Diversity Management Essay On Diversity And Inclusion

Question

Essay:Please make sure that you have put the essay through Turnitin before you submit it for assessment. The objective is to write an interpretive, analytical and critical literature review in relation to a topic of interest that has arisen during the workshops or in the readings. The essay should be 3,000 words in length. Your primary task is to explore the relevant literature of the topic you have chosen, and then critically interpret, analyse, and comment on the major issues and arguments raised in the literature.

A critical literature review
A literature review is a description of the literature relevant to a particular field or topic. It gives an overview of what has been said, who the key writers are, what are the prevailing theories and hypotheses, what questions are being asked, and what methods and methodologies are appropriate and useful. As such, it is not in itself primary research, but rather it reports on other findings. - A literature review may be purely descriptive, as in an annotated bibliography, or it may provide a critical assessment of the literature in a particular field, stating where the weaknesses and gaps are, contrasting the views of particular authors, particularly key theorists, or raising questions. Such a review will not just be a summary but will also evaluate and show relationships between different materials, so that key themes emerge. Even a descriptive review however should not just list and paraphrase, but should add comment and bring out themes and trends, usefulness of methodologies and research instruments.

The objective is to write an interpretive, analytical and critical literature review in relation to a topic of interest that has arisen during the workshops or in the readings. The essay should be3,000 words in length including references.

Your primary task is to explore the relevant literature of the topic you have chosen, and then critically interpret, analyse, and comment on the major issues and arguments raised in the literature.

Answer

Introduction
In present scenario globalization has resulted in removal of national boundaries. It has made the labour movement easy and also emphasized the business organisations to deal with individuals which are from diverse cultural backgrounds. Because of the existence of multicultural workplace, the Human Resource Department and the human resource managers are required to deal with several new challenges which are the outcome of required changes in the management approaches and practices. Diversity and inclusion has been an emergent field of study and research which had begun in the early 1960 at the time of anti-discrimination movement held in USA. A lot of attention has been received by the research area of diversity in the 1990s. In a number of countries, the organisations comprise of staff members who are of different genders, generation, culture and nationalities and therefore enhance the cultural diversity in the organisations (Roberge & Van Dick, 2010). There are several opportunities which had been developed as a result of broader cultural diversity in the organisation. Hence the workforce diversity is regarded as one of the most vital component in building contact with the various businesses across the globe. It also made possible for the international groups to enhance their engagement in the businesses within the locations (Kochan, et al., 2003). The following diversity management essay will help in analyzing the effects of workforce diversity and inclusion and the manner in which it affects the organisational performance. It will also help in analyzing the various challenges associated with the workplace diversity and the impact of leadership in overcoming those challenges and improving the organisational performance. The primary aspect and purpose of the diversity management essay is to develop the relationship between diversity and inclusion with the organisational leadership and the success of the organisations. In this diversity management essay, there would be highlighted some of the key aspects of workplace diversity, diversity management, critical analysis of the various studies and frameworks and an overall conclusion drawn from it.

Diversity and Inclusion at the Organisational Workplace
In the several researches performed by the researchers and the scholars portrayed that diversity is regarded as highly beneficial for the organisational performance. On the other hand it is also stated that the workforce diversity is resulted as obstructing. Based upon the various resources and studies it has been analyzed that there are several potential solutions which can be and had taken by the organisational employees for boosting the workplace benefit and also to have higher level of culturally diverse employees in the organization (Mor Barak, 2000). In number of studies it has been identified that the organisations are affected by workplace diversity. The cultural diversity existing at the workplace is one of the most vital areas of concern for the research studies. The organisational performance is very much dependent and influenced by the level of its employees performance. In several researches there had been identified that the workforce diversity brings out positive result for the staff level work force. It helps in boosting the participation and involvement of the staff members. It is based on the fact that the businesses pay higher attention towards the attitude of the staff or the employees acquired by the means of individual experience at the time of interacting with culturally diverse workforce at the workplace in respect with ethnicity, gender and age (Herring, 2009).

