Literature Review: Management of Diversity through HR Management

The diversity of the workforce is the procedure with the help of which people from various backgrounds and culture are managed in the organizations and looked after so that they work together in achieving the objectives of the organization and also there is no conflict between the members of the workforce (DiTomaso et al., 2007).

In this particular assignment, three articles related to human resource development in support of managing diversity has been chosen and each article will be described as per the required criteria of the assignment. Also 20% of the assignment will contain a reflective part in the end in order to make the understanding clear.

The chosen three articles for the topic are “Management of diversity through HR Management”, “Global diversity management of workforce and challenge of managing it” and “HR diversity administration practices and organization behaviour”. In order to achieve the target of the project three articles will be compared with each other and in the last part, a reflective essay will be written in order to clear my understanding about the project.

Part 1:

The first selected article is written by Jie Shen, Brian D Netto, Ashok Chanda and Manjit Monga and this particular article is all about the literature review that is related to the management of diversity with the help of the management of the human resource. The major issues that are related to the diversity management in the organizations have been discussed in this article and also the problems that the organizations faced related to the management of diversity has also been discussed in this assignment. During this research, the authors have also found that there are still discrimination in the organization in terms of employment and suggests the way in which the organizations will be able to erase the discrimination in terms of employment (Kossek et al., 2006). There is also inequality that exists in the organization till now which should be erased according to the authors in this era of globalization.

There are rules and regulations which states that the organizations in this 21^st century should not discriminate people for the purpose of employment and for that reason organizations should be able to employ diverse people in their organization from different cultures of the world (Mujtaba, 2007). In one word, there should not be any inequality between the individuals employed in the workplace and that is there whole concept the authors want to bring in front of us. While reviewing the article, it was found that the main focus of the article was on the management of the diversity of the organization with the help of the management of the human resource. It was also found that less emphasis has been made on developing diversity in the organization sin this article.

Managing Global Diversity and the Challenges

The strategic, operational and tactical level of the organizational context has been focussed in order to focus on the diversity of the organization (Henry and Evans, 2007). The research has also focussed upon implication of diversity for the practice purpose in the organization and will also focus upon how the research can be conducted in this topic.

The article states that there are many ways in which the individuals differ and they are age of an individual, marital status, sexual orientation, social status, gender and so on. There are many factors on the basis of which the organizations from the older times have discriminated people and the oldest form of discrimination is the inequality of the gender. There are some countries that are there in the Middle East which discriminates people on the basis of religion and also on the basis of ethnicity.

The authors have stated that while the workforces which are likely and comprises of people of same culture have same kind of idea and their working creativity is more or less same, the diverse workforce according to the authors have large number of beliefs as well as values. Also the diverse workforce’s view of the world is different to that of the similar kind of workforce and that is why the creativity of the workforce is also high than that of the similar workforce (Martín Alcázar et al., 2013). There is also unique kind of information that is present with the diverse workforce that helps in the achievement of the organizational objectives. The diversity of the workforce has also been created with the help of the globalization and the internationalization of the businesses.

The authors have also described not only in just Western countries the workforce diversity on the organization is seen, but also the workforce diversity is an important factor in the organizations that are present throughout the world (Shen et al., 2009). The diversity is a significant issue in the area of education and corporate world and also in the legal and political areas of the world.

There are various organizations nowadays which still discriminate workers on the basis of genders and some organizations feel hesitant in order to hire and promote the female workers in the higher posts of the organization. But, according to the authors, it is to be understood by the organizations that effective diversity creation is necessary in the organizations as it results in providing competitive advantage in the organizations with the help of creative ideas, huge amount of information and so on (Shen et al., 2009). Equality of employment can also help the organization to retain a large amount of talented workers from outside the country which can bring in the competitive advantage in the organization.

HR Diversity Administration Practices and Organizational Behaviour

So, from this particular article, it can be known that the authors has tried to make the readers understand why the workforce diversify is necessary in the organization but how the creativity, information from the diverse workforce can help to attain the objectives of the organization is missing from this article.

Part 2:

The 2^nd article is about managing the global workforce diversity and the challenge that the organization faces managing the diversity. This article has been written by Ozgur Onday and the focus of this article is on the managing the diversity of the global workforce which has nowadays become a primary concern for the organizations. The author has stated that the workforce diversity is a significant issue as well as a major issue for the businesses nowadays and the organizations focuses upon maintaining the diversity in their workforce in order to achieve their objectives. Due to the rapid increase of the globalization as well as the technology, the international businesses are expanding and for that reason, the workforce diversity has become a necessary criterion for the business to achieve in order to run the business smoothly (Barak, 2016).

The worldwide economy that has been created with the help of globalization forces the people to work with the people of other culture and working with in the workplace with individuals form a single culture has become very difficult as well as irrelevant (Podsiadlowski et al., 2013). The profit making organizations as well as non profit organization; both kinds of organizations nowadays needs diverse workforce in order to make the organization fully functional. The workforce diversity in global context has been studied in this article and for being more specific, the author has taken Turkey as a country. Global workforce management of diversity is the main theme of this article and it is maintained by the managers of the organization by hiring people from diverse cultures and this helps the organizations to manage the diversity and helps an employee to work in coordination with other employee from a dissimilar background.

