Embracing Diversity
Organization
Top Inc is a global company involved in the production of beverages. It manufactures, markets, and sells soft drinks in the global market. It is headquartered in California. The Company was established in 1992, and it is operating in different counties.
Problem Identification
The emergence of new business trends of globalization and increased ethnic and gender diversity has made most organizations embrace diversity. In Top Inc. diversity is not well managed and this has caused several conflicts in the organization. Employees are resistant to changes being implemented. In addition, there are communication problems. These problems have increased conflicts and employees’ productivity has decreased. In addition, lack of diversity is the cause of many lawsuits the firm is facing, and this is negatively impacting on the performance of the company.
Diversity in the workplace encompasses difference in race, gender, colour and cultures. For an organization to be effective, nowadays, it must embrace diversity. Embracing diversity is becoming a challenge especially when it is not well managed. The top management must understand the challenges of diversity and deal with them effectively to enjoy the advantages. The lack of understanding and to some extent ignorance by management has led to problems the organization is currently facing.
The Company has faced several lawsuits most complainants are women. Women have been left out in the management of the company. They feel that they are not well represented in the organization. Some of them have continually failed to get a promotion. In addition, the Company has been accused of being dominated by White People and Black people are discriminated in the organization on the basis of payments and promotions.
Recently, the Company put up a program to embrace diversity. The program has caused more problems than solutions to organizations. It was poorly managed, and it has lead to increase in conflicts among the employees and top management. The employees were not involved hence resisted to changes being made.
The Company has a new objective which is to be a market leader and an employer of choice. To achieve this, it must have a healthy understanding of diversity, and how to deal with it properly. As a result, the company will enjoy the benefits of diversity, and deal with challenges early enough.
Analysis
Organizational level Analysis
The situational approach as a management concept defines the need to adapt different methods of management when faced with different situations. As earlier stated, globalization has increased the need for diversity. The organization employs people from diverse backgrounds hence the need to embrace diversity. The management must adopt different strategies to accommodate these changes. Therefore, the main variables affecting the organization are; environment, employee composition, and strategies. The changes caused by these variables are unavoidable, but they can be managed.
Environment
There have been major changes in the market due to globalization. A customer analysis carried out by the organization showed customers prefer purchasing products of a diverse organization. System approach describes an organization as a system that interacts with the environment. Therefore, the organization must adapt to these environmental changes to gain a competitive edge in the market.
Employee Composition
The company has opened up other branches in four different countries. In addition, it has employed employees from diverse backgrounds hence needs to embrace diversity. To ensure that these changes impact positively on the performance of the company the management must ensure that the employees are culturally competent.
Strategies
System approach describes the interrelatedness of all parts of a company. A change in one part of the organization affects other parts. To attain equilibrium where all parts of the organization are in a good state the company must adapt to its changing environment. The top management must establish strategies to be used to ensure that employees are culturally competent, and the company is diverse.
Management Level Analysis
Diversity can benefit an organization but if not well managed it becomes a challenge. Therefore, management plays a major role in this process. According to Henry Mintzberg, management achieves the goals of an organization by identifying goals, motivating employees, closely monitoring performance and outcomes. A manager should play three major roles interpersonal, decisional and informational roles.
At Top Inc, management has frustrated the process of embracing diversity by failing to play its role. The management has failed to communicate with employees on the changes being effected. Management is not handling conflicts at workplace appropriately. It has failed to solve the problems internally, and this has forced employees to seek justice in court. Most of these problems can be attributed to the bureaucratic style of management adopted by the manager. Authority is centred on top, and employees are left out in the decision making process. Max Weber argued for the bureau critic style of management because it establishes a clear chain of command. However, at Top Inc, this style has established an impersonal relationship between management and employees. Employees resist changes made by management because they are not involved from the beginning. The employees should be involved in decision making since they bring in new and better ideas. In addition, employees accept change when they are involved in the process.
Employees Level Analysis
Mcgregor’s humanistic model explains the relationship between an organization and individuals. Organizations and people need each in order to survive. When there is a gap between the organizations and individual both parties will suffer. At Top Inc there have been several conflicts between the employees and management. The organization's failure to embrace diversity has escalated conflicts at work place. The company needs to embrace diversity to ensure that there is a good fit between the needs of the organization and employees.
Some of the employees are discriminated against on the basis of race and gender. Women have been left out in the top management. The company has been accused of being dominated by white people, and black people are discriminated in the organization on the basis of payment and promotions. This is affecting the motivation of employees. The equity theory by Adams suggests that inequity in the workplace reduces the productivity of employees. The workers are not motivated to work hard, and this has affected the performance of the company.
The Hawthorne experiment concluded that employee recognition and security greatly affect the productivity of the workers. Failure to embrace diversity makes some of the employees lack a sense of belonging. Some of the employees are discriminated against on the basis of gender and race. The employees feel undervalued hence de-motivated. This has led to absenteeism reducing the productivity of the employees. In addition, the company has lost most of its valuable employees.
Options
Train Managers
Managers will determine how well the company embraces diversity. Managers should be trained to ensure that the company has successfully become more diverse. Managers should be taught on the implications of discrimination and unfair treatment in the work force. They should also train them soon how to interact with employees in a diverse workplace. The interactions of managers with employees can have great consequences for the organizations.
