Abstract
The concept of diversity is the recognition of the fact that the organization labor is composed of people, who differ from each other. The diversity is formed by the observable and unobservable differences, including differences based on gender, age, education, race, presence of disability, personality and work style. Orientation to the realization of the potential value of these differences should lead to the creation of an environment, in which every individual feels valued and appreciated his talents fully open, allowing the organization to achieve its goals. The paper considers that the system of using personnel in the organization should be such that workers can make the greatest impact on the workplace. Several approaches to organize productive performance by the diverse workforce were suggested. Diverse workforce provide with many advantages, which were also examined.
Introduction
Search for a suitable configuration of the workplace and the choice of where to work is a lot like finding a partner and date, namely Internet substantially complicated them. In short, it created a lot more criteria that must be followed. If once upon a time a traditional office was by default the most effective means of communication and cooperation between the management and employees of the company, in today’s business environment exactly the same level of performance can be achieved by using web-based technologies, which require only a $10 account and Google.
Modern production is rather complicated process. It brings together people, cars, environment and more. And every year the relationships between the participants in this process are compounded, new working conditions appear, processes, machines and equipment improve. In today’s globalization and the universal shortage of qualified personnel in all ways companies are trying to attract and retain human resources, diverse demographically and ideologically.
Ways to Create a Non Discriminative and Productive Workplace
Personnel policy of modern multinational companies should be based not only on respect to the individual, regardless of social background, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, religion, etc., but also on the promotion of cultural diversity among staff, where each person has his work experience and puts own goals for the future. With an increasing number of corporations diversity management is becoming increasingly important.
The desire to respect and enhance cultural diversity in the company is motivated not only by ethical, but also purely rational considerations, direct calculation of success. It comes to those companies which understand that the challenges of rivals on dynamic global markets required constant innovation and creativity, organizational flexibility and adaptive capacity, it is best to resist combining the experience and expertise of members of the multinational team. The system of using personnel in the organization should be such that workers can make the greatest impact on the workplace.
Recent studies show that gender inequality in the labor market is an obstacle to the improved performance. Increasingly, geography affects the attitude to personnel diversity. Companies are realizing that they cannot use their programs to develop human diversity of the United States directly in South Africa or the Middle East, but should focus on specific gender, ethnic and cultural characteristics of each country and region. The aforementioned problem in these markets requires the creation of new strategies aimed at developing human diversity, opening up new employment opportunities for a more active involvement of employees in new markets.
For well-being the good workspace is at times more important than regular exercise. Creating a diverse talent pool and the involvement of employees in the work require a special, carefully thought-out program of market-oriented. This requires the necessary investment and a set of programs that prepare leaders who can create the right mechanisms to support these processes ensuring their effectiveness. Effective personnel selection, promotion and training, along with the relevant programs to encourage help develop leadership skills, responsible for the involvement of their subordinates in the workflow. In order to create productive workplace it is necessary to (Buttner and Lowe et al., 2006):
- Relocate unnecessary things. One of the best ways to create a workplace is to clean the office.
- Use of natural light. Additional lighting in the workspace can greatly improve the performance of work at home.
- Find the wave. It is proved that the music while working helps to increase dopamine levels.
- Add more life to the home office. The presence of plants in the working area is obligatory. Not only plants make a home office more welcoming, they also clean the air people breathe, and make you feel happy.
- Update colors. If the walls are gray, try adding colorful curtains, photos or pictures that inspire and keep focused.
- Be organized. There are endless DIY hacks to help organize. An endless amount of information on the Internet for inspiration can be viewed.
- Make the space comfortable.
- Change the place of concentration from time to time.
Also it is necessary to suggest benefits, for example, childcare subsidies, onsite daycare and expandable timetables, and let new employees know that people are enthusiastic to hold cultural and spiritual anniversaries and diversity-friendly (as well as office suitable) apparel options. If the company doesn’t sustain recognizable cultural donations like national restaurants, forte markets or global shows, the company can work with the national chamber of commerce to drive for extra diversity and meet those requirements (The Wall Street Journal, n. d.).
As part of the development of a diverse culture, along with the creation of partnerships conditions of communication critical thinking, reflective attitude toward cultural diversity is very important. Relevant work must proceed in three stages. At first it is important to consciously approach the privileged and marginalized voices in discussions. On the second it is required to understand the role of the principal provisions of different cultures, on which specific patterns of thought and behavior are based. In the third stage, based on understanding of each culture representations of reality it is necessary to agree on the general guidelines of intercultural cooperation. For example, Apple stresses that in matters of social and cultural diversity, it goes beyond the traditional categories such as race, gender and nationality and considers features that are usually not measured, for example, veteran status of hostilities, sexual orientation and disability.
Since the problems of cultural differences are closely linked with the regulatory and ethical issues, it seems reasonable to combine these guidelines with the general code of ethics of the company. Such a code is provided in compliance with economic rules that are specific to the enterprise fixed moral principles documented. This allows its employees and external interest groups to understand the complexities of organizational priorities.
