Move forward by Managing Diversity

Take full advantage of a Diverse World

Once you are aware of diversity and what it means for the organization, you have to think on how you will manage that diversity in order to take full advantage of it and improve work within the organization.
And now a days, as Ana Maria Corena, Laura Aguilar, Natalia Vargas and Lucas Ocampo said in their exposition, it is a key element, since in order to succeed you need more than the latest technology or the new production and management theories.

It is very important to be aware not only of the diversity inside the workforce and the organization in general, but as well to consider the diversity in the outside world and how it influences customers, providers…

With it organizations will explore improvements, as mentioned in the group’s presentation, in the way they manage time, money, they will have more efficiency, they will attract and retain talented people, will reduce unhealthy tensions, complains and legal actions and loss of productivity.

So considering what diversity and management are we could define “diversity management” as the coordination and organization in coherence with different polices that the organizations undertake in order to include a set of diverse people into the organization.

The group also proposes how to manage diversity in a 3 point explanation.

1. Drawing upon individual tolerance and self-control
Each person working in a group must learn how to make concessions on certain things in order to have a better team work. For this you need a huge level of integration between the members and you also need to know how to canalize some conflicts in order to move on and don’t create a frustrated and bad work environment.

2. Trial and Error Process + Personal Relationships
It seeks to create a good level of relationships between the people of the organizations that could actually become a good friendship. It will boost more communication and the agreements can be met easier.

3. Setting up Transnational Cultures
Companies don’t have only the need to create a corporate culture, but as well an international culture within the organization. Like that there will be a reduction of the tensions that the unknown creates for everyone. When the company is in the process it has to set common norms and avoid that the subcultures become stronger than the organizations culture itself.

With diversity management the organizations seek many things, as showed in Maria Alejandra Gonzales-Perez’ presentation, like the maximization of the potential, increase the movement of the people within the organization, adds value in the performance of the organization, makes an emphasis on individuals, among others.

And like that the organization can achieve improvements in:

1. The Costs: Lower cost with a better management of diversity and integration of the members.

2. Resource-Acquisition: Companies that work with more ethnic minorities will create recognition in the market, which makes easier for them to gain the best personnel.

3. Marketing Argument: With members from different cultures companies are able to answer specifically to the needs of each market, improving all the efforts made in order to enter or stay in that market.

4. Creativity: There is a higher level of creativity.

5. Problem-Solving: Better decisions can be reached due to the variety of perspectives and a better critical analysis.

6. System Flexibility: There are less fixed models in the organizations, and that allows a continuous flow that is capable to answer to the changes in the environment, taking like that faster and less expensive actions.

Without a doubt the best way to succeed in today’s world is to be aware of diversity, attract diverse personnel to the company and apply a diversity management that allows you to meet all the goals.

Question: How can organizations attract and improve the selection of a more diverse workforce?

We already mentioned the benefits that diversity means to a company, and how diversity management can improve the way that diversity works within the organization. And when an organization have successfully applied that it gains recognition that means a higher retention of their workforce as well as a recognition in the work market that attracts that diverse workforce.

However, sometimes organizations limit unconsciously the range of the people they want to hire.

The article “The Business benefits of diversity” by Carole Spiers gives some interesting tips in the process of looking and selecting the workforce in order to guarantee in all the levels diversity.

Firstly, with recruitment advertising, the first step is to avoid establishing ages with phrases such as “the applicants should be between #s years of age”, “mature persons” or “graduates”. Then using the advertising skills of the company be sure you use the correct language and images, in order to get attention from a broader group of people, and then select different sources to present that advertisement, such as news papers, internet… in order to get the attention of the various groups.

Another aspect to have into account is the experience and qualifications, sometimes being too specific on years of work experience create huge disadvantages for younger people. Companies should look for the quality of the experiences and how relevant those experiences can be for them. Now a days many universities have internships and work together with companies, giving like that a broad set of experiences for those soon to graduate that can bring the organization better results, than someone working 10 years at a same job.

Try not to ask for some specific exams, that also reduces the scoop, and people may have other options and even exams to prove their skills in what you’re looking for.

Another trend in today’s recruitment world is linked to application forms and monitoring recruitment. Some companies are removing birth, gender, marital status and even the photos of their applications forms in order to really focus on what’s really important the skills of the people. When you already have a group of candidates, check how diverse it is and do a follow up to the interviews. And if there is a special recruitment program make sure it is open for different ages and take into account other diversity aspects.

With the selection you got to “focus on skills, not on stereotypes”. There is an important emphasis on this within the article. Since some companies tend to make assumptions about the capacities of people according to their ages.
When it comes to the interviews make sure you have an interview panel that is diverse itself and have a clear and fair selection criteria.

When you already have your workforce be aware that training and development activities in the organizations are opened to all. Don’t assume some people may not be interested. In the process consider that each person has a different learning style and in that way the process and the time is different.

Be careful with promotions and assumptions as “last in – first out” when it comes to fire employees. You have to see how important is each person for your organization and which one can be the most adequate because of it skills to be in a specific position. It is important to consider the skill of each employee and the balance between the groups.

All these little actions that maybe aren’t taken into account can help to define a diversity policy in the organizations and employees can feel those policies their own and enjoy all the benefits.

Still these policies should be part of the values of the organization and be implemented in the corporate strategy. Like that it won’t be just part of the Human Resources selection process but it will be part of the everyday activities and work environment.

And finally have clear, that it is a long term process and that in order to really be successful diversity should be adopted through a practical approach.

References:

1. Aguilar, L. & Corena, A. M. & Ocampo, L. & Vargas, N. 2009. Presentation "Managing Diversity" part of the subject Organizations and Cultures at the University EAFIT

2. Gonzales-Perez, M. A. 2009. Presentation "Managing Diversity" part of the subject Organizations and Cultures at the University EAFIT

3. Spiers, C. 2008. The business benefits of Diversity. Management Services, 52(2): 26-30

4. Heffes, E. M. 2009. Diversity & Inclusion. Financial Executive, 25: 52-55