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The Importance of Diversity in
the Workplace - Part 2
By Alicia Kenyon
Although some
people think that diversity does nothing but create problems and challenges, it
offers remarkable benefits. While legal ground for diversity was and continues to be one
motivating factor in organizations seeking to achieve employee diversity,
profits and ultimately long-term success will become the new motivators. Educating managers and staff on how to work
effectively in a diverse environment helps organizations prevent discrimination
and promote inclusiveness. There is
evidence that managing a diverse workforce well can contribute to increased
staff retention and productivity. It can
enhance the organization’s responsiveness to an increasingly diverse world of
customers, improve relations with the surrounding community, increase the
organization’s ability to cope with change and expand the creativity of the
organization.
Good management of diversity can: increase productivity,
enhance innovation, and improve the organization’s ability to maneuver in an
increasingly competitive, complex and diverse environment.
According to Santana (2003):
Companies that have managers who are equipped to successfully leverage
the distinct and rich talents and skills and knowledge of all employees will
not only avoid drains on profitability; they will actually attain a number of
strategic benefits. Tapping into
diversity is ESSENTIAL for success in any business. Diversity breads creativity and creativity
drives innovation. To be successful in business your people need to be able to
innovate so that you can remain differentiated from the competition. Otherwise,
your company becomes a collection of “commoditized”
people that produce “commoditized" products and
services. The bottom line: the ability
to manage diversity is extremely valuable to any organization. (n. p.)High productivity increasingly depends on effective
functioning teams. A team that
encompasses a variety of diverse characteristics individually, which comes
together collectively, can spark creativity and innovation.
According to Alpert (1998):
The best teams generate the most cohesion and respect for other team
members, are not afraid to risk putting forth ideas and striving for better
practices and innovation. Creating and
sustaining such teams is made much more difficult by misunderstandings and
conflicts involving cultural differences.
Furthermore, teams that bring together varied experiences and
perspectives have a higher probability of being more creative and
innovative. In any case, as the
workforce becomes more diverse so will teams on which organizations depend for
high productivity and effectiveness. (n. p.)
Diversity can be a “looking glass” through which, new ways of thinking
about products, markets and innovation can develop. Promoting innovation and diversity efforts
can improve organizational effectiveness.
According to Procter and Gamble CEO Pepper (2003):
“The success of this company is a direct result of our diverse and
talented workforce. Our ability to
develop new consumer insights and ideas and to execute in a superior way across
the work is the best possible testimony to the power of diversity any organization
could ever have.” (n. p.)
Workforce teams that are more diverse in nature generate ideas that are
superior in creativity and in quality.
According to
Decision-making groups that are characterized by higher levels of
diversity are more likely to generate a higher number of possible solutions and
consider a higher number of alternatives before finalizing their decisions and
such processes are generally associated with higher quality decisions. (p. 208)
Another feature affecting organizations and a key factor for embracing
workforce diversity is globalization. As per Dessler
(2004), globalization requires that employers hire minority members with the
cultural and language skills global companies need (p. 45). Workers from
diverse backgrounds often have this proficiency. By relating to people of all backgrounds, the
organization will gain a greater perspective on how different cultures operate
and use these skills and attributes for global market competency. Embracing diversity resulting from the
expansion of a global economy has proven to be beneficial.
According to Belcher (2003):
The
Most businesses will increasingly need to learn how to be effective in
global markets. As more and more
businesses of all sizes compete in the global marketplace, organizations must
demonstrate their commitment to diversity in strategic planning.
Recruiting and retention will be necessary for developing innovations
and to find new business markets and opportunities in the
According to Kersten (2000):
In order for companies to fill positions in the foreseeable future, they
will need to attract minorities. This
means not only finding access and providing information to minority
populations, but also to demonstrate an organizational environment that will
welcome and support a diverse workforce.
Women and people of color will represent the majority of new entrants to
the
Employees are an organization’s most valuable asset. These are the
people who are going to carry out strategic plans, business plans and company policy
thereby making them the most precious possession within the organization. Your personal qualifications, characteristics
and talents make you the bloodline of the company, regardless of age, gender,
ethnicity or sex. What you contribute to the company with respect to
experience, thoughts, opinions and actions is vital to the business
environment. Because of this, retaining
employees from diverse backgrounds is critical.
Evidence suggests that a diverse workforce leads to profitability and
minimizes the cost of employee replacement.