The diversity management essay has reviewed a lot number of literatures on the concept developed based on the diversity, cultural diversity, workforce diversity and inclusion. In addition, the workforce diversity impact the function of the organisation and therefore it is considered as one of the vital subject of interest for all level of organisation management. From the study, it has been observed that the cultural diversity is considered as an intangible asset or source and it is not easy to imitate. It is considered and regarded as organisational assets which includes the beneficial information that other people could not have their access to (Acquavita, Pittman, Gibbons & Castellanos-Brown, 2009). Developing diversity management comprises of taking decisions as well as having coordination in the activities which can facilitate the main process of creating the core benefit for the performance of the organisation. There takes place the process of value creation both inside as well as outside of the organisation by having collaboration with the suppliers and the business partners. From the review of the study, the literature suggests that there is a positive association between the performance of the organisation and cultural diversity at the workplace. But still there are a number of questions which had left unanswered. It is beneficial to research the association among the view of the managers on cultural diversity and its association with the impact on management of cultural diversity. Still there is a need to study because there is a reason behind the poor representation in terms of equality in workforce diversity. Finally, it is also essential to understand the association among the negative and positive effects of cultural diversity in respect with the varied cultures which are represented in the organization (Amaram, 2007).

In present scenario the corporate cultural has been regarded as one of the most vital selling points for the organisation which helps to recruit the best and talented fit for the corporations. The corporate culture is regarded as a distinct identity where the organisation employees are the major contributors (Afzal, Mahmood, Samreen, Asim & Sajid, 2013). The culture of the organisation is shaped by several aspects comprising the individual performances, company rituals as well as the share story. When the performance of employee impacts the corporate culture then it results in establishment of culture where the organisation, the individual behaviour and the groups are influenced by the cultural diversity. The individual diversity or the workforce diversity can therefore play a vital role in the overall functioning of a business or a group. When it is about diversity and inclusion at the workplace, there comes demographic type, physical characteristics, sex, gender and race in the major aspects. The authors stated that diversity is link to the opportunity of equality among the organisational employees. The workforce diversity usually means the point or respect or the variety in which the things are different from each other. The several unobserved and demographic traits of the individual such as experience believes and knowledge are regarded as contributing factor towards developing the organizational culture (Young, Pyke, Maharaj, Rasmussen & Jones, 2018).

There is a direct impact of organisational diversity upon the workplace which causes self-categorization and categorization. The self-categorization is considered as mentally producing in and out of the employees by the means of stereotyping of the individual behaviour traits. The organisational members first categorized on the basis of their demographic traits and then they are been categorized on the unobserved behaviour traits. A successful workforce culture at an organisation takes use of the diversity for embracing the individuality of the organisational employees. Several researchers have proclaimed that the organisational diversity and inclusion can improve and there can be enhancement in the overall functioning of the group in an organisation. On the other hand it has been analyzed that when diversity is not recognized or appreciated in the organisation then it will result in hindrance of group cohesiveness because of the fact that there exists lack of homogeneity. The authors have stated in there is such that unless the diverse workforce is cohesive in nature, there would not be a productive and competent work force at organisational workplace (Armstrong, Flood, Guthrie, Liu, MacCurtain & Mkamwa, 2010). However, when there is adequate corporate culture which serves the needs of workforce diversity and inclusion, it as a significant competitive advantage, the organisation releases several benefits and merits. With the continuation of the research, it has been indicated that the workforce diversity and inclusion is one of the major effective factor which improves the organisational performance by taking use of the innovative techniques and exploring the new opportunities and ideas.

In the last few decades, it has been realized that organisation has ignored the most important and vital factor of organisational management that is diversity at the workplace. There has been observed an evident lack in the literature on the subject area. The researchers have observed and stated that in present time, the organisations can no longer sideline the subject area of diversity and inclusion and its impact upon the corporate culture. There are several training programs related to diversity which had been implemented for educating the management. It will help the employees to strengthen their heterogeneity as well as to improve the organisational performance by the means of workforce diversity. All such trainings provided to the individuals helps in adapting their own culture as well as the culture of the organisation. Therefore the individuals can easily accommodate the culture of each other and the organisation. It is essential that particular attention must be provided to organisational diversity and inclusion as it is directly connected or associated with the job satisfaction and job performance of the employees (Beaver & Hutchings, 2005).

In various researches which had been conducted by the researchers and the management authorities, it has been revealed that there is almost 64% of the organisation which process a religiously diverse workforce culture. The religious diversity is regarded as one of the most important underline characteristics of the employees which play a vital role in developing the corporate culture. A lot of employees are continuously and increasingly bringing their religion to work, whether it is in the form of listening to religious music, reading bible, wearing the religiously symbolic attire, putting a picture on their working desk or even chanting the prayers. Maximum of the employees showcase their spiritual side at the organisational workplace. The organisation are still confused that in what way they must best allow the existence of religious diversity at workplace (Armstrong, Flood, Guthrie, Liu, MacCurtain & Mkamwa, 2010). On the other hand, it has been considered that the existence of the religion at the organisational workplace by the employees can be spiritual which could be accepted at some point but the individuals must not discuss the religion in an open discussion. The authors proclaim that by disallowing the religious talks in open at the organisational workplace can create several issues. It the organisation disallow then it would not be accepted by the individuals as it will restrict the employees to truly be themselves and which could impact negatively upon their performances as by discussing religion there can be have innovation in the workplace (Wambari, 2014).

