What can dominant groups do to foster diversity in organizations? What can those in non-dominant groups do?
A Dominant group is defined as any entity which has an unfair advantage over other members in the same setting. The unfair advantage may be regarding assets, money, or positions that are used to enforce monopolistic practices. In psychology, dominant group can refer to a majority of society in reference to cultural and scientific (Wink 4). Diversity in an organization can be a driving force in organization prosperity if driven by dominant groups. Dominant groups should foster diversity in the organization through opening up and tolerate other non-dominant groups in the workplace. The tolerance can be achieved through the development of a holistic-centered recruitment process where all groups are given an opportunity. The result will be the recruitment of personnel from groups outside the dominant group hence advancing diversity.
Non-dominant groups have a role to play in fostering diversity in an organization. First, they must study and understand the needs of an organization. They can do so through engaging local populations; cultural institutions, churches, and colleges. The connections would help in the recommendation of the best candidates for any new roles in the organization. Also, the non-dominant group should make use of employee’s referrals to help the organization acquire competent personnel outside the dominant groups. The organizations can boost employee referrals system through awarding employees for every successful referral. Non-dominant should take advantage of diversity training in workplaces. Agitating for a transparent system would be helpful in ensuring that the organization achieves its diversity goals.
Diversity, inclusion, and equity in organizations sound simple terms but there a complicated set of terms that can spell doom in organizations. The three encompass gender, race, ethnic group, age, cognitive style, education, organizational function, and personality factors in any organization (Wink 14). Diversity not only involves mostly on how people perceive themselves and how people view others that affect human interactions. For an organization to achieve its objectives, it must deal effectively with diversity issues such as change, adaptability, and communication. With the three factors are handled effectively, the organization performance will definitely grow.
Inclusion, on the other hand, is the second step after achievement of diversity in organizations. Many institutions are moving from diversity to inclusion. Inclusion puts practice and concept of diversity into the daily activities of an organization through creating a culture of respect, connection, and involvement where the different perspectives, backgrounds, and ideas are harnessed. Many of the companies are struggling to achieve their full potential and a diverse workforce. The reason behind the struggle is that many of the businesses are focused on the increasing their human personnel with little being done to understand business perspectives. A workforce without inclusion would be a waste of time since the company would face a downfall threat due to internal competition among its employees.
Equity in organizations addresses disparities and inequalities in the workplace. When the human personnel recognizes that disparities and inequality exist in the company, they will view the inequality as a form of justice and will cause discontentment within the workplace. Achieving equity in an organization can be very challenging though it is very beneficial to the organization. When there is a culture of equity in the organization, all the staff feels motivated, and their service appreciated and hence will lead to higher performance levels.
Diversity, inclusion, and equity in organizations come with benefits and challenges though the benefits outweigh the challenges. The three are the main determinants of society success and increases in business competitiveness. When organizations develop strategies to improve their diversity, inclusion, and equity, there must be a corresponding change regarding profitability and reduction in operational expenses. First, the three issues increase adaptability due to the recruitment of personnel from diverse backgrounds their inclusion and equal treatment. The diverse personalities bring about individual talents and capabilities which enable the organization to adapt comfortably to dynamic markets and changing consumer preferences.
Secondly, a diverse and motivated force offers a company the benefits emanating from a variety of opinions and expertise from the rich pool of individual of diverse background. The viewpoints can be used to develop business strategies and policies that would push the organization market niche and enable its entry into unexploited markets (Wink 20). Lastly, with a motivated workforce, companies would be able to easily incorporate diversity principles in all departments directly and indirectly. Diversity, inclusion, and equity are three aspects of the company group that should be practiced in all organization activities even in the developing of a startup business; they should be given priority. To ease their integration in an already started business, there should be training, sensitization, and campaigns to promote their recognition and appreciation within the organization setting.
Integrating the three psychological concepts in an organization comes with several challenges. The first impediment would be dealing with the change-resistant elements within the organization. In any setting in a society, there are people who do not appreciate or welcome change at all and are out to fight to remain in their conservative zone. The ‘we have always done it this way,’’ mentality is hard to defeat and requires a commitment. Secondly, implementing these concepts comes with a challenge since in many cases; it requires an evaluation to be done on the employees performance which may make some threatened as it is erroneously construed as a lay-off strategy (Wink 24). Finally, it is an expensive undertaking which requires a commitment of an organization resources and time. The times taken to plan, implement, and evaluate usually puts a strain in the business.
However, I would recommend an easy and safe plan to use which averts the challenges faced in introducing the three concepts in organizations. It is prudent to assess the diversity, equity, and inclusion situation in an existing organization so that the management can come up with a proper plan on how to introduce the three concepts without causing unrest in the workplace. The result would be a satisfied human personnel base which can accomplish convenience and effectiveness in handling its duties in the organization. Proper assessment helps in determining the challenges they would face in introducing the three concepts. The realization of the challenges to be faced would help in coming up with a strategy which would reduce or eliminate the challenges.
Further, it would be advisable to choose an experienced service provider to provide reporting and analysis support on the state of the strategies being implemented. The report will determine whether the process is going forward as anticipated or there is a need to change the strategy. Further, implementing those concepts requires the good will of all management personnel and their juniors. The process would require engagements from all stakeholders to ensure a successful integration of the useful concepts.
The integration of the three concepts comes with management challenges. Management will encounter serious difficulties in managing the diverse groups brought up by the three concepts. The management of this diversity is essential to the success of any business as gender, sex, race and age factors can affect an organization significantly. Business demands that different diverse factors be harnessed and utilized together on the operations of an organization which minimizes the friction while capturing their values.
The human resource department in any organization is the department tasked with managing the diversity, ensuring inclusiveness, and promoting equity in the workplace. The responsibility must be handled well so that the three concepts can yield the expected results. It is the department role to ensure that conflicts and disputes between the employees and their employer are dealt whenever they arise (Wink 40). Today, the changing business dynamic spell doom for the organizations that cannot manage their diversity effectively. With the growth of e-commerce and the continued rise of online recruitment services and agencies, business will struggle to retain their best personnel. To counter this emerging threat, businesses should embrace diversity in their recruitment, be inclusive in their decision making, and embrace equity. The three concepts can be summed up as the holding pillars of modern business. The paper has outlined a vivid opinion on the three concepts of organizational psychology, and the writer contends that three concepts are useful and should be embraced by any modern organization.
References
Wink, M. (2009). Towards A Better Understanding of Diversity. Diversity 1.1, 1-4.