According to Kersten (2000):
Estimates of the cost of replacing an employee vary, but a good rule of
thumb is that replacing an employee costs four times that worker’s salary. These costs include such factors as the time
involved in recruitment, hiring and training, as well as the dollars lost to
production while the position is unfilled.
Such calculations, moreover, do not take into account the costs of lost
accumulated company knowledge and the current and future potential of
contribution of the employee who has left.
If turnover is high, poor morale also increases the real cost of
attrition. (p. 240)
Measuring how diversity contributes to an organization’s profitability raises
difficulty, but evidence shows there is a link between profitability and a
sound diversity program.
According to Carp (2004):
Trying to build a
commitment to diversity solely on quantifiable dollars and cents diminishes the
importance of the endeavor. We tend to
want to quantify the cost savings or increased revenues, but the higher-level
piece is a top line benefit. This
country was built on diverse groups coming together. We are one of the most diverse populations in
the world and we happen to also be one of the most creative in terms of an
economy that keeps reinventing itself.
If you step back and say a company’s job is to constantly reinvent
itself and bring new products and services that add value, you have to reach
the conclusion that you can drive a better top line by making sure all people
and all ideas are valued. (p. 51)
As per Cole (2003):
The primary goal of diversity management is to have productivity and
profitability thrive within businesses and organizations. It is important to remember the recent style
of leadership is driven by humanistic concerns, rather than those legal and
dogmatic. This traditional approach to
outdated EEOC procedures will help to ensure productivity and profit all
around. Did you know that every minute
of every single working day someone files a discrimination suit? Local, state and Federal laws prohibit
discrimination based upon factors such as religion, sex and race. In the event that a business is found guilty,
it must foot the bill for all attorney fees, court costs, damages and
more. Plaintiffs win many millions of
dollars annually as a result of discrimination charges. The area of financial burden will be lessened
substantially when an environment of diversity management is comfortably established. (p. 51)
Not only does a strong organizational commitment to
diversity expand the organizations’ talent pool, and improves the
organizations’ ability to retain valuable employees.
Ignoring diversity within organizations does have its consequences. The inability to manage diversity in the
workplace can be extremely harmful and costly to a business.
According to Pope (2004):
When contemplating the concept of diversity the logic of “business as
usual” can not exist. Many aspects of
business can be damaged with this attitude resulting in discrimination suits,
litigation time and money, legal fees/settlements, high employee turnover and a
negative community image. Furthermore,
productivity, morale and the organizations’ ability to recruit high quality
individuals will suffer. All of these
aspects can be detrimental to the success of an organization. Some companies
wait until they are in pain increasing litigation costs, negative publicity,
falling market share or stagnant productivity before they finally realize that
the “tried and true” activities of the past are not producing the results they
want and need. (p. 64)
The “business as usual” way of thinking must not cloud our perception of
the importance of diversity within the workplace. The financial aspect of diversity blindness
is not the only drawback for organizations that do not embrace diversity. The culture of the organization is also
negatively affected.
According to Pope (2004):
Ignorance to diversity in organizations has the following repercussions:
high turnover among “others” as many employees elect to search for a more
supportive work environment, low morale among those who remain due to
persistent culture clash and on going conflicts between many mainstream
employees and “others”, limited innovation due to over-reliance on “tried and
true” methods and the underutilization of the skills and perspectives of the
“others,” lagging productivity as mainstream employees and “others” remain
locked in inter-group conflicts that impedes their ability to work together and
impair their effectiveness in dealing with diverse customers, and finally, a
growing inability to recruit the best and the brightest new workers as the
organization’s diverse image and reputation precede it into the employment
marketplace. (p. 66)
Companies need to assess the impact of diversity on both the workforce
and on consumer markets and determine what challenges and opportunities
diversity presents.
To reap the benefits of diversity organizational leaders need to learn
how to manage it. The key to successful diversity management begins with a
strong commitment to the concept.
According to Anand (2004):
If diversity initiatives are not integrated into your core business, then
it is easy to marginalize and pigeonhole them and they’ll be ineffective. If there is no commitment from the top, no
clear accountability for meeting goals and not clearly articulated business
case, they won’t succeed. If you are
doing this only because the top leader says it is the right thing to do,
tomorrow the top leader may leave and it may not be right. But if it is right and makes business sense,
it will be sustained. (p. 22)
With the full support of all levels of leadership throughout the organization,
cultural change is possible. Diversity
management must flow through the organization without creating superior or
inferior relationships and be effectively integrated into an organization’s
environment.
