Hrm/531 Week 7

Diversity is vital in today's workplace. Having a diverse workforce opens up a wealth of possibilities and helps to encourage creativity and innovation.

Diversity in the organization can affect the employees and their behavior in many ways. The effect can be positive and negative in the same time. The positive effect is, it will wider employee knowledge, skills, and attitude which will allow the organization to become more competitive globally. Higher diversity of employees mean higher diversity of knowledge, skills and abilities. Sharing experience inspires innovative thinking (Claudia Quaiser-Pohls, 2013, p. 41). Today in the modern workplace, most organizations will have

“Diversity may be the hardest thing for a society to live with and perhaps the most dangerous thing for a society to be without” _William Sloane Coffin Jr_ Over the last decade there has been massive rise in level of workplace diversity within all the organizations. As a result of it majority companies achieved higher performance and according to all the researchers, it shows heterogeneous groups are more inventive than homogenous groups. It is not only about those heterogeneous people bring various type of figures their different type of thinking benefit organizations to bring out their best outcomes throughout the process

Diversity in the workplace has always been an interesting topic to explore. When studying the topic, one is able to see how minorities and women do not get the same job opportunities at career growth as non-minorities. The lack of diversity in the workplace can definitely keep a company from reaching its full potential. Our guest speaker Patrick McKay explored different topics dealing with diversity in the workplace that shed light on why trying to diversify the workplace occasionally fails. McKay also mentioned how it is important to be mindful of the location you choose to live when beginning your career. In the article Doing Diversity Right, Derek R. Avery and Patrick F. McKay explain how “managing diversity” in the workplace is vital in today’s workplace. Over the years there has been a greater emphasis put on insuring diversity within the workplace. McKay and Avery explain the importance of creating a diverse environment in which companies promote. It is not enough to solely recruit minorities or women but also the environment of the workplace must allow the individuals to thrive. In the article Warning! Diversity recruitment could Backfire, Patrick McKay and Derek Avery explain how companies should implement diversity into their company programs. Having a company culture that embraces diversity is the key to successfully diversifying a company.

Organizations must stop visualizing diversity as an issue and start seeing it as a benefit for the organization. There are several reasons why a diverse workforce will add value to a company. Most businesses, either large or small, work on a global scale; the information age has brought the entire world a lot closer. Having associates that can deal with different cultures around the world is crucial to an expanding business. A diverse workforce will help to build more rounded individuals with experience they will gain from a mixed environment. Customers will benefit from the diverse workforce because a company that makes a choice to be open and flexible with its associates will more than likely be easy to work with in a business relationship. Probably the most important aspect of having a diverse workforce is the vast knowledge gained by pooling the different life lessons, cultures and experience together thereby allowing everyone the chance to learn new and different business practices (Sappal, Pepi, 2002).

The purpose of the diversity audit project is to teach students how to analyze and measure diversity efforts of potential employers and as potential customers. In this globalizing world these skills are more important than ever. Many companies are making changes to diversify their employees and their customer base; this project is focused on investigating one company’s efforts. After this project students can expect to have gained a deeper knowledge of how to measure a company’s level of diversity and analyze its effects on both employees and customers.

The concept of diversity has broadened in scope in the recent past, evolving from the concept of mandated quotas and affirmative action, to the reality of a diverse workforce being capable of providing quantifiable business value. A variety of external factors have influenced the conceptual evolution of diversity within the workplace. For example, globalization of markets has provided the concept of diversity with an opportunity to demonstrate a clear competitive advantage. A native understanding of the cultural values, norms and business practices of a foreign market can give an organization a clear advantage over their competition. Another area where diversity offers advantages is in the

1.3 Diversity means that someone is different from the majority; for example, a different religion or nationality to where they live etc. There are many benefits to having a diverse workforce for an organisation. The biggest benefit is the creativity this brings in when making decisions or finding solutions to issues. Different cultures can give you a completely different insight in decision making. Also, with diversity you will get a completely different way of working which can inspire a team’s productivity.

In order for a team to be successful, it needs to have people with cognitive diversity. This is what will make the teams move forward to the final goal. Diversity is highly positive for a team since every member will bring new ideas and different point of view but with the final purpose of finished one common goal. As Jamie has mentioned, every member would excel in different areas,so here is when diversity can be best used within a team.

In the past, diversity was used as a tool or byproduct of being a good citizen, but that ship has sailed. In fact, the days of simply having a diversity statement, but not putting any real effort behind it has caused organizations to lose business (Rezvani, 2015). Truly, there are benefits to creating a diverse workforce, such as: variety of talent, variety of languages, and an expanded market (Brookins, 2016).

Having a diverse workforce in an organization can be beneficial in training and skill development. Diversity within the workforce creates opportunities for the workforce to learn from each other.

Today's workplace is more diverse than it has ever been in history. While the workforce has made strides in the direction of equality, it is still far from attaining total equality in the workplace. A company must value diversity. The main objectives of valuing diversity include awareness, education, and positive recognition of the differences among people in the workforce. Organizations are increasingly emphasizing group work or teamwork as a source of competitive advantage in a diverse workforce. It has been suggested that such organizations must target their recruitment efforts at applicants who are both diverse and amenable to working in teams ( Rau, Hyland 2003).

It creates a level of respect and promotes communication. A diverse organization encourages the breaking down of barriers, promotes communication, effective business solutions and customer relations. Diversity can be a competitive differentiator, in both employment and customer markets. A diverse organization can foster innovation and creativity in a comfortable and safe environment.

Diversity is something that helps companies grow. Diversity in a workforce or work environment involves human qualities that are different from our own and outside the groups to which we belong. Therefore, it is important to understand how diversity affects performance, motivation, success and interactions with others. Diversity allows companies to remain competitive and provides many benefits to a company out of financial situations. Therefore, if we as individuals put our

This involves competitive advantage over other organisations along with prospects and development of employees for retention purposes. Diversity initiatives retain a competitive advantage by improving employee confidence, decreasing interpersonal conflict, facilitating development in new markets and increasing creativity. It also includes the understanding of the marketplace in terms of the changing needs of consumers. Building workplace diversity will also result in the improved extent of understanding in leadership positions that encompasses a variety of skills. Better quality of team problem solving to bring in different perspectives resulting in creativity of ideas and solutions and lastly reduction of costs induce lower turnover, absenteeism and lawsuits (Daft, Kendrick, & Vershinina, 2010).