DIVERSITY

WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

Abstract

In this study, we try to explore the concept of “Diversity” in a holistic context. The focus of the research is on “Diversity” and its relation with “Workforce in organizations”. The research also analyzes many aspects of “Diversity” and tries to gauge its effect on “Workforce in organizations”. Finally, the research describes various factors, which are responsible for “Diversity”, and tries to describe the overall effect of “Diversity” on “Workforce in organizations.”

Table of Contents

Abstractii

The strategic importance of Human resource1

Diversity2

Why manage employee diversity?3

Affirmative action versus diversity management3

Diversity in the organizations4

Afro-Americans4

Asian Americans5

People with disabilities6

Foreign-born6

Gay7

Hispanic8

Older workers9

Women10

HYPOTHETICAL CASE10

Conflict in Northern Sigma10

Women and minority groups11

White men12

African Americans13

Asian Americans13

Latin13

Women14

Diveristy Management14

The Role of Leadership in Diversity Management14

How to manage workforce diversity17

Different approaches in managing workforce diversity20

The Episodic Approach20

The Freestanding Approach20

The Systemic Approach21

Advantages of having and managing a diverse workforce22

Disadvantages of workforce diversity24

Conclusion25

References27

WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

The strategic importance of human resource

The strategic importance of human resources has resulted from massive changes in goods and services production systems. In the earlier industrial systems, people were operationally or tactically important with respect to the final products. For example, the employees were taken as an operational resource in case, where they served merely as common labor from which the physical products or other routine services were derived. (Hill 2005) Early manufacturing and office operations were based on an industrial form of organization, where specialized bundles of tasks, duties, and responsibilities defined the positions into which people were placed. Such organizations were appropriate subjects for studying for the industrial engineers, such as Frederick W. Taylor, whose observations about work methods and organizational efficiency was implicitly based on the widespread existence of simple, repetitive routines and products. (Taylor, 1947)

Human resource is perceived as significant resources in advanced industrial situations where complex and difficult decisions have to be taken to organize the process of production. In such cases, the human labor is more highly trained, more varied, less easily interchangeable, and is subject to much more complex organizational arrangements as compared to the early industrial systems. (Lawrence and Lorsch 1967)

In the post-industrial societies, the concept of human resource has assumed great importance, and now the human resource of an organization is taken as a strategic asset. The impact of management of human resource has been significant on the pubic sector as well as on the private sector. The personnel managers in the public sector have to face a particular challenge that is associated with the strategic management of the workforce, and the management of the human resource as a strategic resource could re-define the deployment options. (Lawrence 1985)

Diversity

Although there are a number of definitions of diversity, it refers to the human characteristics that make people different from one another. 

There could be a number of sources of diversity in a workforce, however, in general it can be grouped into two categories: individual characteristics; these are the charectiristics, which cannot control, these characteristics include some biological characteristics such as race, gender, the age, certain psychological attributes, family and also the impact of the society and the environment, in which ...