Managing Multiculturalism And Diversity
Introduction
In many businesses, diversity has been identified as a demographic reality around the world. International businesses that fully embrace diversity have been touted as being well placed to attract as well as retain a variety of skills that may bail them out incase of adverse business cycles. It has also been noted that creativity and better understanding of clients can be greatly enhanced by a diverse workforce and analysts have also noted that better decisions tend to be made within a diverse group. In that respect, many international businesses have come to the realization that recruiting workers from diverse backgrounds creates the perfect blend of talent vital to give the business a competitive edge. A good number of companies in the global setting have also fully embraced the concept of multiculturalism.In this text, I look what multiculturalism and diversity are as well as the advantages of diversity. I also look at the major dimensions of culture in the society and their effect on the Organisation.
Multiculturalism and diversity
Connerley et al. (2005) defines multiculturalism in the organizational setting as the implementation, acceptance as well as the appreciation of a range of ethnic cultures within the demographic setting of a given Organisation.In relation to businesses, it is important to note that there exist a wide range of factors that influence multiculturalism management. Dean (2002) gives a good example of such factors as where a person’s cultural trait is influenced by his or her country’s culture as a result of its socialization processes and orientation. The effective management of cultural diversity in the organizational setting therefore depends on understanding and appreciating the various subcultures that are in line with those of the Organisation. In that line, Connerley et al. (2005) notes that the society is characterized by several major dimensions of culture. These include:
Collectivism and individualism
This is described as the way individuals view themselves i.e. as part of a wider group or as entirely individuals. This concept advances the argument that the extent to which a person sees a himself as more significant than a group or the other way round with determine by a large extent their behavior interims of upholding ethics or otherwise. In that line individuals from a more collectivist culture are more likely to follow the Organization’s code of ethics because they tend to be less influenced by their own self interests. The table below demonstrates this concept.
Table: demonstrates an Organization’s collectivism as well as individualism features
| Individualistic cultures | Collectivist cultures |
| Emotional independence of employees from the Organisation | Greater emotional dependence on the company amongst employees |
| The job gives more significance to freedom and challenges | The job gives more significance to the use of skills as well as training |
| Group decisions given less prominence than individual decisions | Individual decisions given less prominence than group decisions |
| There is greater insistence on employees initiative | There is no insistence on employee initiative. |
Masculinity and femininity
According to this dimension, people from cultures that are highly masculine are less likely to be guided by the organizations code of ethics as opposed to those from cultures that are highly feminine who are more likely to be influenced by the organization’s code of ethics. In the table below, I demonstrate the masculine as well as feminine characteristics in the organizational setting
Table: Demonstrates the feminine and masculine characteristics in businesses
| Cultures considered masculine | Cultures considered feminine |
| Wealth as well as recognition are regarded as measures of achievement | The nature of human contacts and environment in which one lives are regarded as measures of achievement |
| A higher salary has preference over shorter working hours | Shorter working hours are preferred over additional salaries |
| Workers have a higher motivation to achieve | Workers have a lower motivation to achieve |
| Managers have a higher interest in self realization and leadership | Managers have a lower interest in self realization as well as leadership |
Uncertainty avoidance
This is the likelihood of individuals to evade or fear unpredictable or unstructured situations. Persons may experience difficulty within the organizational setting as a result of a different system of culture and value and it has been noted that people from low uncertainty cultures are less likely to give the organization’s code of ethics a consideration when coming up with deontological norms as compared to those people coming from cultures associated with high avoidance of uncertainty.
Table: demonstrates the characteristics of uncertainty avoidance with regard to an Organisation
| Cultures associated with low uncertainty avoidance | Cultures associated with high uncertainty avoidance |
| Employees optimistic about the organizations motives with regard to its activities | Employees pessimistic with concern to the organizations motive with regard to its activities. |
| Employee royalty to the employer is regarded highly | Employee royalty to the employer is not regarded highly |
| Foreigners are accepted as managers | Foreign managers are regarded with suspicion |
| There is a tendency for employees to take risks | Employees avoid taking risks |
Managing multicultural
To effectively manage multiculturalism within teams in the organizational setting, Lott (2009) notes that organizations and business entities need to deviate from coming up with biased judgments against a background of ethnic stereotypes. With that in mind they need to start by taking a group’s collective judgment with more weight and concern. This can be done by accommodating the various cross-culture disparities and mutual respect and cooperation amongst members of any particular team within the Organisation. The selection of individuals should be task related and each person’s ability to come up with a viable contribution for the team should be taken into consideration.