The author has stated in this article that the diversity of the workforce in the present era is a nothing but a reality in the present generation. There are various people who exist from diverse social and cultural background and these people are recruited in the organization to maintain the balance in the organization (Kirton and Greene, 2015). Diversity form the employee perspective has also been described by the author and it is the element that helps the employees to choose their career irrespective of his/her gender, nationality, race, colour and so on. The author has also described that, diversity is also a challenging factor for the managers of the organization and the diversity in the organization should be managed accordingly by the managers. Sometimes diversity in the organization can also give rise to the conflict and for that reason; the human resource manager should focus on the factor of conflict management and should manage the conflict effectively. The employee quarrel of different ethnicity might affect the performance of the organization and a bad impression can be formed about the organization (Noe et al., 2006). So, it is very significant to manage the quarrel of the employees of various ethnic backgrounds. For creation of a diverse workforce there are some criteria which are required, as mentioned by the author and they are mentioned below:

Comparative Analysis of the Three Articles

Firstly, the organization should be able to hire women as well as minority as it will be helpful for the organization to create demand with the help of hiring in the niche markets.

Secondly, with the help of hiring a diverse workforce, the organization will be able to create a social as well as moral background which is very important for the organization (Insights, 2011).

Thirdly, the author has also described that diversity helps the organization to be creative as well as innovative which in turn produces advantage to the organization.

Fourthly, diverse workforce also will help the organization to represent in the international and global businesses.

Lastly, while a change management is taking place, a diverse workforce will react quickly to the change management than other workforce in the organization (Harvey and Allard, 2015).

A global workforce can be created with the help of creation of the organizational structure as well as with the help of the organizational culture on the part of the organization as believed by the author (Trompenaars et al., 2011). More or less, the global businesses that are there in the world, at some point of time will need diversity to be followed and for that reason, the change management is very necessary in the global organization for managing the diversity of the workforce.

So, from this particular article there are various factors which are related to the application of workforce diversity has been described which were missing from the first article.

Part 3:

This is the third article which focuses upon the diversity management of the human resource department and also behaviour of the employees inside the organization. There are three authors who have written this article and they are Ahmad Nizan Mat Noor, Dr. Shaiful and Dr. Abdul Rashid. This particular article has focused upon the facts that there exists a connection between the human resource diversity and organizational behaviour of the employees.  This article mainly represents the citizenship behaviour inside the organization of the employees working under it and how diverse is the workforce to attain certain level of diversity inside the organization.

The authors has described human resource management is the major function which helps the organizations to manage the diversity in the workplace and there are many policies that are there in the organization which are set by human resource managers in order to retain the employees and also develop them, so that a diverse workforce can be maintained throughout the organization. Also it has been said by the authors that when the organizational fairness as well as equity is maintained inside the organizations, the workers are motivated to work towards achieving their own objective which in turn help the organization to achieve their objectives. It is also mentioned in the article that only form the side of the managers, maintenance of diversity is not possible when the employees of the organization are entangled in the conflict and that the employees should also try equally in order to achieve to help the organization achieve the diversity by taking part in various innovative thinking all together (Sun et al., 2007). Also the employees that are there in the organization from different cultures can participate in creative thinking and help the organization achieve to be more creative. They can also take part in diminishing the conflict of the organization which takes place.

Reflective Part

Recruitment and the selection process inside the organization should also focus upon creating diversity within the workforce of the organization (Analoui, 2007). When the recruitment takes place inside the organization, the managers should lay their focus upon hiring a diverse workforce and for that reason they should be able to receive application form people of various backgrounds. The employees should also be selected from diverse background in order to manage a diverse work environment in the organization. In the year 2007, it was stated by Shen that recruitment as well as the selection process should be conducted in a fair manner so that the employees from different culture are not ignored by the managers of the organization and equal opportunity should also be provided to them (Shen et al., 2009).

The authors have also stated that the diversity should also be managed in training as well as in the development process of the organization in order to train the employees from diverse cultures that are there present in the organization. The employees of the organization are from a diverse background and for that reason employees might have difficulties in understanding a local language (Kulik, 2014). For this reason, the employees’ training and development should be conducted by the managers in a language which are understood by the whole employee strength and this can promote diversity in the organization.

There should also be diversity in the compensation that is provided to the employees. The compensation is the salary and wages that the employees get in return of their work. There should also be diversity in the pay scale as there should not be any gender discrimination in the payment. The male and the female employees should be paid equally and their pay scale should be same if they are working in the same post in an organization which can depend upon their experience (Healy and Oikelome, 2017). If an organization practices good compensation for their employees, the employees can feel motivated towards working in the organization and will help the organization to improve their services towards the customers which in turn can raise the profit of the organization.

So, from the review of the third article, it can be said that author has explained various elements inside the organization in which the diversity is required to be managed and the compensation and the recruitment and selection process is the foremost among them.

Conclusion

From the above analysis and three reviewed articles about the diversity management in the organizations there were many things that I learnt and various things that I studied will help me in the future time about the employment if I’m employed as a manager or as an employee in organization of my choice.

