Importance Of Diversity Management For Business Organizations

Overview of Diversity Management

Question:

Discuss about the Diversity Program And Public Administration.

In order to run a business organization, human resource managers should recruit people from different characteristics within the workplace. The role of an efficient human resource manager is to give equal priority and response to every skillful and competent employee. Gender biases, religious biases, cultural biases should not come within an organization. The overarching concept diversity management implies a systematic strategy based on which people belonging to various age group, gender, and cultural background can get equal priority and response from the business managers. As per the overall scenario of the business process, organizations have to deal with customers from various psychological attitudes and geographic boundaries. While fulfilling the needs and demands of the customers’ human resource managers have to recruit employees from different backgrounds and attitudes for avoiding biases.

This very specific study has provided to make an in-depth overview of various aspects of diversity management and strategies that Mark French has followed in order to implement diversity management (Thomas et al., 2012). CERA as one of the most prestigious Civil Engineering and Research Associate prevailing in Australia has decided to implement diversity management within the recruitment and selection process. In this specific study, various importance of implementing diversity management within an organization like CERA has been discussed. Various challenges that CERA has faced due to the implementation of diversity management at the work floor is evaluated in details. Along with the discussion of various strategies of on diversity management followed by CERA the study has focused provided some major recommendations as well.

The human resource managers of CERA behind the implementation of diversity management have decided that people of various geographical boundaries and attitudes should get equal priority and response within an organization so that the business can be expanded in the international market (Thomas, 2012). In quest of implementing cultural diversity for exchanging thoughts and ideas, Mark French has decided to prioritize both male and female employees within an organization for making balance. However, the following are the specific reasons due to which CERA should implement diversity management at the workplace.

In quest of business expansion as a prestigious construction brand all over the World CERA has decided to hire the employees of various geographic boundaries as well as cultural backgrounds. As a result, before taking any kind of decision, the organization can make collective decision by exchanging thoughts and views of others (Sabharwal, 2014). As a result, the employees can easily meet the needs and demands of the international customers. 

Importance of Diversity Management for CERA

People of diverse cultural backgrounds and attitudes may have psychological differences. CERA in searching of gaining international reputation wanted to increase their range of target market beyond going the regional area. Therefore, while maintaining the recruitment and selection process the human resource managers of CERA tends to hire both male and female employees from various age groups (Olsen & Martins, 2012). The HR managers have decided to recruit the employees from different cultural backgrounds and attitudes because of making collective decision for business progress.

It is alleged that business organizations do like to maintain discrimination on the floor rather than focusing on skills and competency. CERA along with maintaining anti-discrimination act within the business process has decided that both male and female employee would be considered with equal dignity as well as respect. As a construction company, the employees of CERA have to be very much flexible with work hour and shift. Female employees generally do not show their interest to take the burden of night shift. In this situation, the human resource managers intended to show their reluctant attitude in hiring female employees within the business (Madera, 2013). However, the concept of diversity management enables the HR managers to give equal priority and response to every single employee at the workplace. 

Mark French being the CEO of CERA has realized that implementing diversity management at the workplace is one of the most important ways based on which the organization can gain the image of international brand. This particular company is primarily famous in the regional market as one of the most recognizable construction brands. Mark French in quest of reaching the market of international customers has decided to implement gender equality act. As per the instruction of French the human resource managers should give equal priority and response to both male and female employees (Nielsen & Nielsen,  2013). The organization like CERA should not give enough priority on the language and communication skills of the employees. By implementing an effective training and development session, the organization can enhance the communication skill of the employees (Hoogendoorn, Oosterbeek & Van Praag, 2013). As a result, they would be able to interact with each other regarding the success of business. Therefore, as a business person Mark French has provided some of the most recommended ways on how to overcome the challenges of implementing diversity management at the workplace. It is undeniable that after the implementation of this specific strategy at the workplace business managers had to face innumerable difficulties in taking instant decision regarding the progress of business (Martín Alcázar et al., 2013). Despite facing several challenges, French has decided to follow diversity management within the organization for expanding the entire process of business.  

Challenges Faced by CERA with Respect to Diversity Management

As stated earlier, the presence of diversity in a company is extremely important as it helps to provide an access to wider audience and leads to increased productivity (Harvey & Allard, 2015).  However, there are a certain challenges faced by CERA in this domain, which is given as follows:

Some of the employees who have been in the given company for a long period, resist the diversity and the respective changes it tends to bring. These individuals are difficult to manage and it becomes extremely challenging for the management to cooperate and make these employees understand the importance of diversity (Martín Alcázar, Miguel Romero Fernández & Sánchez Gardey, 2013). At CERA, the negative attitudes of these selected group of employees tend to serve as a huge de-motivating factor for the employees and have a negative impact on productivity.

