The main purpose of my term paper is to review the literature of workforce

diversity. What is workforce diversity? What are the benefits of workforce

diversity in organisations, what management can do to enhance work force
diversity in organisations? What are the disadvantages of workforce diversity?
.These questions formed the basis of my term paper.

Workforce diversity is a complex phenomenon to manage in an organisation. The management of

workforce diversity as a tool to increase organizational effectiveness cannot be underscored, especially
with current changes of globalization and liberalisation sweeping across the globe. The concept of free
market economies has brought about the free movement of labour as a commodity which has resulted in
the diverse workforce across the continent.. The workforce diversity has emerged mainly to further the
availability of equal opportunities in the workplace. This equal opportunity philosophy is aimed at ensuring
that organizations make the most out of the difference from a diverse workforce rather than losing talent
which might assist the organization to be more efficient and effective.

Broadly, defined diversity management is the systematic and planned commitment by the organisations to
recruit, retain, reward and promote a heterogeneous mix of employees. Diversity refers to the co-
existence of employees from various socio-cultural backgrounds within the company. . Diversity requires
a type of organizational culture in which each employee can pursue his or her career aspirations without
being inhibited by gender, race, nationality, religion, or other factors that are irrelevant to performance .
Managing diversity means enabling the diverse workforce to perform to its full potential in an equitable
work environment where no one group has an advantage or disadvantage.

While many organizations have embraced diversity, others still consider it merely an issue of compliance
with legal requirements. However, in more recent years, the view of diversity has dramatically changed to
a more proactive concept. Many business leaders are now beginning to believe that diversity has
important bottom-line benefits. Diversity in the workforce can be a competitive advantage because
different viewpoints can facilitate unique and creative approaches to problem-solving, thereby increasing
creativity and innovation, which in turn leads to better organizational performance.

Benefits of managing workforce diversity

Managing diversity can create a competitive advantage. Potential benefits of this diversity include better
decision making, higher creativity and innovation, greater success in marketing to foreign and domestic
ethnic minority communities, and a better distribution of economic opportunity. Organizations with a
diverse workforce can provide superior services because they can better understand customers’ needs.
Hiring women, minorities, disabled, etc. will help organizations to tap these niche markets and diversified
market segments . As the economies are shifting from manufacturing to service economies, diversity
issues are gaining importance because in a service economy effective interactions and communications
between people are essential to business success . As globalization is increasing, diversity will help
organizations to enter the international arena Diversity enhances creativity and innovation, and produces
competitive advantages. Diverse teams make it possible to enhance flexibility and rapid response and
adaptation to change , managing a diverse workforce entails a minimization of cloning that is preventing
the production of an exact copy in selection and promotion. This leads to a wider range of ideas and
abilities, offering greater scope for innovation and competitive performance in the future.

Diversity and Organizational Innovation

More than an objective characteristic of a group, diversity is a subjective
phenomenon, created by group members themselves who on the basis of their different
social identities categorize others as similar or dissimilar. The idea that diversity among work group
members might be positively related to innovation grounds on two propositions First, diverse people
are supposed to have more diverse and thereby more novel ideas. Second, diverse group members
approach the same task from different points of view; thus, they are more likely to have task-related
conflicts which is supposed to evoke a more thorough and complete consideration of all aspects,
which in return should ensure more high-quality and innovative solutions. First we review the
literature on surface-level (demographic) diversity, and then move on to consider the literature on
deep-level (personality) diversity.

Surface-level diversity may be equated with visible differences among group members in terms of
demographic characteristics like age, sex, and ethnicity In general, people feel more comfortable
with others perceived to be similar to the self because similarity in itself is rewarding Similarity is
reassuring in that it reaffirms our beliefs and is interpreted as a signal that future interactions will be
free of conflict. Surface-level heterogeneity, however, engenders an immediate impression of
dissimilarity among group members, thereby preventing them from engaging in closer interpersonal
contact. Thus, within a surface-level diverse work group, people’s inclination to in-group favoritism
gives rise to the emergence of surface-level homogeneous subgroups. Out-subgroup members are
perceived in a more stereotyped way and are more likely to be seen as less trustworthy, honest and
cooperative than members of the in-subgroup. Interestingly, the influence of surface-level diversity
on a group’s functioning is temporary and peaks at the forming stage of a work group. The better
group members get to know each other over time, the more the influence of surface level diversity
decreases, while in return perceived deep-level diversity becomes key to explain groups’ functioning.
Deep-level diversity refers to differences among team members’ psychological characteristics,
including cognitive abilities, knowledge, skills as well as values, attitudes, and non-performance
oriented traits. Theoretical assumptions in what ways deep-level diversity should be related to
innovation need to be divided into those focusing on differences among group members in abilities,
knowledge and skills (cognitive diversity) and those attending to differences in personality.

