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Topic: Managing diversity at workplace: Key to organizational survival
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Abstract
Managing the workplace is the main responsibility of the Human resource department
because it has a lot of impacts on the productivity of the organization. The workplace
diversity in Almarai Company transforms the environment and the operations of the
organization. This report illustrates the initiatives and the challenges that are faced by the
company while implementing workforce diversity.
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Table of Contents
Abstract......................................................................................................................................1
Introduction about organization.................................................................................................3
Vision.....................................................................................................................................3
Mission...................................................................................................................................3
Organizational structure.........................................................................................................3
Introduction about diversity.......................................................................................................3
Definition................................................................................................................................3
Concepts.................................................................................................................................3
Benefits of diversity...................................................................................................................3
Different perspectives.............................................................................................................3
Increased creativity and innovation........................................................................................3
Better decision making...........................................................................................................4
Challenges of cultural diversity at work....................................................................................4
Language and Communication issues....................................................................................4
Too many opinions.................................................................................................................4
Implementation challenges.....................................................................................................4
Factors to consider in adopting a diverse workforce.................................................................4
Equal treatment with the diverse employee groups................................................................4
Fair recruitment policy...........................................................................................................4
Respecting employees special needs......................................................................................5
Criticism and limitations of managing diversity........................................................................5
Criticism.................................................................................................................................5
Limitations..............................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................5
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Introduction about organization

The name of the company which I have selected is Almarai; it is located in Saudi
Arabia and comes under the top leading food and beverage manufacturers and distributer. It
was founded in 1977 and working well in the Middle East and North African regions of Saudi
Arabia. The main products of the company include poultry, bakery, juice and dairy items, and
infant nutrition [ CITATION SAD16 \l 1033 ].

Vision
“Remaining in the topmost preferred choice of their customers is the vision of the company
and delivering them the best quality of food and beverages”.

Mission
“The mission of the company is to provide the best quality nutritious food to its customers.
Maintaining nutrition in the beverages is very important for them for the health of their
customers”.

Organizational structure

Introduction about diversity

Definition
The significant differences among people are known as diversity. It could be
noticeable in different organizations all over the world. The differences are based on gender,
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sexual orientation, race, culture, cast, age, physical ability, religion, class, etc [ CITATION
Mor18 \l 1033 ].

Concepts
The concept of diversity for Almarai Saudi Arabia always demands acceptance in
respect of every single individual. The organization clearly understands that every individual
is unique in his way. The company is managing diversity in a very well manner by valuing
every individual rather than discriminate against them. Almarai Saudi Arabia focuses upon
every employee's talent and diversity and works very hard to make sure that every individual
is developed and valued every single day [ CITATION Moh202 \l 1033 ].

Benefits of diversity
According to Almarai Company, there are a lot of benefits to diversity in the organization:

Different perspectives
If there is a factor of diversity in the organization it always ensures that it is a variety
of different perspectives. If every employee is from different characteristics and background
so they have different skills and experience, which results in highly beneficial for the
company in planning and executing the business.

Increased creativity and innovation

The food and beverage company Almarai while focusing on diversity gets a lot of
good ideas and creativity in the organization. The innovation is in creativity is only because
of having people with different backgrounds and with fresh and new ideas [ CITATION Gas17 \l
1033 ].

Better decision making

The company also observe the factor of better decision making, because when the
employees are from different background and perspective came together they have better
solutions and strategies. It improves the decision-making process and results in the success of
the company goals [ CITATION Lay15 \l 1033 ].
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Challenges of cultural diversity at work

Here are some of the challenges of cultural diversity that are faced by Almarai Company in
Saudi Arabia:

Language and Communication issues

One of the biggest challenges for Almarai Company is language and communication
issues while having diversity in the organization. English is not considered a first language in
Saudi Arabia that's why it's difficult for every individual to understand the language of the
other one. The lack of understanding of the language is it results in poor communication and
a drop in productivity. Employees feel difficult to understand their cultural gaps as well as
avoid some specific words which may have different terminology is there used as slang in the
other language [ CITATION Nic17 \l 1033 ].

Too many opinions

People are from different backgrounds in Almarai Company which is why the
management of the company faces difficulty in managing too many opinions. As people have
a different culture so they have different experiences and solutions to every problem. The
thinking perspective of every individual is also different that's why too many opinions would
result in a reduction in productivity.

Implementation challenges
At the start, the company faces a lot of difficulties in the implementation of diversity
in the organization. The company is also further divided into different bands that were
difficult for the management to implement diversity in every brand and store. Most of the
employees feel frustrated at the start because there are a lot of people who resist change
[ CITATION Arm161 \l 1033 ].

Factors to consider in adopting a diverse workforce

Almarai Company in Saudi Arabia considers these factors in adopting a diverse workforce:

Equal treatment with the diverse employee groups

While adopting the diverse workforce in the organization Almarai Company focuses
upon equal treatment with the diverse employee groups. The company makes sure that every
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single employee even having a different background of perspective must fall access to the
same opportunities.

Fair recruitment policy

The company also looks up fair recruitment policies while selecting employees from
diverse backgrounds. It is very important to make the recruitment policy fair and based upon
merit. The company always makes sure to ignore the personal characteristics of the employee
which are not related to job performance [ CITATION Soj20 \l 1033 ].

Respecting employees special needs

Most of the workers, while the recruiting processes from diverse backgrounds are
disabled but they are crucial because they have a lot of talent. While adopting a diverse
workforce focus upon hiring disabled employees and through the help of technology the
company enables the disabled employees to be an active part of the organization [ CITATION
Woo17 \l 1033 ].

Criticism and limitations of managing diversity

Criticism
While managing diversity in the organization can have criticism in some negative
ways which includes the creation of barriers, miscommunications, and the adaptation of
behavior is between people with different cultural backgrounds.

Limitations
Diversity in the workplace would result in reducing the factor of trust in the
organization. There is also a limitation that some of the diverse groups become hostile.

Conclusion
So, it is concluded that Almarai Company in Saudi Arabia manages its workplace
diversity so well. The company represents that the reflection of a diverse workforce would
result in changing perspectives in their organization. It is seen that a lot of diverse working
teams in Almarai Company bring high value to the organization. The company respects
individual differences a lot which creates a competitive edge as well as increases productivity
[ CITATION AlN191 \l 1033 ].
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References
Al-Nasr, N. S. (2019). Organizational policies and diversity management in Saudi Arabia.
Employee Relations: The International Journal.

Armache, J. (. (2016). Diversity in the workplace: Benefits and challenges. Journal of

International Diversity, 2012(1).

Gassmann, O. (2017). Multicultural teams: Increasing creativity and innovation by diversity.

Creativity and Innovation Management, 10(2), 88-95.

Layton, D. (2015). Diversity matters. McKinsey & Company, 1(1), 15-29.

Mohamad, K. A. (2020). Is the Business in Saudi Market Sustainable? Case Study of

Almarai. IIUM Journal of Case Studies in Management, 11(2), 7-14.

Morgan, J. (2018). Diversity in the Workplace. American Economic Review, 99(1), 472-85.

Nichols, J. (2017). Diversity and stability in language. The handbook of historical linguistics,
283-310.

SADI, M. A. (2016). Case study: marketing perspective of Almarai dairy food company.
International Journal of Management Cases, 9(1), 42-50.

Sojo, V. (2020). Why does workplace gender diversity matter? Justice, organizational
benefits, and policy. Social Issues and Policy Review, 14(1), 36-72.
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Woodhams, C. (2017). Disability and diversity–a difference too far?. Personnel Review.