There is a need to ensure that the top management totally understands diversification to ensure that it is well implemented and managed. Managers must understand the challenges faced by the organization as a result of diversification to ensure that they come up with relevant strategies to overcome such problems. The neoclassical theory maintains that manager’s work is to maintain equilibrium at that workplace. Managers should be able to influence the employees. Training the managers will ensure that managers set a good example to the employees and influence their behaviour.
Promote awareness of Diversity
The current employees must be made aware of the changes the company intends to make. The company should provide information on diversity. It should create a website where employees can access such information. It can also hold forums and conferences to educate the employees on the concept of diversity.
The company should assure the employees that the change being implemented will not affect jobs. The employees will support the process and will not resist the change. Employees should also be allowed to contribute to the process. Involving the employees will bring in new ideas to the process. In addition, the employees will support the changes making the process very smooth.
Recruiting for Diversity
The company should employ employees from different backgrounds. It should create a diverse recruiting panel to send a message that it is employing people from different cultures. It should also consider employees who have worked in a diverse environment since their contribution may help the company in its management of diversity. The recruited employees should be qualified and fit for the job. Employing employees from different backgrounds will make the workplace comfortable for all. To attract diverse talents, the company should participate in diversity recruiting events such as conferences. The recruitment personnel should be trained.
Recruiting diverse talent can only become a solution to the problem if the company puts strategies to maintain the diverse talent. The Company must identify the motivations, attitudes and lifestyle of different employees. To retain the employees, the company should ensure that the employees are motivated. Neoclassical theory suggests that to increase productivity a company must motivate employees by recognizing performance and maintaining personal relationships within the organization .It can come up with various ways of rewarding hard work. It should ensure that the workplace is safe and considers different cultures. For instance, it can build a parking space near the entrance for the disabled people. Therefore, motivating the employees will retain the valuable employees and increase productivity.
Ensuring Employees are Cultural Competent
The organization is not culturally competent. To ensure that the employees from different cultures work together, they must become culturally competent. The company should develop a support for change throughout the organization. It should involve the employees in the process of change to ensure that all the employees support the change to avoid resistance. The company should assess the current problem and form a committee which is diverse to ensure that all people are represented in the decisions made. The committee should assess the current level of cultural competence and come up with various ways of improving It. The Company should embark on training the employees on how to become culturally competent. According to Taylors Scientific management approach the only way to realize the capabilities of the employees is through training. The company should select employees on some analysis and train accordingly in order to achieve a culturally competent workforce. The importance of cultural awareness and competence should be made clear to all employees. In addition, employees should be trained on how to interact with people from different backgrounds.
Training alone cannot change the behaviour of an employee. The company must change the organizational structure and operating procedures to change behaviour of an employee. It should create a system that ensures equity for all groups. It should find ways of involving all the employees in the company’s activities. During meetings employees from different groups should be given equal and adequate time to air their views.
Communication
Communication is a tool that can be used by the organization to embrace diversity successfully. To ensure that there is understating and acceptance, the employees should be allowed to speak out their minds and talk about the challenges they are facing. In such an atmosphere, the employees understand the views of others, and they learn to respect other people culture. The company can encourage teamwork to give employees a platform to interact. Through team work employees are likely to understand other people’s culture and know how to communicate with them.
Provide Equal Opportunities
The employees should be treated equally. One way of motivating employees is through promotions. If the employees feel that they are discriminated against on the basis of promotion this affect their motivational levels, and later productivity reduces. The company should revise its promotion policies to ensure that all people have equal chances of getting promoted. Promotion should be on the basis of performance. Women and African Americans should be represented in the top management.
The Company should also ensure that the African Americans are not discriminated. It should ensure that people are promoted on the basis of their performance. There should be transparency in the promotion procedures.
Recommendations
Top Inc. should come up with a plan to ensure that it achieves the following objectives:
- Promote awareness of diversity at the workplace
- Establish a highly skilled and diverse workforce where all employees are treated equally and valued.
- Develop a workplace culture which allows employees and members to balance their work and personal life
- Ensure that the workplace is free of discrimination and harassments.
- Adopt diversity in the recruitment and selection process
The plan should be implemented in four years. It will be started by diversity committee which will work closely with the human resource department.
Plan of Action
Top Inc. intends to embrace diversity in the next four years. It should have a culturally competent workforce. Embracing diversity is a skill hence people can learn. Training the employees will go a long way in achieving the set objective. Managers will be trained first to ensure that they manage the situation properly. The process of embracing diversity is not a one day event, hence all the members of the organization should be ready to participate fully in this process. To avoid challenges associated with diversity the company should have open lines of communications. Employees should be allowed to air their views to avoid conflicts as a result of misunderstanding.
Conclusion
Embracing diversity is crucial to every organization in the world today. Diversity has given companies a competitive edge because consumers prefer buying products from diverse organizations. In addition, employees from different background bring in new and better ideas to the company. Employees also feel important, and have a sense of belonging hence productivity will increase. Therefore, embracing diversity will enhance the workforce of the company.
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