IMPORTANCE OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

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Workplace Diversity.


Workplace diversity is the organizations acceptance and respect towards different dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies (Patrick and Kumar, 2012). Diversity is mainly categorized as two dimensions; dimension 1 being race, gender and sexual orientation whilst dimension 2 includes religion, educational location and geographical location (Saxena, 2014). An organization that appeal to recruitment diversity will mark themselves as having and inclusive approach to recruitment (Walters, 2019).


Figure 1: How employees see the importance of diversity.

SOURCE: (Walters, 2019)


Figure 1 clearly portraits how employees believe that workplace and diversity plays a major role within an organization. It’s clear that diversity recruitment has its advantages.


Advantages of Workplace Diversity.


  •     Studies have proven that workplace diversity can greatly increase the bottom line of the organization, increase the productivity of employees and the company and also increase harmony and cohesiveness among fellow peers within the organization (Walters, 2019).

 

  •        An inclusive approach to diversity and diversity management increases innovativeness among employees. This intern helps employees reach their maximum potentials and contribute to achieve strategic goals and objectives of the organization. (Patrick and Kumar, 2012)

 

  •        When employees are exposed to various different cultures and people, they tend to develop a natural insight into their surroundings which interns help employees become socially and economically mature and have positive mindsets towards social growth by bringing down barriers affecting social and political improvements (Saxena, 2014).

 

  •        Studies have also shown that employees believe workplace diversity is crucial in ensuring that organizations carry out businesses ethically. This interns increases the positive attitudes that employees have towards the company and also the positive attitudes the general public have towards the organizations which intern increases trust towards the organization (Walters, 2019).

 

 

Sri Lankan Airlines has been a leader in diversity recruitment to allow a positive growth with regards to workplace diversity. One prime example is the recruitment of Passenger Assistants of Chinese nationality. They fly onboard on destinations to China and Hong Kong to assist passengers who have difficulty with the English language.

 

China and Hong Kong are major destinations of tourist who travel to Sri Lanka. By simplifying their flying experience and catering to the needs of those passengers, Sri Lankan Airlines have taken advantage of the high number of passenger loads to choose Sri Lankan as their choice of airline and thus greatly increased revenue.

 

Even though diversity is a much needed and valuable trait, implementing it has its own challenges (Dike, 2013). Line Managers, HR Managers and supervisors go through extensive training to learn importance in achieving diversity, how to increase diversity recruitments and also how to engage with employees effectively and without discrimination (Dike, 2013). According to (De Meuse and Hostager, 2001), The Reaction-to-Diversity (R-T-D) Inventory was developed in which the primary goal of this research was to construct a measure that would provide HRD professionals with an objective, quantifiable assessment of individual attitudes and perceptions of diversity. In a more different approach (Christian, Porter and Moffitt, 2006) explains that there is an increased interest in applying more ‘hybrid models’ that are drawn from both the information decision making and social categorization perspectives to better manage workplace diversity.


Figure 2: Different methods used to manage workplace diversity and their effectivity.

SOURCE: (Walters, 2019)


Video 1 below gives and insight into some of the diversity recruitment strategies used at LinkedIn, explained by Greg Butler, Senior Customer Success Manager.

Video 1: Diversity Recruitment Strategies.

SOURCE: (LinkedIn Talent Solutions, 2019)


It is quite evident that there must be effective management skills in place to combat issues with regards to diversity in the workplace (Patrick and Kumar, 2012). It must be understood that employees of different diversities function on different levels within the company. Their strengths and weaknesses must be clearly understood and also the impact that their traits have on other employees as well. These must be well grasped by Managers and supervisors to groom each individual employee for the betterment of the organization (Patrick and Kumar, 2012). Constructive criticism and mentoring programs can help both employer and employee achieve better and productive work environments (Saxena, 2014).

 

Video 2 where Jennie Dede the Head of Customer Success, Global Accounts, LinkedIn talks about what it really means for organizations to have workplace diversity and diversity recruitment.

Video 2: Diversity Recruitment

SOURCE: (LinkedIn Talent Solutions, 2019)


List of References.


  •        Christian, J. N., Porter, L. W. and Moffitt, G. (2006) ‘Workplace diversity and group relations: An overview’, Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 9(4), pp. 459–466. doi: 10.1177/1368430206068431.

 

  •       Dike, P. (2013) ‘The impact of workplace diversity on organisations’, Degree thesis, pp. 5–57. Available at: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/63581/Thesisxx.pdf?sequence=1.

