What is the criteria for attaining diversity in an organization
Diversity and Culture
The criteria for attaining diversity in an organization include ensuring that there is balanced representation in the following areas within the labor force:
- Race and ethnicity.
- Religious beliefs.
- Gender
- Sexual orientation and sexual identity
Diversity at an organization can be attained by enhancing representation of the aforementioned aspects in the labor force or creating services to support them in a given organization. The criteria can be used to gauge the representation of each group within the labor force.
Selected manager: Human Resource Manager
The human resource manager has performed below average in attaining racial and ethnicity diversity. The labor force is predominantly white.
The diversity of the labor force with regard to disability is very low. The organization has not employed any person with disability, underpinning its failure to accommodate people with disability. With regard to diversity of religious beliefs, the organizations has attained 80 percent diversity. There is a substantial number of people who identify themselves Christians, atheist, Muslims, and other small religious groupings employed by the organization. O
Moreover, with regard gender diversity the organization’s employees are 48 percent female and 52 male. However, in top management positions males occupy about 80 percent of the positions while women occupy the remaining 20 percent. In this respect, gender diversity is not well taken care of in the management, but in overall there is a gender diverse workforce. Sexual orientation and identity is an area that is not well taken care of, partially because minority groups such as gays and lesbians may choose to hide their sexual identities. However, this is one area that is yet to receive much inattention. Consequently, in terms of diversity score, I can give the human resource manager a grade C.
Resistance to Change
The change model would involve unfreezing, change, and freezing stages that the CEO must observe in effecting the anticipated changes within the organization to attain diversity. However, there are a number of external and internal forces that are likely to oppose the process.
Internal Resistance
The CEO is likely to encounter opposition to instituting mandatory diversity training for all employees would arise from employees who may feel that the training is a burden. This resistance would be encouraged by the fact that the training does not contribute to increase in pay, skills, or promotion (Harvey et al., 2014). Moreover, employees from the majority ethnic or racial groups may be uncomfortable with training that seem to be targeting how they relate to minorities. The enforcement of diversity strategies diversity require prior preparation of employees during the unfreezing stage (Kotter & Cohen, 2014). In this respect, the manager should do proper laying for the foundation for change during unfreezing.
Another internal resistance may arise from the finance department and shareholders who may see mandatory training as a resource consuming exercise. The mandatory trainings implies that the organization should set aside enough resources to for training. The resources involved include monetary and time (Harvey et al., 2014). The finance department has to avail fund for hiring or motivating trainer and securing other things such as venue. It is also possible that the human resource may raise concerns about the possibility of the training affecting the performance of employees, an issue that can be also raised by the operations manager. The training must be planned in a manner that they do not affect the performance of the organization.
The appointing a chief diversity officer may be opposed by the shareholder and finance department out of fear that it will create new cost that will have a negative impact on the companies finance. Shareholder value a small workforce to reduce the cost of management. On the other hand, the finance docket is under pressure to ensure that the organization runs on a lean budget to eliminate unnecessary expenditure (Özbilgin & Chanlat, 2017). The human resource department is also likely to raise concerns about creating the position of chief diversity officer. It may oppose the post and ask for duties of the office to be delegated to another office or offices. In this respect, the need for a chief diversity officer must be properly communicated to get internal support.
The attempt to establish a phased retirement program may be resisted by employees who are affected by the plan. The plan would include early retirement of targeted employees, creating discomfort among the employees. The staff who feel that are targeted but have limited chances of securing employment elsewhere are likely to resist the plan. The resistance can be active or passive, and has the potential of lowering employee morale at the workplace (Dreachslin et al., 2013). As a consequence, the plan to enforce change those phased retirement should be properly communicated to reduce or avoid resistance from affected employees.
External resistance
The external forces that may resistance change of instituting mandatory diversity training for all employees would include the human rights organizations and labor union. The entities may prefer to champion the freedoms and rights of employees at the expense of training on diversity.
Establishing a phased retirement program may be resisted by the labor union, courts, and government if they violate the rights of employees. The labor union exist to champion the rights of employees, hence concerned with any change that may affect its members. Courts may step in where the retirement plan is resisted through court process. In this respect, the retirement plan should be properly structured and thought about to avoid pitfalls that may increase resistance from the aforementioned areas.
Application for diversity awards may be resisted by the media, clients, and government if fears about it being unfair and promoter of discrimination arise. The criteria for the award may find its way in media and other external entities that may try to criticize the logic behind it (Hughes, 2021). In a society that is too sensitive about issues of discrimination, diversity award is most likely to be subjected to intense scrutiny.
