Managing Diversity in the Workplace - Essay Example

Managing Diversity in the Workplace Introduction According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2012), capability approach in managing diversity is a theory that revolves around two weighty issues, which include the claim that each individual has the moral right to achieve their potential as they see best and that this right (freedom) can only be determined by a person’s potential (capability). According to Kumra and Manfredi, 2012, p.4), while equal and diverse seem contradictory terms, they are in practice, and especially in the light of human resource management, commonly used together. Capabilities approach in managing diversity revolves around the ability to measure people’s abilities and what they can achieve as well as what they can become, in order to allocate the right amount and the right kind of resources in their development or welfare (Comim, et al, 2008, p.84). Capabilities are seen as opportunities for well being and therefore, justice is seen in terms of how an individual will achieve his well being (Kaufman, 2006 p.2). According to Hernandez and O’Connor (2009, p.165), the HR department has a lot of power in determining which titles will be given to who and who will get how much in their pay and this means that the HR department has a strong rein on how people develop in the organization. Managing diversity in the workplace is one of the biggest challenges and yet exciting processes in the workplace. Managing diversity is essential in meeting organizations goals and implementing its strategy (Wilkinson, 2009, p.232). According to Cornelius (2002, p.153), having workforce that is entirely diverse starts at recruitment and the HR department should and must have the right strategy for achieving this. With this regard, there are both traditional and modern approaches to managing diversity. Traditional methods of managing diversity were mostly from the US and were focused on creating a work environment that took care of ethnic differences. Managing diversity has, however, changed and today, not only it is a global management issue but it has taken a new route. Modern diversity management focuses on managing talent and making sure that people abilities are given equal opportunity without regard to their race, health or cultures. The difference between traditional strategies in managing diversity and the current approach is that the current methodology does not give minority groups in the work place more opportunity just because they are a minority. For instance, in the older strategies for managing diversities in the workplace, a worker could be given more opportunities just because they were from a certain minority group. This approach failed to work for many firms and therefore there was a need to develop a more comprehensive method of managing diversity. In the early 1980s, Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum developed a general approach to manage diversity. This method has at least five fundamental tenets. The first tenet is about the capability of the individual and throw this capability (potential) is able to add value to his life and productivity. The second one is the uniqueness in the individual to be able to turn organizational resources into useful activities. The third consideration is the total number of variables associated with the redevelopment of happiness to the individual. The fourth and the fifth deal with factors that affect the distribution of welfare. Although the capabilities method was developed for macrocosmic to be applied in the economics of welfare, it is particularly applicable in the work place as a tool for managing the diversity. Because the human resource managers no longer have to deal with ethical issues of giving certain opportunities to one person and not the other, there are less ethical issues. Opportunities are given purely on merit, and because of this, it is also easy to justify why resources and opportunities are given to certain people and not the other. Only the best talented are given the job, and this means they will be productive and effective. No one is given a certain opportunity just because they are from this or that group. This means that the firm benefits from the best talent. Since the employee will know that they will be given opportunities based on merit, they will all seek to prove their worth to the firm and this will lead to healthy competition. This helps in increasing productivity and also at the same time makes managing diversity easier and more justified. Challenges and criticism of the capabilities approach According to Flavio (2008, p.269), one of the biggest challenges with complex ideas such as the capabilities approach is the fact that that they can be vague and also inaccurate, for it fails to have clear boundaries and delimitations. One of the most formidable arguments against the capabilities approach is its inability to provide a credible way of measuring capabilities (Robeyns, 2011). While the capabilities approach operates around people’s capabilities and opportunities to be productive, it fails to provide a way to measure how productive the people are. For instance, if a firm wants to use the capabilities approach method, it would have a harder time in measuring the capabilities of each employees. Two issues arise from this. The first one is the fact that people’s capabilities are not explicit and cannot be easily determined. Sometimes, the personality of a person may mean that it is harder for their capabilities are not easily determined (Kuklys, 2005, p.33). Modern human resource managers understand that even academic qualifications are not essentially the best way to measure or determine the capability of an individual. While historic performance can be used as a way to measure an employee’s capabilities, it still fails to perfectly capture the wholeness of a person’s abilities and capabilities. If the management cannot effectively measure the capabilities of an employee, it then becomes risky to use the capabilities approach because it is therefore open to bias. There is lack of a measurable way in which to measure the capacities of employees with the purpose of knowing which opportunities to give to them can lead to management bias in the way they give these opportunities. These biases can lead to an even worse workplace environment and presence of inequalities with regard to the way the employees are treated. This fails to take care of the issue of diversity in the workplace. Determination of what kind of capabilities The other issue regarding the determinations of capabilities is that even in cases where the managers are able to determine the capabilities in employees. There will still be a problem with the way in which the capabilities can be judged in terms of which capabilities are relevant in judging an employee. This raises at least three issues, of which the first one is the questions of which capabilities should be considered to be morally relevant. The second issue has to do with the process and standard of deciding which capabilities are relevant and which ones are useful in the decision of person’s capabilities. At the same time, there is the issue of who will be responsible for making these decisions and which criteria they should use. Thirdly, the use of the capabilities approach leads to a situation where the capabilities of individuals have to be demarcated in order to suit a specific