Religious diversity is regarded as one of the subset of diversity which is an important area which cannot be ignored or sidelined by the organisational employers. When the organisations work in a global economy, there is a rapid increase in the global sourcing where the candidate is from different religions and gender which enhances the workforce diversity in the global organisations (Green, López, Wysocki & Kepner, 2002). When analyzed and embraced, it has been evaluated that religious diversity can have several positive impacts upon the organisations. The several researchers and authors have identified that the individual spirituality of an employee support in enhancing their development and success. In relation with this spirituality aspect at the workplace, there has also been founded that the people who are associated with the organisation are perceived as more spiritual and though the organisation or business is more profitable (Anand & Winters, 2008). It has been reported by the employees that they have been able to bring more of their complete-selves at the workplace. As a result, they use higher emotions, creativity, knowledge, intelligence and competence in working at the organisation and accomplishing the shared and mutual goals of the company (Armstrong, Flood, Guthrie, Liu, MacCurtain & Mkamwa, 2010). Hence it is considered as beneficial and advantageous for the companies to recognize the importance of religious diversity as well as to accommodate accordingly for enhancing the organisational and employee productivity at workplace. The authors in their various researchers have also identified to specific reason behind paying hire attention to religious diversity. Firstly the authors stated that there is a legal mandate for the religious accommodation. Secondly the customer base is also developing as diverse. Hence the organisational culture matters a lot in satisfying the diverse needs of the distinct customer base (Stevens, Plaut & Sanchez-Burks, 2008).

(Source: Young, Pyke, Maharaj, Rasmussen & Jones, 2018)

Diversity management requires a proper and systematic approach. The authors have identified a systematic research upon the impact of diversity on the organisations and their performance. As per the inclusive workplace-a value based model for diversity management explains that there must be a system level approach from micro to macro environment. When there is diversity and inclusion at the micro stage, it covers inclusion and diversity within work organisation and here it comprises of individuals, organisation and the groups. Secondly, it comprises of inclusion and corporate community relations where there are included communities and organisations. At the next level it is inclusion and welfare to work programs where it comprises of Federal government and state government. The last is inclusion and economic globalization where the inclusion and diversity aspects are at international level. The value of teamwork shows that in the diversity management aspect what things are required to be excluded and what to be included. From the exclusion point of you at the first stage of micro level there must be conformity to the already established values and norms in the organisation. And at the same time they must be include evolving organisational culture and pluralistic. At the second level, it is necessary to exclude the organisational emphasis on intrinsic values as well as exclusion of the responsibility only towards the financial stakeholders. To improve the diversity management there must be included the recognition of various communities systems as stakeholders as well as there must be emphasis upon both intrinsic and extrinsic aspects. On the third level, the exclusion must be of treating the poor people at work only as the disposable labour (Young, Pyke, Maharaj, Rasmussen & Jones, 2018). And it requires including treating the poor people as one of the labor forces which is potentially stable upwardly mobile so that they can be improvement in the diversity management. On the next or the last level that is the final micro-level, there must be exclusion of the cultural-specific competition which is based and focused on nation. Rather there must be including a pluralistic collaboration based approach where the emphasis is on international mutual interest. Hence, this inclusive work place-value based model depicts that there are several things which are required to be excluded and in place of them a number of adequate specific aspects are required to be included for developing the effective diversity management approach in the organisations.

