Diversity Management In Australian Organizations: Issues And Ways To Manage

Issues in Diversity Management

Discuss about the Organization Behavior Similarities and Dfferences.

With the growth of competition, Australian mining and finance industry is constantly expanding where candidates from varying culture is incorporated. The considerable state of being diverse in a workplace is rapidly increasing comprising employed individuals from different nations (D'Netto et al., 2014). One of the most critical issues that Australian based organizations are facing at present is managing diversity and simultaneously expanding itself in the competitive market. Due to relaxation in visa policies and higher wages, candidates from different parts of world find Australia to be the most comfortable country to establish their career (Kulik, 2014).

This paper will discuss about the topic diversity and specific issue under focus will be diversity management. The entire literature will be divided into core themes comprising issues in diversity management, leadership in diversity management, ways to manage diversity and impact of effective diversity management.

While considering issues in diversity management in Australian Organization, it can be said that immigration is the most impactful factor. According to Peretz, Levi and Fried, (2015), 20% of the Australian employees are having parents who are born overseas and such immigrants have acquired mixed culture. Such individuals’ ethnicity, trend and etiquette are different from core Australian residents. Finally, at the time of working in a group, these individuals are not respected or valued, violating diversity management. On the other hand, Walsh, (2014) pointed out that 28% of Australian employees are born outside and such migrants are found have complete different culture and rituals, which violates Australian values. Even though organizations try to adhere to several policies of discrimination, still such petite group of individuals never gets respect in the workplace, which hampers productivity. According to Muchiri and Ayoko, (2013), nearly 20% of Australian employees speak language other than English, which impacts in workplace communication.  As per sbs.com.au, (2016), 18% Australian employees are experiencing discrimination because of religion, ethnic or skin color, which prevents diversity management. Chung et al., (2015) pointed out that 13% of surveyed organizational leaders does not care effective implementation of cultural diversity management and even Fujimoto et al., (2013) indicated that 53% of surveyed respondents feel that female employees are not getting desired senior executive level.

From the above views of the authors it can be said that issues are mainly pertaining to policy implementation, casual behavior of senior executives and acceptance approach from Australian natives. Organizational leaders cannot solely do diversity management but employees are to be entertained to enlighten their acceptance attitude. For example, considering Kinetic Securities Company it can be said that improper training schedules and procedure of working in a group is not defined, which resulted in improper client management (fwc.gov.au, 2016).

Leadership in Diversity Management

With rising level of migration and globalization, Australian organizations are to manage diverse workforce. Organizations must have to concentrate on diversity management for increasing competition of hiring, motivating and retaining diverse talented employees. According to a study of International Journal of Manpower in 2009, Australia has been considered as the most diversified country (Guo & Al Ariss, 2015). This study explored diversity management conducted in 15 Australian companies. According to Ragins et al., (2012), Australian employees are highly inclined to be resistant in accepting other employee from other ethnicity and culture. On the other hand, Christiansen and Sezerel, (2013) opined that 20% employees in Australian organizations face racial discrimination in each day. Among them, 11% employees are excluded from workplace due to their social setting in regards to race (Sharma, 2016). 5% employees experience physical assault due to their racial background. According to Trenerry and Paradies, (2012), the workplace diversity also occurs due to language barriers, as most of the migrated employees are from India and China. Therefore, this also become major barrier within the collaboration of the employees.

The managers of Australia are to face several challenges during managing diversity in workplace. According to Ng and Sears, (2012), diversity can damage the positive attitude of the employees, which results in poor productivity of the employees. On the other hand, Park, (2013) opined that workplace diversity could also lead to disorganized workplace through poor communication among the employees. In such situation, effective leader is highly required for the workplace of Australian organization. According to Klarsfeld et al., (2016), effective leaders should always demonstrate high sensitivity towards the ever evolving diversity in workplace. They should take initiative of demonstrating appreciation to the diverse workforce and respect their individual values. On the other hand, Ng and Sears, (2012) opined that leader should foster positive environment by valuing different religious events, family condition and personal significance. Moreover, leaders should be high accountable and share the actual value of diversity management to the employees.

According to Christiansen and Sezerel, (2013), leaders should demonstrate high respect to the differences among the employees. They should value the unique qualities of diverse people and utilize those unique qualities towards achieving the goals of organization. On the other hand, Sharma, (2016) pointed out that top down support is highly recommended for the leaders towards managing cultural diversity in workplace. They should be supportive to each employee having different cultural backgrounds. Moreover, the leader should persuade affiliative leadership in which they will understand individual emotional needs and relationship with each other. In this way, they will direct these emotional sides towards work-life for fostering effective productivity.Considering the ways to manage diversity in organizations, it can be said that the Australian finance industry and healthcare industry and material industry is rapidly expanding, where presence of cultural diversity is the most prominent (Ng & Sears, 2012).

