Diversity Training Programs
Typically, diversity training program refers to a program designed to promote positive group interaction, minimize discrimination and prejudice, and generally teach persons who are different from other individuals how to work in harmony and an effective manner (Fujimoto & Härtel, 2017). Many companies have long depended on diversity to minimize bias on the job, performance ratings and hiring tests to limit it to promotions and recruitments, as well as grievance systems to give their workers a way to challenge the executives. Such tools are designed to preempt lawsuits by policing the executive’s actions and thoughts. This force-feeding can significantly activate bias in the workplace rather than stamp it out. Some of the reasons as to why training diversity programs are failing;
First, the management is at times so rigid to changes and diversity, which makes it difficult to achieve diversity in the company (Fujimoto & Härtel, 2017). It is therefore imperative for managers in the organizations to be open-minded to accept different opinions from others in the firm so that the phenomenon of diversity in the organization can increase within the upper management. Secondly, the aspect of diversity in organizations is usually deemed as a loss of authority for the top management who feel inferior as well as ineffective when they perceive the loss of authority over their subordinates (Fujimoto & Härtel, 2017). Hence, the grip of authority in the firm should be solved through delegation of authority to the subordinates.
Thirdly, it is lack of consistency. Most diversity training programs are typically introduced as a reactionary measure following a particular incident. This can result in diversity fatigue. Consequently, there is no particular sweet, especially when it comes to introducing diversity training programs only once when a worker is hired as it will prove unsuccessful. Therefore, the top management should integrate diversity training programs into different components of the firm (Fujimoto & Härtel, 2017). Lastly, the different opinions among the top executives regarding diversity results to disunity hence making the process of driving the diversity agenda down to their subordinate quite challenging. The diversity policy should be incorporated into the organization’s strategic plan to enable the firm to implement as well as enforce it.
Conclusion
To sum up, most organizations face challenges when implementing diversity training programs. As discussed above, various factors have been associated with the inconsistent outcomes of diversity within the top management. It is necessary that organizations understand the importance of diversity training programs such as the growth of employees, making the firm attractive, unity of diverse strengths and schedule advantage. More importantly, they should look for measures to eradicate bias that emanates from different opinions among the employees. Moreover, the company should plan an integrated approach as it motivates employees to learn about as well as comprehend social issues and apply them in their day to day interactions.