The Concept of Diversity - Coursework Example

Diversity AFFILIATION: Introduction The objective of this paper is to explain the concept of diversity and its impact of organizational performance and culture. In today’s dynamic world diversity becomes necessary for the organizations to cope up with multi multifarious situations. In this paper the pros and cons of diversity on organizational performance, and culture have been described with the help of personal examples as a military officer, experiences of military lifestyle, and scenarios. Diversity The idea of diversity embraces acceptance and respect. It means to understand that each person in unique in his/her own way, and accept the differences. The differences can be on the basis of ethnicity, religious beliefs, race, gender, age, socio-economic status, physical abilities, political beliefs, or other ideologies (Wang, & Rafiq, 2009). Diversity is the identification and acceptance of these differences in a positive, safe, and nurturing environment. It is about accepting, embracing, and celebrating the unique characteristics of others and employs this uniqueness in a positive manner. Workplace Diversity Due to the globalization the interaction of people from different cultures, beliefs, and languages has been increased. Now people are competing with each other in a global economy and no longer live and work in an isolated market. In order to work effectively in current globalized economy organizations requires diversified culture for increasing creativeness and openness to change. Hence increasing and capitalizing on workplace diversity has become an integral issue for organizations (Morgan, & Várdy, 2009). Since managing and increasing organizational diversity is not an easy task so managers need to learn the required skills of multicultural organizational environment. Managing diversity is an important organizational challenge, to effectively manage diversified organizational culture top management should motivate subordinates to accept the differences of each other and respect those differences. Managers and supervisors should teach themselves and employees to respect and value multicultural differences so that everyone is treated well with dignity (Tatli, & Ozbilgin, 2009). Military of any country is also a diversified force, in military senior captains and generals motivate their subordinates to respect each other’s differences and work with unity. In today’s multicultural organizations, it is important for employees to be familiar with the culture of fellow employees, customers, supervisors, and clients who belongs to a different ethnic background. Understanding of the different culture, languages, traditions, and behaviour allow employees to work with each other more effectively without having serious problems (Morgan, & Várdy, 2009). Being able to understand the diversified culture and accept that culture increases the chances of survival and productivity of an employee and by working in a multicultural environment an individual can learn new things. Therefore diversity creates the opportunity of self-growth and learning to the employees. I was in the military so I have experienced the advantages and disadvantages of diversity, as all knows that military consists of much diversified workforce where people from different ethnic groups lives and work together for a common purpose. In my starting career I faced difficulties to deal with people from different background but by accepting the differences I learned many new things. Diversity is beneficial for organizational success but it also creates issues within the organization. Diversity issues are now considered important and it seems that they become more important in the near future due to the increasing differences within individuals and population of different countries (Tatli, & Ozbilgin, 2009). Organizations are focusing on diversity and are looking for ways to become more diversified because it has the ability to yield more productivity and competitive advantage. Valuing and managing diversity is an important component of effective human resource management, which can increase workplace productivity. Unmanaged diversity can become a hindrance for achieving organizational objectives and goals. Therefore diversity is considered as a double-edged sword, it can benefit the organization and it has potential to decrease organizational success. Workplace diversity based on the principles of opportunity of equal employment for everyone. There should be no discrimination on the basis of age, gender, cast, colour, and intellectual and physical ability. It also refers to other means in which employees are different from each other such as educational or socio-economic background, life experience, personality, religious beliefs, and family responsibilities (Morgan, & Várdy, 2009). Managing workplace diversity requires identifying the worth of individual differences in the organization to realize employee’s potential and expertise so that an organization can achieve its objectives. The culture of navy military is diversified; there are a lot of chances of learning and this diversity brings new and innovative ideas to protect the country from enemies. The workforce of military is very strong and respects the differences among each other. The success of any organization lies on its workforce and the diversified military workforce is necessary for the protection of a country (Mazur, 2010). Organizational diversity creates supportive and inclusive work environment with better team work and effective customer service delivery. It encourages creativity in organizational processes and decision making. The output of