabled people are only likely to be employed when they choose to attempt to participate in the workforce, and will only earn a less amount if they get the job. This situation has been in the Australian economy for a very long time and it has not been getting significantly better in the recent years. In 2009, Statistics from the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) seemed to concur with this fact. The number of people with disability of working age was estimated to be about two million, but astonishingly, more than half of them were not in the workforce (Monicah and Pepper, 2007). We need to realize that people with disability possess a wide range of skills and abilities that organizations need to utilize in order to achieve their potential. We should give the disabled employment opportunities so that they can develop their skills further and enhance their potential particularly in leadership roles, professions and skilled trades. Joining the workforce can give the disabled people a lot of confidence, as well as expanding their social networks and improving their social skills. Employment can also ensure their financial independence, improved physical and mental health, and a better living standard (Monicah and Pepper, 2007). Despite improvements seen in the employment of the disabled in the recent past, there is still a lot to be done to ensure they fully participate in the work force. The Disability Discrimination Act, 1992 (DDA) aims at protecting the disabled people from any form of discrimination (Monicah and Pepper, 2007). The people with disability aged between 15- 64 had a much lower percentage of participation in the workforce as compared to those without disability. They were at 54% as compared to 83% of those without disability. One of the priority outcomes of the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 is to ‘increase access to employment opportunities as a way of improving economic security and personal wellbeing for people with disability (Monicah and Pepper, 2007) References Beth K. M and Rachel K. W. (2004). Gender, Sex and Employment in Australia. Pearson Education, Sydney Burgess, J., Henderson, L. and Strachan, G. 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