 

  •       De Meuse, K. P. and Hostager, T. J. (2001) ‘Developing an instrument for measuring attitudes toward and perceptions of workplace diversity: An initial report’, Human Resource Development Quarterly, 12(1), pp. 33–51. doi: 10.1002/1532-1096(200101/02)12:1<33::AID-HRDQ4>3.0.CO;2-P.

  

  •  LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Diversity Recruitment Strategies. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnQLabR3eQw (Accessed: 8 August 2021).

  

  •    LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Diversity Recruitment: What It Really Means. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAeM7jEWpOA (Accessed: 8 August 2021).

 

  •       Patrick, H. A. and Kumar, V. R. (2012) ‘Managing workplace diversity: Issues and challenges’, SAGE Open, 2(2), pp. 1–15. doi: 10.1177/2158244012444615.

  

  •        Saxena, A. (2014) ‘Workforce Diversity: A Key to Improve Productivity’, Procedia Economics and Finance, 11(14), pp. 76–85. doi: 10.1016/s2212-5671(14)00178-6.

 

  •        Walters, R. (2019) ‘Diversity and Inclusion in Recruitment’, Robert Walters Whitepaper, 27(5), pp. 28–31. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hrm.20459/abstract.









Comments

  1. Udaya Perera3 September 2021 at 11:38

    "Diversified workforce is a big challenge for the management, but if managed properly, can increase the productivity" (Saxena, 2014)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kavan Seneviratne5 September 2021 at 09:15

      Agreed Udaya. Companies stand to gain a lot by embracing diversity in their recruitment efforts. Companies can benefit from the inclusion of new ideas and perspectives by having a diverse staff (Walters, 2017).

      Delete
  2. Sumeera Nawarathne4 September 2021 at 02:02

    I do agree with you Kavan. Due to the rising concerns over the diversity and inclusion in the workforce, diversity also becomes a key priority in the aviation and airline industry (Silk, 2021). For example, in Delta, the inclusion of a diversified workforce, especially black employees, is increasing year by year. In addition to that other airlines such as Alaska, Southwest, United and JetBlue are also other airlines which consider racial inclusion in their workforce.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kavan Seneviratne5 September 2021 at 09:47

      Very true Sumeera. United and its credit card partner, JPMorgan Chase, have dedicated $2.4 million in scholarship money to the goal. The airline is partnering with groups including the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, Sisters of the Skies, the Latino Pilots Association and the Professional Asian Pilots Association, which will identify applicants for the scholarships and help direct potential students to the United Aviate Academy. (Hannah, 2021)

      Delete
  3. Amila Wijayantha4 September 2021 at 07:03

    I agreed with the argument, diversity influences organization productivity and performance. However, it can also cause misunderstanding, suspicion, and conflict in the workplace, resulting in absenteeism, reduced quality of work, low morale, and loss of competitiveness (Tamunomiebi and John-Eke, 2020).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jayashi Silva5 September 2021 at 04:38

    Agreed. Further Diversity not only determines the effects of the diversity in the organization but
    the level of openness to dissimilarity characteristics among the organization’s members, work groups, and culture (Patrick, 2010).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chandana Punchihewa7 September 2021 at 09:45

    Yes. With globalization and demographic changes, diversity in the workplace exposes contemporary leaders to several challenges and threats (Hennekam et al., 2019; Lumby, 2009)

    ReplyDelete
  6. T L A Lasanthi Chathurika7 September 2021 at 22:55

    Yes Kavan, agree with you. Properly managing a diverse pool of talent would bring new opportunities and lead to better outcomes in organizations. More diversity in the organization causes to progress more. Exchange of information and improve the quality of decisions are some benefits of racial diversity. Educational diversity leads to creative and innovative work force (Smith, 2014; Arif and Thakkar, 2015).

    ReplyDelete
  7. C. K. Senanayake8 September 2021 at 06:56

    In agreement with you Kavan, the benefits of workplace diversity include rapid adaptability, availability of a greater array of different techniques for solving problems, in-service sourcing, and allocation of resources (Duke, 2012). In addition wider range of service, diverse collection of skills/experiences, diverse languages and cultural background, and diverse viewpoints (Greenberg, 2015).

    ReplyDelete
  8. Samuddhi Menaka Alawatta8 September 2021 at 21:47

    Agreed with your points. Diversity has improved the organization overall performance by broadening the group perception. Successful diversity management will improve organizational performance(Ozbilgin and Tatli, 2008).

    ReplyDelete

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