HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management in Australia



Executive Summary

The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Discussion5

Importance of diversity5

Managing diversity at workplace6

Diversity training and development7

Diversity and performance management8

Evaluation of the success and failures8

Models of Diversity Management10

Diversity model12

Access-and-legitimacy model of diversity13

Learning-and-effectiveness model of diversity14

Conclusion15

Recommendations15

Human Resource Management in Australia

Introduction

The diversity management from an organizational point of view is very important to be managed in the organizations. Early efforts define diversity almost exclusively in terms of race and gender differences in the workforce. In some cases the diversity, race and gender were treated synonymously during the 1990's. Since then however the meaning of these terms has expanded,in addition to the race and gender individuals with disabilities, older worker, and foreign born workers became recognized for their contributions to workforce diversity. Beyond the incorporation of additional demographic differences, as efforts to address organizational diversity increased, researchers began to look at a variety of individual differences as well. Differences in experiences, expertise, and knowledge among members of a team might be considered to represent important elements of diversity.

Diversity is a reality created by individuals and groups from a broad spectrum of demographic and philosophical differences. It is extremely important to support and protect diversity because by valuing individuals and groups free from prejudice, and by fostering a climate where equity and mutual respect are intrinsic.

A further conceptualization of diversity has recently been presented which characterizes individual differences as either “surface-level,” which refers to characteristics that are easily observed or identified such as race, gender, or age, or “deep-level,” which refers to differences that may not be directly observable, but are important characteristics of the individual, such as personality and value system. With this distinction of surface versus deep-level forms of diversity comes the recognition that each form may raise different challenges for the management of diversity in organizations.

Although this latter distinction represents a more comprehensive approach to thinking about diversity, some diversity researchers have expressed concerns that emphasizing deep-level factors may incorrectly suggest that surface-level factors, such as race and gender, are less important for organizations to consider. (Reasons why attention to both levels of diversity is important will be discussed in more detail later.) Despite these concerns, there is no question that a richer understanding of the different forms of diversity in an organization should be incorporated in efforts to develop theories of diversity management and in the practice of diversity management (Cox, 2006, 45).

Discussion

Importance of diversity

The success of any organization has become dependent upon the effectiveness of its management, coupled with the effectiveness of management ...