A Literature Review
Introduction
Diversity in workplaces has become a point of concern in organizations due to the increase in immigrant employees. Considering that these employees contribute significantly with skills and affordable labor, company`s continue to employ to serve in different posts. Dealing with diversity requires a training manual, which enables a CEO to implement a diversity policy in order to accommodate different employees (Thiederman, 2008). Aspects of diversity do not only arise due to nationality, other factors such as religion and age contribute to diversity within company`s. This paper will present a training guide for managers and organizations at large to deal with diversity within the workplaces. The paper also highlights current statistics and recent trends among the employed population in America. The paper will also indicate the forecasted trends as well as a classification of the employed individuals based on religion, race, and age. In diversity, the report will only focus on internal diversity among workers rather than diversity between workers and the organizations external environment.
Thesis: The number of immigrants who seek employment has increased significantly since 2005 and forecasts indicate that the trend will continue through to 2050, it is significant for managers and organizations to establish a mechanism and tradition for training and dealing with diversity within the workplace.
Main Body Points:
- Diversity in the workplace due to race arises due the increase in the number of immigrants who study in America and find jobs after graduating. In addition, individuals who study in other countries and those who win green cards also find jobs in America and this increases the number of immigrants who work in the US (Naseer, 2011).
- Age also causes diversity within the workplace. The diversity from age also involves the differences in levels of experience. In addition, this diversity indicates a company`s future (Naseer, 2011). With a higher number of young workers, the company has a brighter future than that with elderly workers.
- Diversity also arises due to the religion and culture practiced by the employees (Naseer, 2011). Religion affects an employee’s work ethic and beliefs regarding hard work.
Introduction
CEO`s need to comprehend that diversity within their workplaces exists in different dimensions. When handled poorly by the management, diversity may lead to conflict within the workplace. Therefore, for a manager to prevent conflict prior to their occurrence, they must understand their employees in terms of their differences (Thiederman, 2008). Classifying these differences between the employees enables a manager to learn the specific needs of each group and to consider these needs while designing and implementing different organizational policies.
Race, age, and religion present significant classification categories, which enable a manager to understand the diversity of the employees. While managing issues regarding race, the organization should provide fair opportunities for individuals from all races based on the racial distribution in America (Thiederman, 2008). The staffing process should consider employing workers from different races. Considering age, managers should target to employ individuals of different ages because it provides an organization with a combination of experienced individuals and quick learners. Religion serves as a guide for many individuals, therefore understanding and managing religion diversity enables an organization to acquire workers who hold strong work ethics. Embracing the diversity enables organizations to cater for individual needs of their employees.
Current statistics
Forecasted trends
As of 2050, the population will be at 438 million individuals. The forecast indicates that the number of foreigners born in US will be 19% from 12% in 2005 (Passel, & Cohn, 2008). In the racial distribution, the whites will represent 47% of the entire population while the Hispanic and blacks will represent 29% and 13% respectively. The Asian population in America will rise to 9%.
Trends in US
The statistics regarding the religion in US indicate that 78.4% practice Christianity. Among the Christians, 51.3% attend protestant churches while 23.9% attend catholic churches. Other Christian denominations include Mormons with 1.7% attendances, Jehovah’s Witness with 0.7% and the Orthodox with 0.6 % attendances. While other Christian denominations represent 0.3% of the larger Christian fraternity (Pew Research Center, 2014). The unaffiliated members represent 16.1%, which includes 1.6% atheist representation, 2.4 Agnostic affiliates and 12.1% with no affiliation whatsoever. The Muslims account for 0.6% of the population, while Jewish, Buddhists, and Hindu account for 1.7, 0.7, and 0.4 respectively.
As of 2005 out of 296 million individuals, 12% represent foreigners born in America. As for the racial distribution, 67% of the population are white while the Hispanics represent 14%. The Blacks and Asians represent 13% and 5% respectively (PASSEL, & COHN, 2008).
In terms of age, 25% represented individuals who were less than 18 years of age (Pierce, 2014). The larger representation falls under the working age of 18-64 who represent 63% while the elderly represent 12% of the entire population.
Conclusion
CEO`s need a stable approach towards managing diversity in the workplace. Other than age, religion, and race, diversity may occur in terms of opinion and affiliations. A diversity manual guides the management towards formulating policies, which accommodate all employees regardless of their ideologies and ethnicity.
References
Naseer, S. (2011, March 31). workforce diversity. workforce diversity. Retrieved July 6, 2014, from http://www.slideshare.net/kumudu737sjp/workforce-diversity
Pew Research Center. (2014, April 5). Summary of Key Findings. Statistics on Religion in America Report. Retrieved July 5, 2014, from http://religions.pewforum.org/reports
Pierce, R. (2014, January 1). Dealing with a Changing Workforce: Supervision in the 21st Century. Business Expert Webinars. Retrieved July 5, 2014, from http://www.businessexpertwebinars.com/content/view/593/29/
PASSEL, J. S., & COHN, D. (2008, February 11). U.S. Population Projections: 2005-2050. Pew Research Centers Hispanic Trends Project RSS. Retrieved July 5, 2014, from http://www.pewhispanic.org/2008/02/11/us-population-projections-2005-2050/
Thiederman, S. B. (2008). Making diversity work: 7 steps for defeating bias in the workplace (2nd ed.). Chicago: Dearborn.
