Managing Diversity
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Managing Diversity
Diversity is an essential aspect of society today. Every organization has to rethink its laws and policies and provide a more inclusive environment that accommodates people from different geographical backgrounds. It is prudent that people feel welcome and judged by their abilities and not the color of their skin, sexuality, gender, political affiliation, or religion. Notably, technology has played a critical role in raising awareness and promoting diversity by connecting individuals from all walks of life. For instance, Hashtags on Twitter and trends on social media have been used to raise awareness, incite protests, and publicly shame organizations or societies that aren’t inclusive. The workplace has not been spared either, and almost all companies have enacted rules and policies to ensure diversity.
How to Manage Diversity at the Workplace
The management and the employees must be ready to identify and freely mix with individuals from different geographical backgrounds regardless of color, age, sex, religion, or political standing, and equally appreciate their contributions to manage and implement diversity at the workplace (Ravazzani, 2016). The recruitment process should reflect the face of the community by making it all-inclusive. The recruitment panel should also be diverse to avoid any form of bias (2018). The interviewers should have a standard metric of judging the interviewees to ensure fairness.
Companies should also introduce inclusive policies and practices to ensure that the workplace’s culture is accommodating of all people and every employee understands the gravity of the issue (2018). Enforce a zero-tolerance policy. The management should also create an environment where employees can give feedback on the issue, and the matter acted upon swiftly to avoid any future conflict.
Diversity or sensitivity training is another fundamental component of achieving diversity within a company. It helps prevent any insensitivity and enable people to understand the lines they cannot cross (Sharma, 2016). People within the company are able to respect the differences in religion, race, political affiliation, sexuality, and opinions hence providing a habitable environment for all. Communication across the company is also important and should be encouraged to ensure that everyone understands the rules, policies, and regulations hence preventing any possible conflict (Ravazzani, 2016). In case of any ambiguity or language barriers, the leaders should offer clarifications to ensure that diversity is managed and appreciated in the workplace.
Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace
Diversity in the workplace is significant since it sparks innovation with new ideas and perspectives. Different people see things differently, and the mix-in skills and thoughts allow the company to try out new things that inspire innovation and creativity (2018). The company becomes more adaptable to the changing business environment and market. Having a diverse workforce brings together people who are able to adapt fast and inspire their colleagues to do the same. Diversity also increases productivity in the workplace since people can think broadly, challenge each other, and work together to ensure that projects succeed. Finally, it improves the company’s brand since it is recognized as an inclusive brand, hence attracting broader markets and more potential employees.
Recommendations to Combat Management Issues
Management issues could range from employees’ insufficient performance levels, understaffed, and lack of proper communication. Ethical decision making is the process of assessing the moral repercussion of choice and deciding whether to make it or not.
Ethical decision making is used to combat management issues since it means sticking to the pre-set rules or guidelines. There is a fine line between ethical and legal in business. Therefore, the leaders might have to go the ethical route to prevent any legal action taken against them. My recommendation would be for companies to employ compliance and ethics programs to guide the leaders when making decisions and dictate their behavior.
Motivation, on the other hand, is greatly intrinsic. It might be tough to inspire and motivate employees to rally behind a cause and put in their best work; therefore, it could be easier to create an environment where they can grow and succeed. However, there are some measures that a leader could take to ensure that the employees are well motivated. Fostering open communication is vital, as it allows people to openly approach the leader, discuss concerns, and receive feedback. Incentives have proven to be the biggest drivers of motivation in the workplace as it creates a competitive environment and instant gratification for working well. Incentivizing work makes their jobs both gratifying and fun.
Leadership styles vary and significantly contribute to the performance of a team or company. There are three main leadership styles, which include autocratic, democratic, and Laissez-faire. All of these are applicable at different points. As such, the leader should analyze the situation, understand the employees, and then decide which style is best suited.
Conclusion
In the current world, workplaces and society must embrace diversity. It has indeed proven to have more good than harm, and if replicated everywhere, institutions and nations will grow in leaps and bounds.
References
(2018). Retrieved 8 February 2021, from https://bluecollarpeople.com/managing-diversity-workplace-successfully-go/.
Ravazzani, S. (2016). Understanding approaches to managing diversity in the workplace. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: An International Journal.
Sharma, A. (2016). Managing diversity and equality in the workplace. Cogent Business & Management, 3(1), 1212682.