As an employee there are various things that I should follow in the context of management of diversity in the organization that I will be working for. Firstly, I have to work with various employees in the organizations that are there from various diverse cultures. The diverse cultural background employees can help the organization to achieve its objectives, so as an employee it will be my duty to work with people from different cultures irrespective of their caste, religion, colour, ethnicity, gender and so on. I will also focus on working with different employees for the purpose of bringing out innovative ideas to perform the job and also bring out the creativity within myself and discuss with various employees. Also I should treat employees from other cultures in the way they want to be treated. Taking part in diverse occasions in the workplace is very important in order to promote diversity in the workplace and initiative should be taken in order to celebrate every occasion of people that are there in the organization from diverse backgrounds.

As an employee I should also look after that there is no quarrel between the members of the organization and for that reason I should try to stop the conflict between the employees of the organization. It should also be understood by me that people differ in their cultures and other norms and for that reason I should have respect towards all the cultures of the world in order to make my future workplace in better conditions.

Now, from the perspective of a manager, the diversity promotion in the workplace is very different. If I get the chance to be a manager in future in an organization of my choice, I would promote diversity in various issues of the organization. Firstly, I would claim that employees that are working in the similar posts of the organization can get similar salary according to the experience they have in the work prior they joined the organization. Also, it is very important for me to promote recruitment and selection process in the organization in a way which will help the organization to select employees from diverse backgrounds. For this particular reason, the applications should be received from the employees irrespective of gender, age, ethnicity, religion and so on. Also, during the selection process of the employees, the selection should be done based upon the merit that they depicted during the interview process and not on the basis of culture or any other criteria.

It is very important for me as an employee or a manager of the organization to look after the diverse cultural conflicts that can happen in the organizations and for that reason, I should take effective steps in order to reduce the conflict and promote harmony in the organization. Also, male and female distinctions I should try to reduce between the employees of the organization during the promotion as a manager of the organization.

It is very important as a manager or an employee in the organization for me to understand the different aspects of the organization and promote diversity in various issues of the organization which will help my future organization to achieve diversity in the workforce and will also help my organization to perform better in the environment and have a representation of the whole world culture inside the organization which can benefit in many ways such as achieving aims in the niche market, achieving more profit from the business and so on.

Conclusion:

From the above discussion, it can be said that diversity management in the organizations is very necessary in order to achieve various organizational objectives and diversity management can result in producing the result that is required in the part of the organization. In the 21^st century, most of the businesses require managing the diversity of the workforce as it helps the business in getting more information that are useful to the business and also helps on more creativity from the diverse members of the workforce (Stephenson et al., 2015).

References:

DiTomaso, N., Post, C. and Parks-Yancy, R., 2007. Workforce diversity and inequality: Power, status, and numbers. Annu. Rev. Sociol., 33, pp.473-501.

Kossek, E.E., Lobel, S.A. and Brown, J., 2006. Human resource strategies to manage workforce diversity. Handbook of workplace diversity, pp.53-74.

Mujtaba, B., 2007. Workforce diversity management: Challenges, competencies and strategies (pp. 207-229). Llumina Press.

Henry, O. and Evans, A.J., 2007. Critical review of literature on workforce diversity. African Journal of Business Management, 1(4).

Martín Alcázar, F., Miguel Romero Fernández, P. and Sánchez Gardey, G., 2013. Workforce diversity in strategic human resource management models: A critical review of the literature and implications for future research. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 20(1), pp.39-49.

Shen, J., Chanda, A., D’netto, B. and Monga, M., 2009. Managing diversity through human resource management: An international perspective and conceptual framework. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(2), pp.235-251.

Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications.

Podsiadlowski, A., Gröschke, D., Kogler, M., Springer, C. and Van Der Zee, K., 2013. Managing a culturally diverse workforce: Diversity perspectives in organizations. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(2), pp.159-175.

Kirton, G. and Greene, A.M., 2015. The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical approach. Routledge.

Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2006. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage.

Insights, F., 2011. Global diversity and inclusion: Fostering innovation through a diverse workforce. Forbes Insight, New York.

Harvey, C.P. and Allard, M., 2015. Understanding and managing diversity. Pearson.

Trompenaars, F. and Hampden-Turner, C., 2011. Riding the waves of culture: Understanding diversity in global business. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Sun, L.Y., Aryee, S. and Law, K.S., 2007. High-performance human resource practices, citizenship behavior, and organizational performance: A relational perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 50(3), pp.558-577.

Analoui, F., 2007. Strategic human resource management. International Thomson Business Press.

Kulik, C.T., 2014. Working below and above the line: The research–practice gap in diversity management. Human Resource Management Journal, 24(2), pp.129-144.

Healy, G. and Oikelome, F., 2017. Racial Inequality and Managing Diversity in the United Kingdom and United States. In Management and Diversity: Perspectives from Different National Contexts (pp. 33-62). Emerald Publishing Limited.

Ng, E.S. and Stephenson, J., 2015. Individuals, Teams, and Organizational Benefits of Managing Diversity. The Oxford Handbook of Diversity in Organizations, p.235.