Workforce Diversity Management:
Workforce diversity
means similarities and differences among employees in terms of age,
cultural background, physical abilities and disabilities, caste, religion, gender,
and sexual orientation. No two humans are alike.
Workforce diversity
management could be defined as follows:
Managing
workforce diversity implies creating an organisational climate in which a
heterogeneous workforce performs to its best potential; without the
organisation favouring /dis-favouring any particular segment of workforce with
a view to facilitating the best attainment of organisational goals.
Features
of Workforce Diversity Management:
(i) Workforce diversity management requires creation
of an organisational climate, in which people from different cultural, social
backgrounds and being diverse in many other respects (e.g., age, gender,
education etc.) can co-exist and work, with full co-operation of one another.
(ii) Workforce diversity management aims at making
people work to the best of their potential
(iii) Workforce diversity management rules out any
discrimination among people, in any respect, whatsoever.
(iv) Work-force diversity management is expected to
work towards the best attainment of organisational goals.
Dimension
of Workforce Diversity:
Some people dimensions of workforce diversity
are described below:
(i) Age:
People belonging to different age groups
cause diversity in workforce. Young people may be enriched with health, merit,
capacity for hard-work etc.; while elderly people may possess more maturity
than their junior counterparts and are full of experiences of life.
(ii) Gender:
Male workers are usually aggressive, bold
and materialistic; while female workers possess sympathy for others and are
more concerned with quality of life. What is important to observe is that
people of both sexes have material differences in outlook, nature, habits etc.;
as differences between males and females are the design of God who created
mankind.
(iii) Education:
In an organisation people may range from
less educated to highly educated. Educated people have a broad outlook and are
open-minded. They are endowed with logic and rationality and usually dislike
discrimination among individuals on petty grounds of caste, colour, religion
etc.
(iv) Culture:
Culture is a complex of caste, religion,
language, social traditions and values etc. People from different cultural
backgrounds may have ethnic orientations i.e. a sense of favouritism towards
their nation, caste or tribe, which they belong to.
(v) Psychology:
(Psychology is the kind of mind that one
has that makes one think or behaves in a particular way). In a organisation,
there are people with different psychology. Some may be optimistic or
pessimistic; some may be bold or timid or so on. Psychology may be a gift of
Nature or a manifestation of family background or social affiliations.
Significance
(Importance) of Workforce Diversity Management:
Workforce diversity management is significant
for the following reasons:
(i) Ability to Deal with Diverse Market:
Culturally diverse workforce can better
appreciate the needs, feedings, and attitudes of culturally diverse consumers. Thus,
workforce diversity increases the competence of a corporation to deal with a
market; that consists of diverse consumer groups in respect of age, sex,
culture etc.
(ii) Better Decision-Making:
People from heterogeneous backgrounds may
aid management in better decision-making, by offering suggestions from a wide
range of perspectives and orientations. In fact, heterogeneous groups of people
may be more creative and innovative; when they pool their knowledge and
experiences and agree on a common solution to a tricky problem; which might aid
management in making excellent decisions for the organisation.
(iii) Better Human Relations:
Workforce diversity management aims at
developing and nurturing a common organisational culture and climate; which
enable people from diverse culture and backgrounds to co-exist peacefully. Such
a common organisational culture and climate leads to better human relations in
the enterprise and produces all-round organisational and managerial efficiency.
(iv) Preventing Unnecessary Labour Turnover:
When in an organisation there is good
workforce diversity management; women and other dis-satisfied people are
prevented from leaving the organisation. In case otherwise, when there is large
labour turnover because of poor workforce diversity management; investment made
in manpower may go waste, with other bad consequences for the organisation. In
fact, employees leave the organisation when they do not feel comfortable and
duly cared for by management.
(v) Building of Goodwill of the Enterprise:
Companies
with excellent workforce diversity management build goodwill in the society. As
such, talented people of society with diverse backgrounds and culture get
attracted towards it for seeking suitable employment. Such companies never have
a problem of the scarcity of skilled, educated and talented human capital.
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