need. Capabilities approach can be used in many realms of life be it in bringing up a child, deciding how many welfare opportunities to give, to which individual or, in the case of human resource management, which opportunities to give to which employees. In this regard, it becomes obvious that there is a need to demarcate the capabilities and also modify the way the capability approach is applied in each situation. Even in cases where the human resource management has been able to map the capabilities extremely well, it becomes exceedingly difficult to determine how these capabilities are related to economics of the firm, such as returns on investment in certain capabilities of the employee (Alkire, 2005, p.204). Another issue has to do with who gets his information about capabilities; because those who are able to communicate can easily have an advantage of those who are more reserved (Robinson, 2009, p.11). Functions versus capacities The other issue that has risen from the capabilities approach is the questions of whether an individual should be judged on the basis of their capabilities or their functions. According to Nussbaum (2001, 86), being able to reconcile these two factors is crucial in understanding the capabilities approach. In this regard, the question is whether an individual should be judged depending on what his capabilities are or depending on what his functions within an organization are. The issue is whether it is advantageous to give opportunities to an individual, based on what their roles in the organization are or their functions within the organization. One side of this argument says that it would be better to judge an individual based on their functions and offer the tools and opportunities they require to function in their docket, or whether it is better for an individual to be judged based on their capabilities and then give them the opportunities they require to achieve utilize these capabilities. Modern examples of capabilities approach as a way to manage diversity According to Pynes (2008, p.107), the increasing number of women and minorities’ groups will continue to demand a better way to manage diversity at the workplace. There are a number of firms which use this approach as a way to manage diversity. Apple Inc. is one of the global firms that have been seen to use this approach as a way to not only manage diversity but also increase productivity. Apple Inc. is not the only firm that has used this method to manage its human resource. Many technology firms have used this approach to manage their human resource in the workplace. Apple Inc. inherited this approach for an earlier technology company that was founded and developed before the capabilities approach was developed. Intel was one of the firms developed in the 1950s and the founder, Robert Noyse used a decidedly radical approach to managing his firm. Instead of the traditional bottom up method, Noyse used a flat organizational model where everyone was given equal opportunity and bigger opportunities were given to those who proved themselves to the firm to have had bigger capabilities. Apple Inc. has applied this approach in the way they utilize its human resource and has become one of the most formidable firms in the world. Within Apple, engineers and all sorts of employees are given opportunities to advance in their careers with regards to how well they contribute to the firm, without consideration of their post and duties. This has given the firm the opportunity to be leader in its industry with innovative products coming out every day. By using this approach, it has been easy for Apple to always beat other competitors in the market, by being the firm that is the first to launch new innovative products starting from the firm’s over footed years, when it was the first technology firm to launch a personal computer in the 1970s. The advantage with the capabilities approach for Apple Inc. is that it is totally blind to boundaries such a race, ethnicity, gender, and any other diversity issues in the workplace. For this reason, managing diversity becomes easier and issues of race and ethnicity as well as gender recede to the background. Failure example Firms which choose to use traditional diversity management approaches have failed drastically in their attempt to manage diversity in the workplace (Greene and Kirton, 2009). As Armstrong (2009, p.107) says, human resource is to be seen as a prime asset to the firm, and failing to apply the best strategy to manage it leaves the firm at a strategic disadvantage. Firms have fallen short of understanding that the best way to manage diversity is to have a management approach that is blind to any diversity channels and boundaries. Traditional approaches in managing diversity are too focused on the boundaries caused by diversity, and this is where it begins to fail from (Thomas, 2010, p.219). For instance, a firm that uses traditional approach to manage diversity in its human resource will have to focus on the diversity it has and this will lead to allocating resources in the need to have a representative of resources and opportunities in a way that emulates affirmative action (Roosevelt, 2010, p.131). On the other hand, a firm using the modern diversity management approach will not have to focus on the diversity it has because it is not necessary to do this. In case of gender issues, a traditional approach to managing the race and ethnicity will concern how many people from which race are available in the firm. This also is likely to trigger serious ethical issues within the firm. At the same time, it would fail to recognize some useful capabilities and talents in the firm in favor of giving some opportunities to some people based on their diversity. A good example of a firm that has failed to apply modern diversity management approach is Wal-Mart and this has cost the firm a lot in terms of Human Resources. Studies show that most businesses only consider diversity management in order to conform to legal issues rather than to benefit from it (Klarsfeld, 2010, p.293). Conclusion The capabilities approach is one of the most influential theories which can be used in managing diversities in the workplace. While the capabilities approach was developed as a general approach to managing inequalities in almost any general field, it can be best applied in the field of managing diversities in the workplace. This approach is however not perfect. The first challenge that it faces is the failure to have a standard way of measuring the capabilities of individuals. At the same time, other issues such as the demarcation of capabilities for those who are morally relevant and those that are not also emerge. Other scholars have also argued that the capability approach is faulty for it focuses on the capabilities of individuals rather than their functions in the organization, and this leads to a gap between the practice and theory. Regardless of the shortcomings, though, the capabilities approach of managing diversity in the workplace seems to have more merits than the traditional approach, which is, equal opportunities approach. One of the biggest advantages of using capabilities approach in managing diversity is that it is wholly blind to boundaries of diversity and this puts the issue of unfairness out of the table. The HR manager no longer considers issues such as race, gender, physical disability or other diversity issues. 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