Workforce Diversity Essay Example for Free

Workforce Diversity EssayAn organisation is said to be a affectionate arrangement for achieving controlled performance in pursuit of collective goals (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010, S tear downth Edition). The social arrangement referred to the group of volume who interacted with each separate as a result of their membership in the organisation whilst collective goals meant that the members divided up the same goals and objectives. These concepts, especially collective goals, were the major arguments advocated by classical management theorists to explain the nature of stinting and social life within the organisation. For example, Weber (1964) stressed the importance of grounds and im dis authority, and argued that, managers and employees be arrive atd and interacted in a shelter and rational way. Henri Fayol (1916) also advocated for the subordination of personal interests and preferences because ignorance, ambition, selfishness and all other human passions tend to cause the worldwide interest to be lost sight ofHowever, as a result of modern growth and refinement of businesses in a globalized economy, corporations became more complex, providing manager with the problem of controlling and organising economic activities. It also resulted in the re-examination of victimisation classical management theories in explaining the new social arrangement, as classic writers focused on rationality and impersonality as it improved organisational efficiency and tended to neglect what McGregor (1960) described as the human side of the enterprise. In other words, in that location was need to examine the social interaction amongst members of the organisation, as well as recognize that there were differences that existed that prevented a homogeneous men. It was these differences that be part of the workforce mixed bag concept.Workforce diversity, then, is the concept of accepting that the workforce consists of a divers(a) population of people. The diversity co nsists of visible and non-visible differences which will include factors such as gender, age, background, race, personality and work style. It is founded on the premise that harnessing these differences will create a productive environment in which everybody feels valued, and where their talents are being fully utilised (Fullerton and Kandola, 1994). In other words, workforce diversity concept accepts that there are fundamental differences in the organisations social arrangement and theses differences play a signifi plentyt role in achieving organisational objectives, at is has both benefits and implications which arse affect the company.Ignoring the importance of workforce diversity can cost the organisation time, coin and efficiency. It can lead, for example, to an inability of the organisation to overstretch and retain talented people of all kinds. For example, Ron Ruggles (2004) argued that in the restaurant industry, it would be difficult to fully staff restaurants, retain management and staff at competitive leading levels, as well as broaden our understanding of and appeal to our diverse customer base without diversity. We can see then, ignoring workforce diversity can lead to high employee turnover, which in itself would mean a evil in investment in recruitment and training. It would also lead to a limited customer base, and then reducing the potential profit to be earned by the organisation, and can cause the company that is non diverse to be viewed negatively by the public and customers, resulting in a further loss of good will and reputation.Ignoring workforce diversity can also lead to legal complaints and action, as the company may be perceived as discriminatory. For example, Clive Seligman (2003) highlighted the case of Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, which advertised a female only faculty position in Development Psychology, with Professor Angelo Santi, chair of the department , admitting that they would not consider a mal e for the position, even if he were to be better qualified. This practice could be seen as unfair and discriminatory and may have resulted in controversy and bad reputation for the University. This could also happen to an organisation if they were to utilize such practices. despite this, workforce diversity also has benefits if managed properly, which would be of significant interest to the organisation. One benefit of managing workforce diversity is that it allows for better use of societys stock of human resources, and thus allows the organisation to access the range of skills, expertise and talents available. As Elaine Keight, manager of car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover said, We are focusing on commit in our work environment to ensure that there are no barriers to anyone joining the company. We want to attract the best talent available, not just graduates, but from all section of the community. (Broughton and Strebler, 2008). This would be important to an organisation, as it s hould ideally pursue a workforce giveing distinguishable skills and backgrounds, and not just from a narrow come home section of society.Workforce diversity may also be significant to the firm in that it can improve levels of social understanding which may lead to new target markets. As Lynn Sullivan (1998) stated, Having a diverse workforce will result in having the capacity to develop more creative ideas and solve problems. by and by all, people of different backgrounds bring a wide range of experience and more ways of feel at an issue. Chris Pierce et al (2004) concurred, stated that recruiting and retaining people of diverse backgrounds who can share a viridity business approach is a priority Diversity in gender, age and race is correlated with superordinate word business performance in worker productivity, gross revenue, market share and shareholder value. This means that members of a diverse workforce will be able to give different insights on particular problems and iss ues, for example, how different products and services may be viewed by different groups, either positively or negatively, which can be a useful tool for the organisation to gauge how successful the product might be.The challenge of workforce diversity, therefore, lies in the continuous improvement of integration and social acceptance of people from different backgrounds. People possess different human characteristics which influences the way they think, act interact and make choices. It is these differences which offer challenges to building trust and allegiance and affect the ability to effectively function together. (Kelly, 2001). To address this challenge, management can promote diversity, by diverse methods, such as mentoring diverse employees empowering employees to challenge discriminatory behavioural acts and perceptions, as well as submit training for increasing the accuracy of perceptions, and create an appreciation for diverse skills. By doing this management can neutr alise future problems as well as deal with current issues that may occur in the organisation, thereby improving and strengthening organisational performance.We have, therefore, evaluated the significance of workforce diversity as it relates to the modern organisation, by analyzing the benefits and challenges of workforce diversity, as well as the consequences and adverse repercussions the organisation may encounter if it were to ignore workforce diversity issues.