The appointment of a diversity officer can also be questioned and thus resisted by experts in management and social movements that may be concerned about the creation of unfair treatment of various groups through the position. Experts have argued before that a mere creation of the post of diversity officer does not address issues of inclusivity in organizations (Hughes, 2021). The experts look at the value a new position is bringing on the table, hence their likelihood of their opposition in case they cannot see value the post will bring to the entity. Social movements show diverse opinions about the issue of diversity. Some support creation of competent diversity offices while other may oppose the whole issue on the ground that it is bound to entrench discrimination against majority groups. Strategies such as affirmative action are often explored to promote diversity to the disadvantage of majority groups (Harvey et al., 2014). Consequently, social movement supporting majority groups may oppose the creation of diversity officer at the company.
Mentoring An Employee
Diversity can also be advanced through mentoring persons form disadvantaged backgrounds to compete favorably with those from privileged backgrounds. In the case if an employee from a poor background who has issues that affect her advancement to the next level, I would mentor her to improve on her weakness without changing her identity. Paludi (2012) observes that good mentorship can be explored to enhance diversity at the workplace by supporting minorities to raise up the career ladder. In this respect, the issue of communication would be managed through mentoring her on proper communication skills and advising her on the need for communication competencies in her career development. Communication skills is something that is learned and can be improved along the way (Harvey et al., 2014). However, I will have to first convince her about the need and value of improving her communication skills.
Furthermore, i would advise her to take some short course or training on communication skills. The course would open her to values of communication competencies at the workplace and general life. Knowledge communication competencies can be advanced through training, underscoring the importance of guiding her to make the choice of going for further studies in communication (Polack, 2020). I am certain, if she agrees to take some training or study on her own communication, she will improve on communication patterns and skills.
About her dress and manners, i would try to mentor her about the organizations culture with a view of guiding her to acquire mannerism that aligns with the organizational normal and values. I would do this with the knowledge that her dress and manners are her choice; she has the freedom and right to dress in a manner that she likes, as long as it does not grossly violate the ethical codes. I will let her understand that dressing code also communicates about herself and the employee, hence the need to be cautious about her mode of dressing while at the work (Polack, 2020). In guiding her about dress and manners, i would focus on helping her appreciate the value of changing the dressing code and manners to her career progression. People often change if they realize that change is good for their development.
Primary and Secondary Dimension of Diversity
The study about primary and secondary dimension of diversity has taught me that i pay much attention on race, gender, and disability issues when trying to understand the issue of a diverse workplace. I do not give much attention the other dimensions such as sexual orientation, social class, and language. The societal view of these dimensions may be the greatest influencer on how i understand their value in the discourse on diversity (Harvey et al., 2014). The environment one stays impacts how he or she fathoms various issues, dimensions of diversity included.
Gender diversity has impacted how i look at men and women in a workplace environment and general life. As a person who is born in a family that has men and women, i tend to be extra conscious when topic such as gender equality arises because we must be accommodative of each. However, the dimension that has affected my life most is the racial. Watching racism sensationalized in media has had me thinking about my place in the society and how i would be treated if i found myself to be a minority race in particular area (Stone et al, 2020). The Black Lives Matter Movement and protests of killing of black people in the USA have had a far reaching effect on my life. I tend to be keen with what i share online or how i behave towards other people to avoid drawing emotions about racism.
I do not the issues above may change overtime because of the enrichment of racism and diversity issue in the society. Racism and gender inequalities are problems that have been part and parcel for the world for centuries now. The more they are debated the more the remains. These realities make it hard to anticipate a positive change in my viewpoint (Harvey et al., 2014). Human rights and freedoms are also a shield behind which perpetrators of racism and other social challenges that impact diversity hide. In this respect, i expect diversity issues to be part of human life for a long period of time.
References
Dreachslin, J. L., Gilbert, M. J., & Malone, B. (2013). Diversity and cultural competence in health care: A systems approach. Jossey-Bass.
Harvey, Carol P., Allard, M. June. (2014). Understanding and Managing Diversity: Readings, Cases, and Exercises, (6th Ed). Pearson Education.
Hughes, C. (2021). Implementation strategies for improving diversity in organizations. IGI Global.
Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. (2014). Change Leadership. Harvard Business Review Press.
Özbilgin, M. F., & Chanlat, J.-F. (2017). Management and diversity: Perspectives from different national contexts. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Paludi, M. A. (2012). Managing diversity in today’s workplace: Strategies for employees and employers. ABC-CLIO.
Polack, L. (2020). Communicating effectively in the workforce. Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.
Stone, D. L., Dulebohn, J. H., & Lukaszewski, K. M. (2020). Diversity and inclusion in organizations. Information Age Publishing.
