UNIT V8 COPYSCAPE WRONG 100% PLAGERIZE

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES OF A DIVERSE WORKFORCE 13

Opportunities and Challenges of a Diverse Workforce

Name

Institution

Contents 2

Introduction 4

Opportunities of Managing a Diverse Workforce 6

Increased Adaptability 6

Wider service Range 7

Assortment of Viewpoints 7

Increased Morale and Motivation among Employees 7

Saving Time 8

Saving Money 8

Appreciation of Other Cultures 8

Encourages Growth 9

Challenges of Managing a Diverse Workforce 9

Communication 9

Conflicts 10

Change Resistance 10

Policy Implementation 10

Prolonged Process of Decision Making 11

Employee demoralization and discrimination 11

Conclusion 11

References 12

Opportunities and Challenges of a Diverse Workforce

Due to the steadily increasing and inevitable phenomenon of globalization, people from diverse backgrounds tend to interact more. In the current world, people have ceased to live and work in a limited environment; and they have become a part of the world’s economy that is competing within the global network. Owing to this reason, both non-profit and profit organizations need to be more diversified in order for them to remain competitive. Capitalizing and maximizing on diversity at the workplace is a vital element for management. In this regard, workforce diversity can get defined as the differences variety existing between people at the workplace or organization. Diversity comprises of cognitive style, personalities, age, ethnic group, gender, race, education, organizational functions, background and the list continues. Diversity does not encompass hoe individuals perceive themselves, but also, how they see others. These two perceptions impact the way in which these individuals interact. For a broad assortment of workers to effectively function in an organization, professionals in the human resources and management are required to have the knowledge to deal with such issues as change, adaptability and communication. Diversity is likely to increase in a significant manner in the next coming year. Successful institutions and organizations recognize the necessity for urgent action, readiness, and willingness to invest in managing diversity at the current workplace. This paper is going to discuss the literature of managing diversity. The paper will discuss the key opportunities and challenges of managing diversity, as well as, examine the practices of hr diversity management when dealing with the opportunities and challenges experienced.

The success of diversity management is dependent on strategic thinking, as well as, people-centered policies. Whilst the management of diversity is a model that surrounds employees and employees’ matters, the management of hr management is the guardian of the processes that manage people. These functions always overlap. To begin with, management of hr and diversity are majorly concerned with the participation of hr function to the strategy of the business. Secondly, both the management of hr and diversity focus on individual differences, as well as, the wellbeing and development of each individual. In this regard, managers and supervisors are required to recognize how the workplace is evolving and changing. Managing diversity is a major challenge for most organization, thus, managerial skills are mandatory in order for these organizations to become accustomed to a multicultural workplace environment. Similar to all life aspects, managing a diverse workforce come with both opportunities and challenges, and the management are expected to acknowledge the two issues for them to function effectively (Shen, et al., 2009).

A diverse workforce is beneficial to both the employers and the associates. Even though associates are seen to be interdependent elements at the workplace, respecting personal differences are likely to increase productivity. The competitiveness and success of an organization is dependent on its capabilities of embracing diversity and realizing its benefits. When institutions actively asses how they handle issues touching on workplace diversity, implement and develop diversity plans; they are likely to enjoy multiple benefits.

Organizations that employ a diverse workforce enjoy the benefit of supplying a great assortment of solutions to arising problems in sourcing, services, and also resource allocation. Employees coming from varying backgrounds bring about individual talents, as well as, experiences, which help in the suggestion of ideas that are more flexible when it comes to adapting to the fluctuating customer and markets demands. People from different backgrounds learn and are accustomed to doing things differently, thus the knowledge or idea regarding a particular topic is different. The different ideas regarding a task or topic are what diversity brings to the workplace. Brainstorming of ideas from different perspectives helps organizations in arriving to the best solution for any given problem (Green et al., 2012).

An organization with a diverse workforce enjoys the opportunity of having a collection of experiences and skills, for example, cultural understanding and language, which allows the organization to offer services to its customers on a global framework. For example, in the setting of a healthcare facility, a diverse workforce is an advantage to the facility as they are able to also serve international patients that could have language barrier problems.

An organization that has a diverse workforce, and engages the workforce when it comes to communicating the different viewpoints, enjoys a larger collection of experiences and ideas. People from different backgrounds come with different ideas and experiences from where they come from. Brainstorming on these ideas and experiences allows the organization an opportunity to come up with the best idea for a particular task. This also helps in encouraging creativity when it comes to solving workplace problems and challenges (US Department of Commerce, 2002).