(Source: Ayega & Muathe, 2018)

From the several research papers and studies there has also been identified a conceptual framework which has been developed by the researchers to demonstrate the link between performance of the organisation and workplace cultural diversity. The proposed conceptual framework depicts that there is a direct as well as causal relationship among cultural diversity and performance of the organisation. The various environmental factors comprising of regulation, dynamism, technological factors affecting also play a vital role in impacting the performance of the organisation. This framework also the depicts that the organisational factors such as role clarity, distributive justice sector also play a major role in the performance of the organisation. There has been developed 5 different hypothesis based on the conceptual framework which stated that firstly there is a significant association between ethnicity and organisational performance. Secondly there is a significant association among organisational performance in social status. Thirdly there is a significant association between organisational performance and age and gender. Fourth one states that there is a vital role of the organisational factors in impacting the organisational performance. The last or fifth hypothesis is stated that there is a significant role of the environmental circumstances in impacting the performance of the organisation. Hence, from this proposed conceptual framework, it can be stated that the various aspects of cultural diversity such as age, gender, social status and ethnicity has vital an important role in impacting the performance of the organisation as well as the employees. It not only affects the market share, profitability but also the quality of the customer services. Secondly from the framework, it has also been analyzed and evaluated that there are various environmental circumstances such as regulation dynamism as well as a various technological factors which in one or other aspect impact the performance of the organisation. Lastly from the framework, it can be evaluated that the various organisational factors such as per satisfaction, role clarity, distributive justice, and supervisory satisfaction and workgroup cohesion are the important aspects which impact the performance of the organisation and the employees (Ayega & Muathe, 2018).

Conclusion
From this diversity management essay, it can be concluded that diversity is regarded as highly beneficial for the organisational performance as well as it has number of challenges associated with itself. The cultural diversity existing at the workplace is one of the most vital areas of concern for the research studies. It can be stated that the organisational performance is very much dependent and influenced by the level of its employees performance. By developing diversity management, there can be developed coordination in the activities which can facilitate the main process of creating the core benefit for the performance of the organisation. The individual diversity or the workforce diversity can therefore play a vital role in the overall functioning of a business or a group. It is evaluated that a successful workforce culture at an organisation takes use of the diversity for embracing the individuality of the organisational employees. It can also be concluded in this diversity management essay that with the use of training programs related to diversity which are implemented for educating the management can help the employees to strengthen their heterogeneity as well as to improve the organisational performance by the means of workforce diversity. Lastly it can be stated in this diversity management essay that, still there are several questions unanswered which required additional researches in the field of diversity and inclusion. Diversity management essay assignments are being prepared by our management homework help experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable essay help online service.

References
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Afzal, F., Mahmood, K., Samreen, F., Asim, M., & Sajid, M. (2013). Comparison of workforce diversity in public and private business organizations.

Amaram, D. I. (2007). Cultural diversity: Implications for workplace management. Journal of Diversity Management, 2(4), 1-6.

Anand, R., & Winters, M. F. (2008). A retrospective view of corporate diversity training from 1964 to the present. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 7(3), 356-372.

Armstrong, C., Flood, P. C., Guthrie, J. P., Liu, W., MacCurtain, S., & Mkamwa, T. (2010). The impact of diversity and equality management on firm performance: Beyond high performance work systems. Human Resource Management, 49(6), 977-998.

Ayega, E. N., & Muathe, S. (2018). Critical Review of Literature on Cultural Diversity in the Work Place and Organizational Performance: A Research Agenda. Journal of Human Resource Management, 6(1), 9.

Green, K. A., López, M., Wysocki, A., & Kepner, K. (2002). Diversity in the workplace: Benefits, challenges, and the required managerial tools. University of Florida, 1(4), 1-3.

Herring, C. (2009). Does diversity pay?: Race, gender, and the business case for diversity. American Sociological Review, 74(2), 208-224.

Kochan, T., Bezrukova, K., Ely, R., Jackson, S., Joshi, A., Jehn, K., ... & Thomas, D. (2003). The effects of diversity on business performance: Report of the diversity research network. Human Resource Management: Published in Cooperation with the School of Business Administration, The University of Michigan and in alliance with the Society of Human Resources Management, 42(1), 3-21.

Mor Barak, M. E. (2000). The inclusive workplace: An ecosystems approach to diversity management. Social work, 45(4), 339-353.

Roberge, M. É., & Van Dick, R. (2010). Recognizing the benefits of diversity: When and how does diversity increase group performance?. Human resource management review, 20(4), 295-308.

Stevens, F. G., Plaut, V. C., & Sanchez-Burks, J. (2008). Unlocking the benefits of diversity: All-inclusive multiculturalism and positive organizational change. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 44(1), 116-133.

Wambari, M. N. (2014). Workplace diversity management effects on implementation of human resource management practices in the ministry of health, Kenya.

Young, C., Pyke, J., Maharaj, N., Rasmussen, B., & Jones, R. (2018). Diversity and inclusion: building strength and capability. Young.