Workforce Diversity: Gouri Lakshmi Jaison Johnson

WORKFORCE
DIVERSITY
Gouri Lakshmi
Jaison Johnson
Workforce diversity
● Workforce diversity means the heterogeneous composition of employees of

an organization in terms of age, language, ethnic origin etc.
● Workforce diversity represents both challenge and opportunities to a
business
● According to Moorhead and Griffin “Workforce diversity is concerned with
the similarities and differences in characteristics such as age, gender, ethinic
heritage, disabilities, race, sexual orientation among the employees of
organization.
Understanding different diversities
Biographical characteristics
● Biographical characteristics such as age, gender, race, disability, and length of
service are some of the most obvious ways employees differ.
● Age
● Sex
● Race and ethnicity
● Disability
● Hidden disability
Other differentiating characters.
● Religion
● Sexual orientation and gender identity.
● tenure
● Cultural Identity
Levels of diversity
Surface-level diversity Deep-level diversity

Differences in easily perceived characteristics, like Differences in values, personality and work
gender, race, ethnicity, age or disability, that do not preferences that become progressively more
necessarily reflect the ways people think or feel, important for determining similarity as
but that may activate certain stereotypes. people get to know one another better.
Reasons for increasing diversity
● Changing workforce demographics
● Legislation and legal suits
● Rapidly growing increase in the international business
● Competitive pressure
● The recognition and desire for diverse viewpoints

Multicultural Organization
A multicultural organization has been described as one that:

1. Reflects the contributions and interests of diverse cultural and social groups in its
mission, operations, and product or service
2. Acts on a commitment to eradicate social oppression in all forms within the
organization
3. Includes the members of diverse cultural and social groups as full participants,
especially in decisions that shape the organization
4. Follows through on broader external social responsibilities, including support of other
institutional efforts to eliminate all forms of social oppression
Individual Approaches to Managing Diversity
Individual approaches to managing diversity typically take two interdependent paths
❖ LEARNING : acquiring real or simulated experience
❖ EMPATHY : ability to understand feelings and emotions

LEARNING
❖ Managers are often unprepared to deal with diversity and are unsure of how to respond.
❖ Most of them won't find it necessary to have proper learning to handle such situations.
❖ Managers must openly communicate one-on-one, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity,
sexual preference, religion, or those challenged with a disability, in order to determine
how best to understand and interact with them.
❖ Managers can also encourage diverse employees to give them candid feedback regarding
how they are being treated.
EMPATHY
❖ The ability to put oneself in another’s place and see things from that person’s point of
view.
❖ By learning how to empathize with the feelings and by offering encouragement,
guidance, and backup support, the manager can play an important individual role in
more effectively managing diversity.
Organizational Approaches to Managing Diversity
Various techniques included in organizational approaches to managing diversity are:

❖ Testing
❖ Training
❖ Mentoring
❖ Programs designed to help personnel effectively balance their work and family lives.
TESTING
❖ Most tests traditionally used in selection and evaluation are not suited or valid for a
diverse workforce
❖ Use job-specific tests rather than general aptitude or knowledge tests
❖ Tests should be able to identify whether the applicant has the necessary skills for doing
the job
❖ All test questions should have the same meaning regardless of the person’s cultural
background.
TRAINING
❖ Majority of U.S. companies have diversity training

❖ Offering training to diverse groups
❖ Offering training to managers and other employees who work with diverse employees
❖ Training games are used to help participants focus on cultural issues such as how to
interact with personnel from other cultures
MENTORING
❖ Identify the skills, interests, and aspirations the person has

❖ Provide instruction in specific skills and knowledge critical to successful job
performance
❖ Help in understanding the unwritten rules of the organization and how to avoid saying or
doing the wrong things
❖ Answer questions and provide important insights
❖ Offer emotional support
❖ Serve as a role model
❖ Create an environment in which mistakes can be made without losing self-confidence
WORK/LIFE PROGRAMS
❖ alternative work schedules

❖ flexibility in balancing home and work demands
❖ Flextime , the compressed workweek, job sharing, and telecommuting
ADVANTAGES
❖ A diverse workforce with multi-lingual employees and employees from varying ethnic
backgrounds can also be helpful for organizations who want to expand or improve
operations in international, national, regional and local markets.
❖ Environment more open to new ideas and ways of thinking.
❖ Organizations employing a diverse workforce can supply a greater variety of solutions to
problems in service, sourcing, and allocation of resources.
CHALLENGES
❖ Diversified workforce may experience less cooperation from some of their colleagues.
❖ Managing diversity is a complex and unique HR issue.
❖ Possibility of cultural clashes and misunderstandings due to disparate thinking.
❖ Discrimination and lack of respect.
❖ lifestyle acceptance - Sometimes gay and lesbian workers experience disrespect and
discrimination from coworkers.
CONCLUSION
❖ A truly inclusive workplace is about representation, respect and recognition.
❖ Diverse ideas help create new solutions to help overcome obstacles.
❖ Acknowledging differences and embracing them encourages free thinking among the
employees.
❖ Businesses that can successfully manage diversity in the workplace will have a
definite competitive advantage over others.
REFERENCE
❖ Organizational Behavior An Evidence-Based Approach, Fred Luthans, 12 th edition

❖ Organizational Behavior, Stephen P Robbins , Timothy A Judge
❖ Workforce Diversity: A Key to Improve Productivity ,Ankita Saxena
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WORKFORCE

● Workforce diversity means the heterogeneous composition of employees of

● Sexual orientation and gender identity.

Surface-level diversity Deep-level diversity

● Changing workforce demographics

● Legislation and legal suits

● Rapidly growing increase in the international business

● The recognition and desire for diverse viewpoints

A multicultural organization has been described as one that:

Individual approaches to managing diversity typically take two interdependent paths

❖ LEARNING : acquiring real or simulated experience

❖ EMPATHY : ability to understand feelings and emotions

Various techniques included in organizational approaches to managing diversity are:

❖ Majority of U.S. companies have diversity training

❖ Identify the skills, interests, and aspirations the person has

❖ alternative work schedules

❖ Diverse ideas help create new solutions to help overcome obstacles.

❖ Organizational Behavior An Evidence-Based Approach, Fred Luthans, 12 th edition

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