Allowing the employees to air their different ideas allows them to take part in the processes of the organization, thus making them feel part of the organization. Thus, the organization enjoys the opportunity of increased morale and motivation, which helps in increasing productivity and profit margins.

A diverse workforce brings with it a collection of ideas and experiences, as a result, such a team is likely to complete a task on a timely manner owing to the input coming from all the team members and employing the best solution for that specific task.

As a diverse workforce brings with it different ideas and experiences, organizations enjoy the opportunity of having a collection of ideas to solve a particular problems, some that could have demanded for external assistant which could incur extra expense. For example, a person working in a healthcare institution and understands French can help out in translation, rather than hiring a translator from outside, who would incur the hospital extra charges for the service.

A diverse workforce offers individuals an opportunity of learning and interacting with people from different cultures and backgrounds. As a result, these people learn on how to appreciate each other, thus, creating a global workplace environment.

A diverse workforce allows different people from different backgrounds to interact and learn from each other. As a result, they tend to increase their knowledge and skills regarding particular tasks and topics. This helps in the growth of knowledge regarding particular topics and tasks allowing employees to do things better, thus, improving efficiency and effectiveness in task performance.

A diverse workforce offers a variety of benefits, however; it comes with its challenges.

Communication is the major challenge that rises when dealing with a diverse workforce. People from different backgrounds are accustomed to different ways of communication. Different words have different meaning for different people. Cultural, perceptual and language barriers are key challenges when communicating to a diverse workforce. Ineffective communication may lead to misunderstanding, confusion, lack of teamwork and also reduced morale (US Department of Commerce, 2002). These challenges are likely to result to reduced productivity and performance.

A diverse workforce is likely to suffer from regular conflicts. People from different background believe and regard things in a different manner. As a result, some people might find it hard to go by other peoples believes or ideas regardless of whether the idea is right or wrong. On the other hand, the other party may try to force their believes on others, thus, leading to a conflict. Such conflicts are inevitable when it comes to a diverse workforce. These conflicts may lead to decreased moral among employee which may affect productivity (Australia multicultural foundation, 2012).

Due to the differences in culture and the fact that different people perceive things differently, some people are stiff when it comes to what they believe in and practice. Such people may find it had to accept change depending on the organization or circumstances. This situation brings about resistance even to other processes and task being performed within the organization.

Any organization would face the challenge of setting up policies that accommodate a diverse workforce. This is because an organization cannot cover all the diversities available. Not all employees will accept the policy voluntarily, and as a result, some employees may be demoralized, feel discriminated or unwanted in the organization (Green, et al., 2012).

A diverse workforce brings with it different ideas and experiences that can be used to solve problems in the organization. Owing to the fact that there are many people involved, and many ideas to be brainstormed over, the process of decision making may take longer than it had been anticipated, therefore delaying the process even when there is urgency for a solution (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2000).

In a diverse workforce, there is usually the dominant culture or group of people depending on the location of the organization. For example, a company in India is likely to have more Indians than people from other parts of the world. For this reason, those belonging to minority groups may feel ignored, as in most cases, the majority wins. This is likely to affect their morale at work, as well as, their self-confidence (Australia multicultural foundation, 2012).

In conclusion, a diverse workforce reflects the steadily changing marketplace and world. Diverse workforce brings with it high value to both the employees and the organization. Respecting the differences existing between individuals is likely to benefit the workplace through creation of competitiveness and increased work productivity among other benefits. On the other hand, managing a diverse workforce brings with it a variety of challenges some of which as unavoidable due to the differences. Regular conflicts and communication barriers are some of the common challenges that are brought about by managing a diverse workforce. In this regard, it is important that hr and management take into account the challenges and opportunities faced when dealing with a diverse workforce in order for them to successfully run the organization.

Australia multicultural foundation. (2012). Managing cultural diversity [
PDF Document]. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/abicomplete/docview/1770383374/fulltextPDF/9327BC6A6CF7407APQ/15?accountid=33337

Green, K. et al. (2012). Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and the Required Managerial Tools [PDF Document]. Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/HR/HR02200.pdf

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. (2000). Managing a diverse workforce. AchieveGlobal, 1(2), 14-15.

Shen, J. et al. (2009). Managing diversity through human resource management: an international perspective and conceptual framework. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(2), 235-251.

US Department of Commerce. (2002). Best Practices in Achieving Workplace Diversity [PDF Document]. Retrieved from https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/workforce-diversity.pdf