According to Cox (2004):
My philosophy is to get diversity at the top of the organization so
that, without saying so in words, the commitment is clear on what the
organization values. Employees see
people who look like them who lead, own and are committed to creating and
cultivating a diverse organization. (p. 53)
There is no simple way to make a cultural change. It requires commitment from all levels within
an organization and breaking from past practices. Leadership must “walk the walk” for
successful diversity management.
Effectively integrating diversity
requires education, training and communication.
As
An important starting point for successfully managing diversity involves
a heightened awareness of the different challenges faced by different people
within the organization. People who are
“different” from each other in terms of their gender, physical ability, socioeconomic background and so on, are more likely to have
at least some stereotypes about each other and it is these stereotypical
attitudes and view that many diversity training programs aim to address. (p.
208)
Mangers at all levels of the organization must educate themselves to
mentor employees on what the concept of diversity means to the
organization.
According to Parvis (2003):
Supervisors, managers, directors and leaders should educate themselves
comprehensively so that they can be role models for their personnel. To be a
successful model, mentor and coach, the leader ought to concentrate on two
important elements: the first is
self-awareness, the second understanding. By self-awareness, experts mean
self-improvement. Leaders need to
improve their skills in listening, understanding and gleaning knowledge about
the diverse world around them. This
improvement should be a lifelong process. Another important skill is
communication, which plays an important role in the diverse world around
them. Communicating effectively with
team members makes the process of managing the diverse workplace uncomplicated.
It it important to remember that active
listening is the key element in effective communication. Active listening is the basis of
understanding and therefore a significant tool in successful communication. (p.
37)
Training is an intricate part of successfully managing a diverse
workforce. Attempting to make a group
more homogeneous requires a specific skill set.
It is increasingly being recognized that specific competencies and
skills are necessary in order to work successfully as members of a diverse group.
People who are not equipped with these will be less able to develop the
integrating group processes that are characteristic of highly effective diverse
groups. (p. 208)
The case for diversity training is strong but must be accompanied by
other types of organizational support.
Diversity must be part of the company’s business or strategic plan.
According to Pellet (2004):
The Kodak Company credited establishing a separate global diversity
function for communicating the company’s commitment to diversity and assessing
progress. Putting it in HR doesn’t give it enough visibility and importance in
the company. Because of this, we have incorporated diversity programs into out
strategic business planning process. This
forces key operating managers to go through their diversity plans for the year
and gives them perspective of how they did for accountability purposes. (p. 50)
Companies have linked financial incentives to diversity programs and the
successful management of these programs within the organization.
According to Anand (2004):
We have an incentive compensation link in our organization. 10% -15% of our managers’ bonuses is linked to our diversity scorecard; 25% of the executive
team’s bonus is linked. And our CEO has
guaranteed that this bonus will be paid out regardless of the financial
performance of the company, which is significant because diversity is not
something you do only when the company is performing well financially, it is
something you pursue at all times. (p. 22)
Linking diversity programs to the strategic business plans within the
organization and also compensating for positive results from diversity
management rewards successes. It allows
and promotes accountability within the organization relative to embracing a
diverse workforce.
In conclusion, it
is evident the concept of diversity will continue to be an intricate aspect of
the business environments of today and in the future. Organizations must
embrace and understand the importance of diversity in order to remain competitive,
respond to globalization and promote innovation and productivity within its
organization. Strong commitment and
leadership will provide the necessary cultural atmosphere that promotes an
inclusive environment. Training,
education and effective communication will help execute strong change
management practices. The rationale for
understanding and managing diversity has never been stronger. As new possibilities and opportunities in the
business environment arise, the need for diversity programs will be the key to
successful organizations of the future.
The world today is more diverse than ever before. Our ethnicity, religion, life experiences and
all other personal attributes make us unique individuals. We all need to learn to accept what is different
from us and more importantly respect it.
References
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About
the author:
Alicia Kenyon is a Category
Manager-Packaging for a major food company responsible for the negotiation
and purchasing of over 20 million dollars in annual spend. Alicia is
currently a member of the company's Diversity Council with recent
attendance at the National Supplier Diversity Conference in
Washington D.C. Alicia will graduate from Bellevue University
in May 2005 with a BA in Business Management.