Benefits of Diversity Management

Over the years, the business enterprises all over the world have experienced immense dynamics regarding their operational methods, workplace environment, domain of operations and job roles performed within the organizations. With these changes the nature of the employees appointed by these and the job roles assigned to them have also been changing significantly over the years. to cater to the changing needs of these commercial organizations in the global framework (Popescu, 2013). Global economic phenomena like Globalization, Liberalization of the trade sectors of different countries and others, have facilitated in creating a more integrated and inclusive commercial environment, thereby encouraging the businesses across the world to go global and venture in multi-cultural, multi-national and multi-dimensional environment (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2012).

In this context, it becomes immensely important for the commercial organizations to manage their operational frameworks and productive resources efficiently such that their general goals of profit maximization, cost effectiveness, long run sustainability and expansion in different areas of operation and production are successfully achieved (Galliers & Leidner, 2014). Of all the productive resources, human resources being the most vital one in any commercial organization, their efficient management is of utmost importance. Of the challenges faced in the commercial environment regarding the management of such resources, one of the most common issue of concern, especially in a more integrated and inclusive work culture in the contemporary period, is that of the management of the diversities present in this aspect (Mathew, Ogbonna & Harris, 2012).

Keeping this into consideration and accepting the fact that diversity is one of the vital issues as well as productive necessities in the business organizations; the report tries to discuss the rationale behind the diversity management in business organizations, with reference to the business and employee environment existing in the concerned company CERA. The report discussed the different aspects of diversity management, the meaning and implications of the same and emphasizes on the need for the concerned company to focus more on the aspect of diversity management in their human resources (Barak, 2016).

As has been already discussed above, with time, technological innovations and phenomena like Globalization, the commercial organizations across the world has been venturing more into new domains, seeking newer opportunities, exploring newer markets outside the conventional geographical domain and incorporating different types of human resources in their operational framework in order to get benefitted from the different abilities and expertise of such resources (Harvey & Allard, 2015). This huge integration in the workplaces has given rise to the concepts of “Diversity in the workplaces” and has also gave rise to the need for management of such diversity (if present) within the business organizations.

Challenges Faced in Diversity Management

The term “Workplace Diversity”, may apparently seem to refer to the conglomeration and cooperative working of people of different nature, age, personality, ethnicity and gender in a business organization. However, in real scenario, the term is much broader and inclusive. Diversities in workplaces not only mean the inclusion of people of different physical, religious and natural attributes but also the inclusion of those with different areas of expertise, capabilities, cognitive styles, education, adaptability and tenures, in any organization, such that they can cater to the different needs of the same and facilitate the organization in achieving its goals efficiently (Sabharwal, 2014). With the changes in the working pattern and communicational methods, the work places are rapidly changing from being constricted in terms of culture, geographical boundaries and domain of operations, to organizations with more dynamics in every aspect, by embracing the diversities in every field, primarily including the field of human resources (Patrick & Kumar, 2012).

The presence of a diverse workforce in an organization, does not only involve how the diverse employees perceive themselves but also their perceptions about the diversities present in their fellow workers, The acceptance and incorporation of diversities in the commercial organizations have immense contributions to the long run sustainability, competitiveness as well as profitability of the same, given an ever integrating and dynamic commercial scenario in the international framework (McNeil, 2012). The benefits of the presence of diversities in the workplaces are discussed as follows:

Increase in adaptability- With the global business environment rapidly changing and modifying itself with increasing dynamics in the demand and consumption patterns across the world, it is extremely important for the commercial organizations to adapt to the changes occurring in the global scenario and to do the same keeping pace with the changing global business environment (Helyer & Lee, 2012). In this context, it becomes easier for the organizations with a diverse work population to adapt faster and more efficiently. This is because, the diverse employee strength brings with them their personal talents and experiences which help in finding a variety of plausible solutions to any problem cropping up within the organizations.

Pool of different productive viewpoints- Presence of employees of different nature and expertise in a workplace and an efficient communication channel among them in general creates a pool of knowledge, ideas and experiences, which may be of extreme benefit for the organizations as they can form their business strategies and plan their production and operational framework depending on this knowledge pool. The scope of expansion in different areas of production and capturing different markets also becomes easy with a diverse collection of employees and their ideas (Wambui et al. 2013).

Expansion of service range- From the above two benefits, the third and one of the most significant benefit for the business organizations, that is of service expansion can also be achieved, with a more diverse workforce in an organization. With an employee strength which is capable of working efficiently in different domains and which is also capable of coming up with innovative and cost effective ideas, it becomes easy for the companies to venture in different areas of production of goods and services (Podsiadlowski et al. 2013). The inclusion of diverse employees from geographical locations also help the companies to know about the culture, communication and consumption patterns of those regions, thereby making it easily possible for them to venture in the markets of those regions.

Effective Execution of operations-Diversities and presence of people of different domain in workplaces encourages the employees to specialize in the areas of their expertise, thereby making them more efficient and productive in their job roles. This along with robust and well-integrated strategies of the commercial framework helps the companies to achieve their goals of profit and welfare maximization, expansion of operations and sustainability more efficiently (Mamman, Kamoche & Bakuwa, 2012).

