WORKFORCE DIVERSITY
Instructions:
You have been tasked to communicate to the VP of Human Resources about the need to prepare current staff for a more diverse workforce as a result of opening a new office in Miami, FL. This geographical area is known for its cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity in comparison to the company’s office in Topeka, KS.
Create a 2,100-word report analyzing the relationship between these concepts or topics:
Analyze the role of innovation in executing this change.
Assess managing diversity in the workplace, particularly with new workers coming from Miami.
Examine how technology facilitates the implementation of change with the distance from Topeka to Miami.
Explain how the workforce in the company will benefit from welcoming an inclusive and more diverse group of coworkers.
Explain the benefits and the opportunity that a more diverse workforce will create.
Include at least five references, with at least two ‘peer reviewed’ from the UoP library.
Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines.
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Solution
WORKFORCE DIVERSITY
Introduction
Globalization has led the need of the incorporation of employees from diverse backgrounds. Organizations compete in a global framework, in order to remain relevant in their respective industries and maximize on their profits. This creates a concern, in terms of the need of capitalizing and investing in a diverse workforce. Thus, the management of the company has to focus on the preparation of the current workforce to adopt the change in workforce diversity that comes with the opening of a new office in Miami, Fl. In every organization, whenever there is a change or a transition that regards a change of policy, employees usually show some form of resistance no matter how minimal. The leadership of an organization needs to assess such effects that come with the transition and be able to prepare the employees, in order to minimize the levels of resistance. The opening of a new office at Miami by the company will definitely incorporate a diverse workforce, with individuals that have different cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity. The report analyzes the role of innovation in the execution of the change, assesses the management of diversity in the organization, examines the role of technology and how it facilities the change, explains how the current workforce will benefit from the adoption of a diverse workforce, and finally gives the benefits and opportunities that accrue to the organization from the change.
Discussion
The Role of Innovation
Diversity unlocks innovation, in that the tools of innovation essential to this change aid in the identification and understanding of both the organization’s needs and the needs of the Miami clients, in order develop a diverse approach to meet those needs.
An innovation strategy is paramount in order to execute this change. It should be inspiring and should best describe the company’s future state. Through the adoption of new ideas and perspectives from the employees, the organization is able to harness talent and new opportunities (McMahon, 2011). These opportunities and possibilities should provide input and growth to the company in the new environment. Performance is enhanced by innovation, as it increases competitiveness and transforms the organizations internal capabilities; hence, making it more adaptive to change.
Moreover, the consideration of an Innovation strategy defines their problems, creates solutions, and comes up with new ways that organize work through the use of experience, motivation, and skills. The innovation strategy explores the possible market developments and scenarios. This defines attractive market opportunities for the organization and for its clients. It should aim higher and seek to push its boundaries even further.
Assessment of Managing Diversity
The need of expansion and access to international markets increases the need of an organization to open foreign branches. This leads to the consideration of having an inclusive and harmonious workforce that appreciates the cultural backgrounds of different employees, with an aim of the maximization of the organization’s potential. The incorporation of different employees with different backgrounds in Miami will be successful if the leadership of the company is willing to support the various diversity practices and implement the writer policies that regard diversity. If the senior management of the company remains committed to the achievement of diversity, the organization will be successful in implementing the change. Moreover, there needs to be a transparent recruitment procedure that means the creation of a Human Resource department that is free from bias. Furthermore, the encouragement of an organizational culture that incorporates diversity in the workforce aids in the reduction of barriers to entry in the organization (McMahon, 2011). The ability to track and review the organizations’ level of diversity aids in the formulation and implementation of policies and practices that will reinforce the commitment of the organization to a more diverse workforce.
Role of Technology in the Implementation of Change
Technology aids the management of a diverse workforce, especially through Information Technology (IT) that eases the communication process in an organization (Amaram, 2011). With a diverse workforce in Miami, there is a high possibility of language barriers that could be minimized through IT. There are various communication tools that could be used for communication between the employees at the Topeka office and the ones in the new office at Miami. Such tools enhance good communication amongst the employees that breaks not only the language barriers, but also the cultural barriers.
Email is one of the communication tools that could aid the workforce evade culture clashes and overcome language barriers. Most non-native employees are able to write the native language better, as compared to their ability to speak the language. Thus, email creates the platform, where such a diverse workforce could communicate effectively with the elimination of language and cultural barriers. Moreover, email keeps a record of the actual communication, thus reduces the level of misunderstandings amongst the employees, as it could be used for reference purposes.
