Diversity is mainly that which makes us different and unique from each other. It may include a person’s personality, beliefs, background, and life experiences that mold us into who we are today. It includes a combination of several differences that bring up the differences contributing to a person’s perspectives, approach, and view of the world. Diversity also involves respect, recognition, and valuing differences based on gender, race, ethnicity, age, religion, sexual orientation, and disability.
Diversity has grown to become that which has been greatly discussed around the world. However, most organizations that barely look at diversity as a trend miss big time on the benefits of truly diverse and inclusive organizations. Inherently, diverse organizations are happier, more competitive, and more productive. There are four main types of diversity: worldview, organizational, and external and internal diversity. Internal diversity refers to those traits that a person might have been born with. These include race, sex, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, or physical disability. In most cases, you will realize that a person cannot choose to be born of a given nationality or gender since it is a natural happening.
External diversity, on the other hand, includes most people’s experiences, attributes, and circumstances that help define a person’s identity. These may include appearance, marital status, religion, or even location. A person has a choice to choose over the above respect. It relies solely on a person’s own decision. World view diversity surrounds travel experiences, beliefs, cultures, and political affiliations. It mainly involves a person’s interpretation of something based on previous experience and the world’s view. Organizational diversity refers to differences in work experiences, department, seniority, management level, and job functions.
Managing diversity refers to acknowledging the existing differences in people and recognizing these differences as valuable. When all these are taken care of, it helps enhance good management practices by avoiding discrimination and promoting inclusiveness. Good management will help in effective work and considering a diverse workforce. Research shows that diversifying your team boosts business productivity by making almost 35%.when a diverse workforce is diverse, it becomes easier to understand your customers’ needs and come up with various ideas to help fulfill needs. A diverse workforce also helps boost employee morale and ignites the desire to stay more effective and do efficient work.
To begin with, the first key to a successful workforce that HR experts use includes making diversity part of the hiring process. It usually takes a lot of time to build diversity from scratch. Whenever an interview is to be conducted, you should try auditing your hiring process to ensure that you are interviewing a slate of diverse candidates. Also, prioritizing good communication contributes greatly to managing a diverse group. For example, an organization or any other setup that includes diverse individuals needs to ensure effective communication with employees at any given time. In a working setup, procedures, policies, and safety rules are some aspects that need to be communicated clearly.
Also, some other important information should be designed properly to overcome problems related to language and cultural barriers by using symbols, translating materials, and using pictures whenever applicable. It is so beneficial in ensuring that all employees are well recognized and involved. Furthermore, treating each person individually contributes much more to managing diversity. For instance, in a workplace setup, the top management should avoid making void assumptions about employees based on their backgrounds. Instead, they should look at every employee as an individual because people are different; they have different backgrounds, experiences, and exposure, and people are also raised differently and differ in so many aspects. Therefore it would be very wrong if someone would judge a person’s successes and failures based on just a single aspect rather than attributing actions to their background.
In addition, it is very important to encourage individuals to carry out duties in diverse groups; this is important in that people get to know each other, value one another, and also take them for who they are as individuals. It is important because people will get the opportunity to interact and break down preconceived notions and cultural misunderstandings as people have had different knowledge, belief, and perceptions about other individuals for the longest time. Therefore, it will encourage a proper understanding of every individual and everything about them.
For the case of a workplace setup, the top management should at times carry out sensitive training to its employees, for example, employees to be aware of how to coexist with other members from a diverse range. It allows employees to learn the art of appreciating the views of other members. It also teaches them how to communicate calmly with co-workers and resolve conflicts without challenges. It helps the employees to examine and adjust to their long-perceived beliefs and perspectives about people from different backgrounds. All employees should be present in the sensitive training also having to mention what exactly to be trained about makes it more impactful, some companies offer such training online which is good still.
In managing diversity, a business should stay abreast of diversity laws. Employees related rules and regulations should be changed regularly, more so diversity-related rules. Organizations should regularly review these laws and internal policies, especially those that revolve around equal opportunity and harassment, and ensure that these laws reflect the most current laws and regulations.
Finally, the zero-tolerance policy also works towards helping manage diversity. For example, having a diverse individual in the workplace means that there is a total o off-color jokes about sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or religion that are to be met with zero tolerance enforcement. Bullying, slurs, or calling each other funny names for apparent reason has been done away with in today’s workplaces. Policies that state every detail should be implemented to handle any misconduct, and effective communication should be passed to employees to state the repercussions of going against the laws.
In conclusion, encouraging diversity is the way forward for all organizations. all businesses with a global talent capable of managing diversity in the workplace will enjoy a definite competitive advantage compared to others in terms of differentiation, employer branding, and innovation. A diverse workforce reflects how well the world and marketplace are changing. Diverse work teams bring high value to organizations. Respecting the existing differences in individuals helps benefit the workplace by creating a competitive edge and increasing work productivity.
References
Fry, R., Kennedy, B., & Funk, C. (2021). STEM jobs see uneven progress in increasing gender, racial and ethnic diversity. Pew Research Center.
Hunt, V., Layton, D., & Prince, S. (2015). Diversity matters. McKinsey & Company, 1(1), 15-29.
Kossek, E. E., & Lobel, A. (1996). Managing diversity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers.
Poushter, J., Fetterolf, J., & Tamir, C. (2019). A Changing World: Global views on diversity, gender equality, family life, and religion’s importance. Pew Research Center, 44.
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