Ways to Manage Diversity

According to Park, (2013), emphasizing communication among the employees regarding policies, regulations and information through picture, symbols and presentation slides during conference helps in diversity management. Whereas, Walsh, (2014) pointed out that at times when every individual in an organization is treated uniquely, then they feels valued and respected, which finally aids up in performance commitment. On the other hand, Guo and Al Ariss, (2015) pointed out that when groups consisting of intercultural individuals are assigned to perform distinctive tasks then innovative ideas are nurtured that helps in managing diversity. Furthermore, Christiansen and Sezerel, (2013) pointed out that when progressive decisions in an organization are made against core objectives irrespective of culture, background or ethnicity of an individual, then none is abandoned. This helps in incredible diversity management. Finally, Trenerry and Paradies, (2012) pointed out that when employees are allowed to complain discriminatory behavior and treat the case with detailed investigation from higher authority then they feel justified. This helps in equal opportunity for all employees aiding diversity management.

From the above reviews of several authors, it is evident that organizational diversity can be managed only if individuals are valued. For example, Australian finance companies like Bakers Investment Group and Bluestone Group have several employees from New Zealand and India where most of the progressive decisions are finalized from the views of non-natives (Klarsfeld et al., 2016). While considering material industry, Ezilon Australia while innovating, mainly forms groups with such individuals who are typically distinct in culture. This helps is team building and creative approach to accomplish projects (Christiansen & Sezerel, 2013). Therefore, it can be said that managing diversity can be accomplished when organizations try to achieve goals by focusing on team performance rather than concentrating individually.

The failure and success of diversity management is highly dependent on organization’s ability to handle this. Effective diversity management will have huge positive impact on Australian organizations. According to Fujimoto et al., (2013), diverse workforce can offer variety of diversified solutions to the complex organizational problems. With diverse workforce, organizations can have employees having different language skills and different cultural understanding. Ragins et al., (2012) pointed out that diverse set of skills and knowledge will allow Australian organizations to provide excellent customized service to the global customers. Therefore, effective diversity management will assist most of the global Australian organization towards dealing with global customers. According to Trenerry and Paradies, (2012), diverse workforce, who feels comfortable in sharing varying point of views can create larger pool of experience and ideas. Therefore, the organizations can offer customized solution to the customer as per their dynamic needs. On the other hand, Ng and Sears, (2012) suggested that diversity management can cultivate creativity in within the organization through diverse ideas of diverse workforce. It has been found that IGA Supermarket is highly capable of managing their diverse workforce. Therefore, they are successful expanding in global market by serving to global taste.

Impact of Effective Diversity Management

Conclusion

While concluding the study, it can be said that workforce diversity in organization occurs through the variance in the age, race, ethnicity, culture, gender and religion. Australian organizations are considered to have most diversified workforce in the workplace. The prime reason of Australian workforce diversity is difference among Asian-Australian employees. Without having an effective strategy, workforce diversity can lead to unproductive work environment. Diversity can lead to communication barriers, employee discrimination and employee resistance. Therefore, the managers of Australian organization should highly focus on fostering positive environment towards effective diversity management. The leaders should be highly authentic towards communicating proper value of diversity management to the employees. Australian organizations should provide proper training to the employees towards understanding diverse culture and valuing those cultures. Effective diversity management can bring diverse set of ideas in the organization. Therefore, it can lead to highly productive performance for organizations.

References

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Chung, Y., Liao, H., Jackson, S. E., Subramony, M., Colakoglu, S., & Jiang, Y. (2015). Cracking but not breaking: Joint effects of faultline strength and diversity climate on loyal behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 58(5), 1495-1515.

D'Netto, B., Shen, J., Chelliah, J., & Monga, M. (2014). Human resource diversity management practices in the Australian manufacturing sector. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(9), 1243-1266.

Fujimoto, Y., Härtel, C. E., & Azmat, F. (2013). Towards a diversity justice management model: integrating organizational justice and diversity management. Social Responsibility Journal, 9(1), 148-166.

fwc.gov.au. (2016). FWC Main Site. Retrieved 4 December 2016, from https://www.fwc.gov.au/about-us/careers/workplace-diversity-strategy-2013-15

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