In addition, the use of groupware technology such as intranet technology could the diverse workforce in the communication process. An investment in intranet technology could fasten the dissemination of information between the two offices. In terms of the management of a diverse workforce, intranet technology creates an organizational link and employees from different nationalities are able to communicate with ease, as different accents are eliminated and employees understand each other better.
Moreover videoconferencing could be used as a tool for the reduction of the effect of cultural differences in the workforce. Through the intranet, employees from both offices could communicate and have meetings online. The employees are able to read visual cues of the others including facial expressions, body language, and gestures. Videoconferencing leads to the enhancement of social relationships and the avoidance of misinterpretations, as one could demonstrate their idea if the other party does not comprehend the meaning of a certain word or concept.
Workforce Benefits of an Inclusive and more Diverse Coworkers
The inclusion of a diverse workforce will benefit the existing employees, in that they will be able to develop self-awareness. Different employees have different perceptions and biases that concern other employees from other cultural backgrounds (Amaram, 2011). Through the inclusion of a diverse workforce, the existing employees in the company will have the opportunity to interact with different people and be able to develop self-awareness, in regards to their own perceptions. In addition, once the employees have developed self-awareness, they are able to acknowledge cultural differences and in the process they will learn various practices that could foster the success of the new office at Miami. Through the maintenance of a communication process that encourages workforce diversity, the employees increase their level of understanding of how business works in other cultures. This creates the benefit of gaining an addition insight on different management skills that subsequently leads to an improvement on the problem-solving ability of the existing employees.
Moreover, the existing employees will have the opportunity to interact with different people that have different ideas that may help them become more innovative and smart (McMahon, 2011). Furthermore, the employees will be able to have a global vision and view business from a broader perspective. This will boost their ability to become visionary leaders with the objective of developing their individual missions, with the integration of broader views. Finally, the employees will have a diverse network experience. The idea of a diverse workforce comes with the creation of contact with various individuals from different organizations that have different capabilities. Such networks may help enhance the careers of the existing employees through gaining access to important contacts.
Benefits and Opportunities that a more Diverse Workforce creates to the Organization
A diverse workforce creates effective communication between an organization and the customers. The customer service department interacts with customers from different backgrounds with different languages. A diverse workforce enables the appointment of customer support representatives that manage a given market segment that they have some sort of familiarity. In addition, the pool of employees from diverse backgrounds comes with diverse expertise and knowledge that will increase the productivity of the company. The proper management of the strengths of a diverse workforce gives the organization a competitive advantage, as each individual possesses unique attributes.
Moreover, the organization will benefit from team work, as different individually from different backgrounds are able to generate a variety of ideas that positively impact the decisions made in the company. Consequently, the organization benefits from the high level of exposure gained by the employees through a diverse workforce, as they are able to break the subconscious barriers; hence, providing organizational solutions from clearer cultural insights. The organization may focus on the opportunities that come with a diverse workforce, in terms of the conduction of international business. Recently, there has been a need for organizations to go global through various agreements such as mergers and acquisitions. The conduction of international business gives the opportunity to understand foreign laws and gain a wider market share that leads to an increase in revenue.
Conclusion
The opening of a new office at Miami has been enabled through the need of expansion and gaining access to a bigger market share. Through the assessment of managing diversity, the leadership of the company has to be committed in effecting the change and giving the current workforce a reason to accept the changes and learn the benefits of a diverse workforce. The management needs to focus on innovation, as it encourages creativity that comes with diversity. It also needs to focus on the implementation of various technological tools that will enhance the effectiveness of the workforce diversity. It is evident that both the employees and the organization have a chance to benefit from the incorporation of a diverse workforce, as different individuals from different cultural backgrounds come with different experiences that create broader insights that aid in effective problem solving and decision making. The organization is able to maximize on the various opportunities that come with a diverse workforce, especially the opportunity on learning foreign laws that are crucial on the success of the company.
References
Amaram, D. (2011). Cultural Diversity: Implications For Workplace Management. JDM, 2(4), 1.
McMahon, A. (2011). Does Workplace Diversity Matter? A Survey Of Empirical Studies On Diversity And Firm Performance, 2000-09. JDM, 5(2).