Advantages of Diverse Workforce
First of all, it creates employer brand. Diverse workforce gives the company an opportunity to be more interesting, so citizens can wait for learning more from staff and better talents can be attracted from various world locations. Supporting diversified workforce, the company receives a better option of attracting special types of people, who wouldn’t usually request jobs at the company. Secondly, diverse workforce improves originality. It is worth to mention that gathering different people from a range of backgrounds together, the company finish up receiving enhanced resolutions to business issues. One of the most important advantages of having diverse workforce is that it promotes individual growth, since it can facilitate the staff become skilled at new ideas, standpoints and connects mentally and individually to dissimilar people. Staff, mainly younger, is motivated to use its corporate expertise to study and grow its careers. Diverse workforce makes the staff think more separately. If the company has alike people, complex problems will be solved very hard (Schawbel, 2012).
The significance of sustaining a diverse workplace is that it helps an organization to compete internationally, over and above there are strategies, which can confirm a company’s ability to effectively be in touch with a diverse personnel. Such strategies consider elaborating a mentoring plan that provides workers with methods of conflicts’ resolution that arise from diverse perspectives and using staff variety comment examinations. There is a need to compile a new catalog of criteria that must be tailored to the partnership climate and thus used. On this basis, the new tools should be adapted and old tools of personnel selection and recognition of human resources should be designed. To create the conditions for stable work in the diverse workforce transformational event in the systems of staff development, professional development, career planning, family development and health are required.
Diversity Concepts
Diversity management is aimed at realizing the potential of all employees to a single, including white men – the middle class. The focus of diversity management is on individuals, not groups. This implies that a number of measures related to the concept of equal opportunities and targeting groups should be revised. This primarily refers to the “affirmative action” and “quotas”. It has been a lot of discussion about the effectiveness of affirmative action, or, as they are called, supporting action. There are special measures in view of the organization is to eliminate disparities in women staff, representatives of national minorities and the disabled. An example is the provision of special learning opportunities for women and minorities.
Defenders of affirmative action claim that these measures can help those groups who, for objective reasons, are behind in development (“equalize starting conditions” or “level the playing field”). However, if the management of diversity really aims to create an environment, in which every individual feels valued and has the opportunity to show their talent, all actions should be aimed at creating for each individual, and not only for members of certain groups, equal opportunities to meet their needs of development.
The traditional approach to affirmative action means that some people benefit because of their group membership at the expense of others, which may include people, not less, if not more, in need of training. Another form of electoral support for minority is the setting quotas for representation of women and ethnic minorities. Quotas also cause the same objections as affirmative action. The fact that in the past some groups have been victims of discrimination and prejudice is undeniable. However, the attempt to eliminate the consequences of injustice providing benefits at group characteristics (gender or skin color) inevitably leads to the fact that the members of these groups are given special attention. It seems that the main aim is not the triumph of justice and the principle of equal opportunities and the pursuit of excellence.
Therefore, diversity management provides a real chance for revision, where necessary, reviewing all that has been done in the name of equal opportunity. This work to be successful, it is required to clearly understand what the concept of diversity management is and how it differs from the concept of equal opportunities.
Conclusion
The increasing diversity of the staff in organizations is the resultant of several trends. Thus, the number of male students of American business schools is at the same level since the mid-1970s and the increase in the number of students takes place exclusively at the expense of women. Today, the proportion of women among holders of bachelor’s degrees in all business function is more than 45%. Demographic studies indicate that in 21st century 85% of babies will be born in families of African Americans and immigrants from Asia and Latin America, and their parents make up 30% of the US workforce. The diversity of the workforce is not so much a question of public relations as a strategic issue for attracting capable, qualified workers that is one of the main competitive advantages of any organization. Those who come from different ethnic and cultural groups have certain styles of thinking and behavior, problem solving and interaction, and the organization must learn the science of positive perception of diversity and its use at all, up to the highest, levels. In particular, some studies suggest that women preferred management style is very different from male, and for the better. Managers somehow have to learn how to motivate and direct the actions of the best representatives of different communities.
In a global market the advantage of diversity of labor becomes significant, because skilled workers, who also speak the language and understand the culture of foreign partners, customers and competitors, are good competitive advantage. According to some estimates the production of industrialized countries by about 40% consists of imported components. In the US and Canada, foreign companies enjoy considerable influence, since they create thousands of jobs for the “natives”. Some experts believe that globalization is a giant-scale challenge to American managers, since the US is losing its leading position in the global market for many important product categories.
References
Buttner, E. Holly and Lowe, Kevin B. et al. (2006). The Influence of Organizational Diversity Orientation and Leader Attitude on Diversity Activities, Journal of Managerial Issues, 18(3).
Schawbel, D. (2012). Why Diversity Matters in the Workplace. Retrieved November 8, 2012, from https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/why-diversity-matters-in-the-workplace/
The Wall Street Journal (n. d.). How to Increase Workplace Diversity. Retrieved from http://guides.wsj.com/management/building-a-workplace-culture/how-to-increase-workplace-diversity/
