Diversity in the Workplace
Success in the workplace is attributed to several factors, with diversity and teamwork playing a crucial role. Generally, a workplace comprises of people with different ideologies and opinions. The combination of the different ideas works towards building a successful workplace. The variety of differences existing among employees constitutes workplace diversity. Moreover, diversity not only defines how people identify themselves but also how other people perceive them in the workplace. Diversity in the workplace covers several aspects such as race, ethnicity, gender, social class, and other differences that may seem significant in the workplace. When diversity is positively embraced, it has benefits such as providing ready talents for various as well as saving time that would be used for external sourcing services.
Creativity in the workplace is essential in coming up with ideas that eventually lead to innovation. A company that embraces diversity enjoys several benefits from a variety of opinions from different backgrounds (Fitzsimmons, 2013). The fact that the workplace is comprised of people with different ideas gives the company a variety of ideas from which to choose. In the process, the company saves time and resources that would have been used to source ideas from outside sources. However, the ability of the workers to sell their ideas to the company depends on the relationship between the company and the employees. Therefore, the company should ensure that employees and motivated and satisfied to work for the company. Besides, a company that mistreats workers does not benefit from ideas owned by the workers. Moreover, the demographics of a target population impact the success of a company in a particular area.
A company works towards achieving various goals and objectives. The demographic needs in the area of operation form a significant part of the factors to be considered by the company. A diverse workplace means that a company has tapped individuals from as many individuals as possible from the population groups in the area. Therefore, the company knows the needs of the various population groups from the workplace. Also, a diverse workplace pushes a company towards achieving demographic objects without much resistance. Generally, a diverse workplace promises customer satisfaction since the workplace understands most of the demographic requirements in the area of operation.
The management of diversity in the workplace faces several challenges that require competence from the human resource department to overcome. People with different ideas are subject to getting into frequent crises (Kurtulus, 2011). However, tolerance and crisis management tools play a crucial role in ensuring that the workplace remains diverse and productive. The company could involve all the workers in decision-making processes, even when the idea has come from within the workplace. If the employees are involved, they will always feel recognized, and conflicts will significantly reduce.
In sum, workplace diversity has benefits such as providing ready talents for various as well as saving time that would be used for external sourcing services. A company that embraces diversity enjoys several benefits from a variety of ideas from different backgrounds. Moreover, the demographics of a target population impact the success of a company in a particular area. Also, a diverse workplace promises customer satisfaction since the workplace understands most of the demographic requirements in the field of operation. Generally, workplace diversity comes with several challenges but eventually works for the benefit of the company.
References
Fitzsimmons, S. R. (2013). Multicultural employees: A framework for understanding how they contribute to organizations. Academy of Management Review, 38(4), 525-549.
Kurtulus, F. A. (2011). What types of diversity benefit workers? Empirical evidence on the effects of co‐worker dissimilarity on the performance of employees. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 50(4), 678-712.