Diversity tends to bring in various age groups, genders, religions and ethnicities together under one roof. For CERA, these differences tend to enter the organization with different communication styles. The communication between the various employees tends to become extremely poor and causes misunderstandings (Madera, 2013). These misunderstandings result to depressing office relationships. Studies reflect that office relationships tend to have a positive impact on the productivity but problems like these have shown a negative pattern of productivity for CERA. 

Initially when a diverse work group entered the organization, the management was not prepared for their welfare. This caused a bit of trouble for the new members. The employees did not understand the norms and were often confused as to how they need to conduct themselves (Lauring, (2013). When the management at CERA, initially implemented a diversity plan, it was an unorganized and in the same manner, it proved to be a disaster.

Several complaints were generated against CERA, when some of its workers complained that they were facing unfair treatment from others. It is the duty of a manager to make sure that the employees under him are treated with due respect . For an example, if a company like CERA has a visually disabled person then they should be providing the employee with all relevant facilities so that they feel at par with others.

The challenges faced by CERA with respect to diversity challenge also include the challenge of inclusion. The diverse employees in the organization often segregate themselves from the others because of the groupism, which exists in the organization (Cole & Salimath, 2013). They feel that they will not be accepted by them.

Recommendations for the Challenges Faced by CERA

The suggested recommendations for the challenges faced by CERA are provided as follows:

• Proper implementation of a diversity is an extremely important part of any organization. The organization needs to see to it that the managers present in the organization take a active participation and make sure that proper brainstorming sessions take place regarding diversity management. They need to make sure that the staff is involved in the given meeting and their inputs are taken in order to provide an environment, which is suitable for the diverse crowd.
• Assessment of diversity-The top companies in an organization need to make sure that they continuously assess and evaluate their diversity process. Continuous assessment of the process will help the company to understand the loopholes and that shall help the company in understanding the key areas of improvement (Wrench, (2014).It shall also help to make the diversity plan implementation successful.
• The resistance which exists in the company among the various employees with respect to the other diverse employees can be ward off with inclusion. When all the employees will be involved in the formulation process and in the diversity initiatives then this shall encourage the inclusion of employees and help in solving the challenges.
• Fostering an attitude of openness in an organization-All the employees must be treated, as they are a part of the organization. They should be continuously encouraged and allowed to express their ideas and opinions in order to provide a sense of equality (Ashikali & Groeneveld, 2015). This shall prove to be a revelation for others who tend to mistreat these set of employees.
• Promoting diversity in leadership positions- There are certain leadership roles, which are present and required in the organization. As CERA is an engineering firm it needs expertise in almost all fields (Rice, 2015).  Therefore, it is extremely necessary that the leaders are also diverse with respect to gender, culture and other factors. This shall help the company in making sure that diversity is ensured.
• Providing the employees diversity training- The diversity concept of the various employees present in an organization needs to be changed considerably. They need to be provided with adequate training so that they can become tolerate towards one another and sensitive towards each other’s needs.

Conclusion

Therefore, from the given analysis it can be stated that in the 21^st century, where globalization and equality are the key concepts, diversity management can play a key role in bringing an outside view and equality in the given workplace. Diversity management refers to changing the employee type and structure of an organization by diversifying it and involving active participation from various backgrounds with respect to gender, race, culture and disability. The assignment provides the importance of implementing the  concept of diversity management in an organization like CERA. It can be stated that diversity management is an extreme necessity in the company , the implementation of which will make the company a globally desirable company. The argument with respect to the CEO, Mark French has also been provided and elaborated in detail. However, implementing diversity is not an easy task and CERA faces a vast number of challenges while dealing with diversity implementation and development. For this purpose, various recommendations with respect to these challenges have been provided. Proper implementation of these recommendations will take the company to new heights.

After making an in-depth evaluation about the arguments of Mark French regarding the implementation of diversity management, it can be concluded that skill and talent should get first priority within an organization. An employee should not be judged as per cultural and religious backgrounds. In order to expand the entire process of business in multinational countries CERA should hire the employees of various cultural backgrounds and attitudes for dealing with the different level of the customers. 

Reference

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