Workplace diversity. Social Sciences Assignment.

Workplace Diversity
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Workplace Diversity
Organizations spend a lot of money trying to enhance the performance of their workforce. Some organizations consider periodical training sessions as a way to enhance performance while others consider changing leadership styles to try and motivate employees. There are others who have also considered diversifying their workforce hoping that this will help enhance performance. Well, the study at hand seeks to delve deeper into the notion that workplace diversity does indeed help enhance performance. Scholars have had numerous studies dedicated to this topic and even though many seem to believe that workplace diversity does work to the advantage of an organization, others are skeptical. Today, many organizations want to be considered diverse because embracing workforce diversity is currently trendy. Others are simply adhering to legal or governmental requirements. Regardless of the above, the underlying factor is that workplace diversity has been embraced across the globe. However, the real question is does it help improve performance in the workplace? But, in addressing the above question, one should also not disregard the challenges that develop as a result of a diverse workforce. With a diverse workforce, managers also have to be wary of the conflict of ideas, perceptions, interests, attitudes, etc. These can also impact performance and negatively influence productivity. So, the issue of workplace diversity management must also not be neglected as organizations seek to tap into the benefits of having a more diverse workforce. While seeking to explicate the relevant of workplace diversity, this article will also consider the significance of diversity management in the workplace.
A majority of scholars agree that diversity helps to increase the performance of a company. One such scholar is Dike (2013) who is of the opinion that organizations do indeed reap some benefits from having a diverse workforce. Her research focused on companies of different sizes in Finland and Ghana and her results revealed that workforce diversity does indeed help to improve performance. However, she was also quick to point out that even though big companies warm up to the idea of diversity, smaller companies consider the issue of diversifying their workforce as evitable. For big organizations, an argument could be made that to reach a wider customer base, workforce diversity is not an option. The above statement is echoed by Jayne and Dipboye’s (2004) article who believe that embracing workforce diversity is mandatory if an organization is to tap into the benefits of globalization. The argument here is that customers are likely to gravitate towards an organization that is more diverse especially sat the global stage than an organization that maintains its native workforce even while trying to capture a foreign market. However, on both occasions, the issue of effective management is highlighted with Dike (2013) noting that diversity in the workforce can be cataclysmic if left unchecked.
Diversity has also been touted to be a factor that increases innovation within an organization and thus helping to enhance performance this way. A simple definition of diversity is a mixture of people’s beliefs, attitudes, ideas, perceptions, educational backgrounds, and cultural backgrounds. When people from different walks of life come together, they bring their diverse ways of thinking, their diverse ways of looking at the world, and when companies make use of these differences, they can manage to increase their chances of success. As Hudson (2014) indicates, understanding the meaning of the word innovation as well as defining the variables through which innovation can be measured. Hudson (2014) writes “the measurement of innovation is based on the increased number of new ideas, improved quality of ideas, more efficient implementation of ideas, and improved results based on the implementation of quality ideas.” In any industry, new ideas are the foundation for increased competitive advantage. Therefore, organizations do have an edge over their competitors when they hire a workforce that is diverse. Aside from the above, there is also the issue of diversity helping organizations reduce their operational costs through process improvement. When there is improved quality of ideas, chances are that the organization will also experience improvement in other areas including process im...