effectively managed workplace diversity is the increase in organizational productivity along with improvement in employees’ knowledge and experience. From a business point of view, diversity is an important issue to handle now days because it can harm the organization and it can improve the organizational performance (Tatli, & Ozbilgin, 2009). Managing diversity is also an important issue in military and the effectuation of effective diversity strategies in the military can increase performance, employee retention, and help to achieve goals and objectives. Advantages of workplace diversity There are many advantages of workplace diversity. In today’s organizational culture following advantage of diversity can easily be observed. Diverse Experience: co-workers with different cultural backgrounds bring different perceptions and experiences to the table in work teams and groups (Mazur, 2010). Collection of diverse skills and knowledge of employees benefits the company by strengthening the productivity of the team and its responsiveness to changing conditions. For example: one of the key success factors of military organization is diverse experience. Robert Dyer the U.S navy military officer and the inventor and founder of RuckPack “a power-packed nutritional supplement” said the concept and idea of this energy supplement came from the diversified experiences of my colleagues so I give the credit of this product to our diversified experiences (Wang, & Rafiq, 2009). Learning and Growth: another important advantage of workplace diversity is the opportunity of learning and personal growth for employees. Being exposed to new culture, ideas, and perspectives facilitate employees to learn new things and improve their performance. Spending time with co-workers from different background increases the opportunities of personal growth and employees learn new and innovative ways to perform their work (Morgan, & Várdy, 2009). For example: being the retired navy military person I have experienced self-growth due to the diversified nature of military workforce. Increased Productivity: when people from different cultures work together towards a single goal then their productivity increases. Diversity increases organizational productivity and profitability because people from different cultures bring innovative ideas to solve any problem and improve work performance (Mazur, 2010). For example: Diversity in military organization is one of the key success factors, due to diversified experiences of the military forces the productivity of the organization increases and it helps to achieve the goals. Disadvantages of Workplace Diversity Diversity is beneficial for organization if it is managed properly, without effective management it creates many problems for employees and for the organization as well. In today’s work environment following disadvantages of diversity can easily be observed. Miscommunication: communication barriers create problems in a company attempting to develop a diverse culture. When a U.S company hires employees whose first language is not English then employers and employees face difficulties in communication due to language barrier(Mazur, 2010). The miscommunication and language barrier can lead to misunderstanding and decrease productivity. Sometimes diversity creates the issues of miscommunication. In military it is obligatory to strictly follow all the rules and regulations but due to language and cultural difference the problem of miscommunication arises. Opposition to Change: although diversity in workplace is beneficial for an organization as a whole but some managers and employees does not accept the change and oppose workplace diversity. Employees who oppose diversity reject new ideas and dislike to work with people from different cultures. If the company fails to handle opposition properly then the diversity initiates many problems (Wang, & Rafiq, 2009). For example: senior commanders or officials of military are very rigid due to their experience and nature of work, they do not easily accept the change or any suggestion provided by their subordinates in fact they oppose change. Integration Issues: the formation of social groups on the basis of culture and language is common in organizations even in military. These social groups favor their own people and create troubles for others; due to different social groups newly hired individuals face confusion and trouble (Tatli, & Ozbilgin, 2009). For example: newly hired military officer faces trouble in interacting with others and seniors and being a retired military officer I know that integration issues create trouble to work effectively in a team. Conclusion Workplace diversity is an important issue to handle in today’s world because it has potential to increase organizational performance as well as decrease organizational performance. In this paper the advantages and disadvantages of diversity in organizations has been discussed with real life experiences as a navy military officer. References Morgan, J., & Várdy, F. (2009). Diversity in the Workplace. The American Economic Review, 472-485. Wang, C. L., & Rafiq, M. (2009). Organizational diversity and shared vision: resolving the paradox of exploratory and exploitative learning. European Journal of Innovation Management, 12(1), 86-101. Tatli, A., & Ozbilgin, M. F. (2009). Understanding diversity managers’ role in organizational change: Towards a conceptual framework. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences/Revue Canadienne des Sciences de lAdministration,26(3), 244-258. Mazur, B. (2010). Cultural diversity in organizational theory and practice. Journal of Intercultural Management, 2(2), 5-15. Read More