Persuasive Essay: Diversity and Inclusion in Business Administration

Diversity and Inclusion in Business Administration
Ricky Portier
Southern New Hampshire University
ENG-123
October 3, 2021
Diversity and Inclusion in Business Administration
Introduction
The modern business environment is characterized by increased globalization as countries strive to enter into new markets and take advantage of the growth in information technology. As more and more companies venture into new markets and as technology opens new windows for executing business operations, organizations are increasingly finding themselves with the challenge of handling cultural diversity and multilingualism within the same company or client environment. Research in the concept of globalization and its effects on leadership has indicated numerous benefits for globalization. Almost all research studies indicate that an inclusive culture in the workplace helps an organization reap the full benefits of a new market and helps in improving the internal environment. By embracing cultural inclusivity and diversity, business administrators or leaders motivate employees and, by extension, increase productivity. For an organization to fully appreciate this benefit, the management must recognize that the global market is marked with individual differences in terms of culture and language.
Business managers need to understand that incorporating diversity does not entail developing a new program. On the contrary, diversity is integrated with existing programs/processes that are already at play. Garg and Sangwan (2021) argue that when well-integrated in business processes, variety acts as a lens for evaluating, identifying, developing, and enhancing talent. Diversity is key to talent management, which is a systematic process of attracting, identifying, developingt, assigning, preserving, and placement of employees having value in a company to perform critical roles. In this case, these organizations do not have one individual recruiter but multiple recruiters who are aware of the cultural differences among the populations they are recruiting from. Organizations need to know the importance of accountability in their operations, which is reflected in their manager’s ability to develop an inclusive and diverse work environment. Top managers may advocate for diversity and inclusivity. Still, the middle-level managers run the operations and create a work experience for the employees that should take accountability when it comes to creating diversity.
Diversity can cut along with many dimensions but what matters most is the ability of an organization to identify appropriate dimensions, gauge them, and include them in the parameters of evaluating managers. As aforementioned, creating diversity is not about developing new measures but rather using the set strategies in evaluating existing measures. Effectiveness of diversity programs in an organization can be gauged through internal staff surveys, employee turnover and retention, and workforce composition (Ali et al., 2015). Moreover, given the pace of globalization, diversity should also be used as a lens through which the organization sees its customers and other community stakeholders. According to Liu, Bergman, and Hernandez (2020), cosmetic diversity involves the perceived need by an organization to create internal diversity to meet the needs of a diverse external environment. A diverse external environment requires a manager who is equally diverse to manage. For example, it has been a trend for many organizations to hire an African-American manager to head operations in a market dominated by African-Americans. The problem with this kind of approach, however, is that it tends to pigeonhole people to work in a particular department.
In addressing the problem of curtailing people and skills through pigeonholing, an organization needs to embrace diversity and reflect the needs of a diverse market. This implies engaging the workforce to learn about cultural differences from their colleagues and customers. However, being homogenous internally does not necessarily mean the organization will implement diversity effectively (Garg & Sangwan, 2021). In this context, effective implementation of diversity entails increasing cultural competence among employees instead of using internal diversity to claim legitimacy with the clientele base. This calls for significant efforts on the part of the management.
When the management is leading a cultural change initiative in a given organization, it does not entirely entail changing employees’ attitudes. On the contrary, this requires personal change and self-reflection on individual managers. Managers need first to identify and comprehend their individual feelings and biases about diverse populations to have a clear picture of what to expect from employees (Fires & Sharperson, 2017). This contemplation is also important in self-evaluation and assessment of their leadership styles to ascertain their strengths and weaknesses, which can either accelerate or hamper their efforts to create a cultural shift within the workforce. This calls for cultural competency on the part of the leader.
Cultural competency occurs in three distinct stages, including awareness, appreciation, and action. In implementing diversity and inclusivity, a manager must first address their stereotypes and biases, appreciate target groups' cultural values, and then act accordingly. Before introducing diversity in the workplace, leaders need to clearly understand the obstacles they are likely to face during the cultural change process. According to Kipnis and colleagues (2021), this requires an honest assessment of their biases and stereotypes regarding other cultural groups and evaluating how this may affect their efforts to institute change. Implicit bias, in this case, can be defined as the stereotypes or attitudes that affect one's actions and judgments in an unconscious manner (Fires & Sharperson, 2017). In this context, implicit bias does not necessarily align with what one believes that they view other people. Biases are based on one’s influences and experiences in the past and generally occur at the subconscious level. This calls for one to seek out tools that may help identify groups where such biases are directed.
In the modern global environment, a leader needs to assess critically how they think or act towards people from other cultural groups. After gaining awareness about their feelings and thoughts, they can develop tools to overcome prejudices that they may have towards others. Notably, the quest to understand biases that one may have should not be individual. Still, it should involve members of the other culture they wish to bring in or engage within their organization (Yiridoe, 2021). Such an approach will help gain a clear perspective regarding the challenges and discrimination that these people face in their daily activities. Learning how to use culturally appropriate language required for building inclusivity and respect in their work environment is essential in instituting cultural change. Understanding that this is a lifelong learning process is also crucial, and leaders should always be p...