Thus, it can be asserted that given an increasingly integrated environment in the commercial organizations, it becomes important for the organizations to acknowledge and accept diversities in different aspects of their operation which includes diversities in the human resources also. Diversity management is, therefore, a vital issue to be taken into account on part of the business organizations, in order to experience the benefits of a diverse workforce.

Given the fact that diversity in human resources is one of the most prominent as well as implicative factors in the current day business organizations, one of the responsibilities of the management of the companies is to manage these diversities present in different aspects efficiently, such that the diverse resources are efficiently utilized to their full capacities and the profits of the organizations are maximized. Huge diversities being present in the human resources of the organizations, the human resource department is bestowed with the vital responsibility of managing and integrating those diversities which is present among the work force of the company (Olsen & Martins, 2012). However, in the process of doing the same, several challenges are expected to be faced by the human resource management department of the concerned organizations, the primary ones are as follows:

Effective communication- With the workers being of different cultural and educational backgrounds and domain of expertise, it may be a challenge for the management of the companies to integrate the workforce by overcoming the cultural, linguistic and perpetual barriers and setting up a free channel of effective and productive communication among the same. Failure to the same may give rise to confusions, lack of the feeling of being a team and low motivation and morale among the workers, thereby hampering the benefits which the company could have received from the diverse workforce.

Change-Averse Employees- In any organization there always remains the presence of several employees who do not feel comfortable with the idea of change in the cultural, professional and operational frameworks of the workplaces, thereby inhibiting the incorporation of innovative ideas and experiences, which in turn may affect the progress of the company negatively. Therefore, addressing the same is also of vital importance in the aspect of diversity management in the commercial organizations (Thomas, 2012).

Implementation of the beneficial aspects of the diversities- The presence of the diversities in the workplaces in any organization can be extremely beneficial or can also hamper the progress of the company by creating hurdles in smooth operational framework of the company, depending upon how efficiently the diversities of the employees are managed and how their capabilities and individual talents are implemented in the production process of the concerned business organizations. For the purpose of doing the same, therefore, it is immensely importance for the management to take into account the assessment of the employees and make customized set of strategies for the purpose of implementation of the diversities of the employees.

From the above discussion it is evident that in the contemporary business scenario, there exits considerable need on part of the commercial organizations across the world, to emphasis on the aspect of management of multi-dimensional diversities among the employees present in their workplaces. Keeping this into consideration, the following section of the report tries to focus and discuss about the situation regarding diversity management, which has been seen to crop up in the concerned organization (CERA), in the contemporary period.

Given that diversity is one of the most significant components in current day business activity and the management of the same in workforces is one  the needed and important practices of the Human Resource Department of the business organizations. In this context, the problem which according to the author of the article has been existing in this aspect in the concerned company is that of the management and addressing of the diversity issues in the recruitment and selection process of the employees for different domains of operations of the company.

CERA being an organization experiencing expansions and variability in their operations, one of the primary goals of the organization, in the contemporary period, is that of making place in the global commercial scenario as an innovative organization, which also remains devoted to provide high-quality services to their clientele. For the purpose of the same, it is expected to be immensely important for the company to design their job roles and resources in such a way that their goals are efficiently achieved (Breaugh, 2017). For the purpose of doing the same, one of the primary duties of the Human Resource Team is to create and maintain a work environment which is expected to cater to the company’s operational framework to attain the goals of the company.

According to the perception of the author, though there has been a presence of a robust recruitment and selection process for the selection of the employees fit to serve the different purpose of the organization, however, the author finds the process to be too conventional and nothing different or innovative, which can ensure added benefits for the organization over their competitors. In spite of good statistics in the retention aspect of the Engineering and Planning divisions, the problem which has bothered the author is that the immensely conventional and normative form of employee management structure and recruitment process may actually lead to loss of the scope of incorporating talented people with diverse abilities, which otherwise would have incorporated innovations and flow of pool of relevant and required knowledge in the organization (Madera, 2013).

Given this situation, management of diversity of the human resources of the concerned company should not only focus in integrating workers of different cultures and ethnicities but also in integrating those with talents and diverse knowledge and expertise for the purpose of achieving the broad goals of the organization. For the purpose of the same, diversity management is extremely important in the recruitment and selection process of employees in CERA (Bocanegra, 2012). For the purpose of the same, the process of recruitment should itself be customized and efficient enough to respect the multi-dimensional diversities of the potential employees and the relevant officials need to be clear about the aims of the organization and employ those whose talents cater to the diverse needs of the organization.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is evident that the concepts of diversities and diversity management are extremely broad ones and are highly applicable and relevant for the commercial organizations in the global scenario. With the business organizations expanding their domain of operations in different areas of expertise, markets, products and nations, it becomes important for the same to incorporate employees of different cultural, educational, professional and operational background in order to make their operations more dynamic and capable of catering to the demands of different consumer clusters. Keeping this into consideration, the concerned company, CERA, needs to incorporate the aspect of diversity management, not only in their operations and employee management but also in the employee recruitment process in order to gain a competitive edge over their competitors and move towards long term sustainability.

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