Workforce diversity
Lott (2009) attributes the success of the Coca-Cola Company to its internal face of diversity. He attributes the wide customer base the company has to innovations by a diverse workforce that is able to take into consideration the various aspects of individual diversity and incorporate it in the various products of the company hence enabling this product to gaining a major following across the divide.With the world now being considered a global village and organizations doing business on a global scale, Griffin (2007) notes that today’s labor force has changed dramatically compared t how it was two decades ago. The organizational environment is increasingly becoming heterogeneous with its workforce coming from diverse backgrounds. This diversity can be in terms of race, nationality, gender and even ethnicity.Lott (2009) notes those two decades ago, diversity only referred to either an individual’s gender or race. He notes that today diversity extends to areas that no one could thing of years ago to include social status and even sexual orientation. With that in mind, workforce diversity can be defined as the acceptance and appreciation of policies that enable individuals different from the dominant consistency to settle and accomplish the organizational objectives as well their own in an accommodating environment.In that line, many authors have demonstrated the importance of workforce diversity noting that organizations that embrace workforce diversity stand a chance to substantially improve their productivity.
Advantages of diversity
In the recent times, there has been a growing trend whereby Organizations are being more attentive with regard to diversity and its management. This has been informed by the ability to increase productivity as a result of well managed workforce diversity. Konrad et al. (2006) gives a number of inherent benefits of a diverse workforce which I discuss below.
Social Responsibility
Because majority of those who benefit from workforce diversity are from a disadvantaged background or form the minority group in the society hence including them in the workforce can be regarded an act of corporate social responsibility. Hiring workforce based on merit only and not an individual’s background also puts a company in good light with regard to its various stakeholders including suppliers, clients, regulators, etc.
Complying with legal requirements
There exist a number of legislative mandates that are enacted to ensure that the company or business enterprise does not use discriminative practices in their employment approaches and undertakings including affirmative action and providing equal employment opportunities. Failure to comply may result in loss of supply contracts with the government or even attract hefty fines. It therefore makes sense for business organizations to embrace diversity.
Marketing strategy
Lott (2009) notes that Coca-Colas success in the global scale has been largely due to its diverse workforce. Nothing reflects this better than its wide range of products that seem to take into account all the cultural, personal as well as lifestyle aspects. As noted earlier in this text, Lott (2009) attributes this to innovation driven primarily by the diverse internal face of the soft drink company. Today, a company’s customer base is highly diverse. This is especially true if the company does business in the global scale. The customer base includes people from various walks of life and to reflect this diversity and to come up with products that reflect this diversity, a company should hire employees with the enhancement of diversity in mind
Motivational benefits and as a cost cutting measure
Enhancing a diverse workforce has been cited to be a non monetary motivation for employees. This reduces the rate of turnover in the company as employees fee3l more appreciated and accepted no matter their background or orientation. By extension, this reduces costs associated with recruitment as employees tend to stay longer with the company. Another way of looking at this in the light of cost reduction is the apparent minimization of possible lawsuits as a result of non compliance with non discriminative laws.
Improved workforce quality
Enhancing diversity increases the pool of employees from which a company can recruit. This increases the probability of attracting the best quality in the market. A quality workforce is a competitive advantage for any Organisation and therefore the Organisation will be able to compete more effectively at the market place. The Organisation will also be able to improve on its productivity.According to Connerley et al. (2005), Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation, an Indian drug vendor fully embraced the concept diversity and since than, the quality of its services have increased exponentially. It has moved from being a regional leader in the pharmaceuticals business to be a truly global outfit competing alongside other pharmaceutical industries in the world. Konrad et al. (2006) attributes this to rigorous recruiting methods used by the company that concentrates only on the prospective employee’s ability and competence.
As an effective tool of communication
A company that enhances diversity around its workforce wins favor among its other stakeholders including suppliers, customers and business partners. Diversity can hence be regarded as a communication tool to that can end up benefiting the entity in terms of injection of additional capital to do business, more clients willing to do business with it as well as an increase in the range of suppliers willing to cultivate a business relationship with the Organisation.
Conclusion
It is clear now hat with the prevailing global rends, companies they embrace multiculturalism and diversity will have a distinct competitive advantage unlike those that fail to do so. With the business environment being more competitive now than ever, it hence makes sense for companies especially those operating on the global setting to fully implement and take steps to cushion and protect them from the unpredictable business cycles.
References
Connerley, M.L., Pedersen, P. (2005). Leadership in a diverse and multicultural environment: developing awareness, knowledge, and skills. SAGE
Griffin, R.W. (2007). Fundamentals of Management. 5th Edition. Cengage Learning
Dean, K.P (2002). Multicultural behavior and global business environments. Routledge
Konrad, A.M., & Prasad, P., Pringle, J.K. (2006). Handbook of workplace diversity. SAGE
Lott, B.E. (2009). Multiculturalism and diversity: a social psychological perspective. John Wiley and Sons
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