Cognitive Diversity and Group Creativity

In contrast to homogeneous teams, cognitively diverse work groups are superior
to cognitively homogeneous teams with regard to the prerequisites of innovation like
gathering, processing, and applying information.
Absorptive capacities comprise the “ability to recognize the value of new, external
information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends”
The higher and more encompassing an individual’s prior knowledge, the more easily
he or she will assimilate new knowledge and utilize it. High absorptive capacities give rise to creative
ideas. Transferring this reasoning to the group level suggests that cognitively diverse work groups
have a greater pool of resources at their disposal when it comes to generating novel ideas.
Requisite variety results from high absorptive capacities, as it relates to the availability of knowledge
and skills within an organization to deal with unforeseen incidents that might require innovative
problem solving strategies.
Network variety. Higher levels of communication and information gathering are
associated with higher levels of innovation in research and development (R&D) project
groups. Access to an external diverse knowledge pool, i.e. network variety, enhances a group’s
innovative potential, and diverse work groups will outperform homogeneous groups in this regard, as
they are likely to have a higher network variety.
Groupthink Group members can become so consumed with conforming to what appears the group’s
consensus that they do not dare to express their doubts and criticize agreed upon decisions. For this
phenomenon Irving Janis (1972) coined the term “groupthink” and defined it as a mode of thinking
that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group and when their members'
strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.
For being innovative, work groups must overcome their inclination to groupthink. Cognitively
diverse groups consisting of people with genuinely diverse points of view should be less prone to this
dysfunctional group phenomenon.

Personality diversity and group creativity

Personality refers to an individual’s unique and stable pattern of thinking, feeling,
acting and reacting to his or her social environment (Pervin, 1980). As these traits affect both
individuals’ interpersonal and work-related behavior, their influence on team-related processes is
considered to be substantial. People take pleasure in interacting with similar others, as being
confirmed in ones values and attitudes is reinforcing. : New employees whose values differed from
the mean values of others in their work groups or small organizations were less satisfied, showed
lower organizational commitment, and were more likely to quit. Hence staffs become more and more
homogeneous in values and attitudes over time, as people who do not feel comfortable with their co-
workers values and attitudes will leave. This is the key assumption of the Attraction-Selection-
Attrition (ASA) model (Schneider, 1995). The ASA model assumes that people are differently
attracted to organizations by some sort of fit between their personal and the organizations’
characteristics.

How to manage a diverse workforce in organisation

Companies can succeed at diversity if the initiative to create, manage and value the diverse workforce
has the full support of the top management. The organization should assign this work to a senior
manager. The organization should create such a working environment as will increase the motivation,
satisfaction, and commitment of diverse people. Performance standards must be clearly and objectively
established, effectively communicated, and used on objective criteria without any bias. Managers must
understand their firm’s culture first and then implement diversity strategies according to that culture.
Training and development programs will improve the skills in dealing with the day to day diversity
dilemmas. Creation of the support system, to reduce isolation and discrimination. This can be done
through the encouragement of a formal system and informal networks. Language competence, lack of
language skills in multicultural environments is a significant barrier to building a multicultural organization.
The rationale for diversity training programmes is often misunderstood at all levels. So it is important to
first communicate what diversity is and what the organization hopes to achieve by managing it more
effectively. Capitalise on the existing diversity within your organization

Organizational Best Practices

1. Top leadership commitment—a vision of diversity demonstrated and
communicated throughout an organization by top-level management.
2. Diversity as part of an organization’s strategic plan—a diversity
strategy and
plan that are developed and aligned with the organization’s strategic plan.
3. Diversity linked to performance—the understanding that a more
diverse and
inclusive work environment can yield greater productivity and help improve
individual and organizational performance.
4. Measurement—a set of quantitative and qualitative measures of the
impact of
various aspects of an overall diversity program.
5. Accountability—the means to ensure that leaders are responsible for
diversity by
linking their performance assessment and compensation to the progress of
diversity initiatives.
6. Succession planning—an ongoing, strategic process for identifying and
developing a diverse pool of talent for an organization’s potential future
leaders.
7. Recruitment—the process of attracting a supply of qualified, diverse
applicants
for employment.
8. Diversity training—organizational efforts to inform and educate
management
and staff about diversity’s benefits to the organization.

Disadvantages of workforce diversity in the

workplace
Many people feel threatened by working with people of a different age, sex, or culture. First, there is an
increase in the cost of training. A disadvantage of diversity in the workplace is an increase
in conflicts. Conflicts arise when two or more individuals or groups do not see eye to eye on a particular
situation. In regard to diversity, conflicts arise largely due to ignorance. The most common conflict comes
from one feeling superior. Increase in labour turnover and absenteeism are another disadvantage in
having a diverse workplace. Mismanaged diversity can have long-reaching effects on employee
satisfaction and productivity. Mismanagement of diversity can have negative consequences, such as
inhibiting workers' abilities and motivation. This leads to lower job performance.

Conclusion
The extent to which managers recognize diversity and its potential advantages and disadvantages
defines an organization’s approach to managing the diversity . No organisation in this world of
globalisation would survive without workforce diversity. It is the duty of the management to critically
evaluate the benefits of workforce diversity in their organisation. On the other hand the management
should put in place conditions which would enhance the workforce diversity in their organizations,
Managing diversity in organizations is absolutely dependent upon the acceptance of some primary
objectives to which employees are willing to commit, such as the survival of the firm . In today's fast-
paced work environment a successful organization is one where diversity is the norm and not the
exception .