WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

Workplace diversity refers to the various differences amongst the work force of an
organization. These differences may encompass race, gender, ethnic group, age,
personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, education, background
and many more, broadly it is defined as the combination of relational or
informational differences within a work unit that can lead to either positive or
negative outcomes. Diversity not only talks about the perception of self but also the
perception people have for others around them and these perceptions affect the
interaction between people at all levels. With the increasing focus of the world
towards diversity it is imperative for the todays managers to manage the diverse
work force in an efficient manner and deal with issues such as communication,
adaptability and change.
Diversity at work if managed properly has many benefits in store for the
organization and leads to an increased overall output of the organization. Diversity
can be separated into four broad categories: demographic diversity, task diversity,
deep-level diversity, and disparity.

Demographic diversity (also known as relational or surface-level diversity)

can be defined as the composition of visible differences (e.g. race, gender,
age) within a unit. Although these differences do not necessarily pertain to an
employees work tasks, research has consistently demonstrated that
demographic differences can affect workplace experiences and perceptions of
ones abilities and qualifications
Task diversity can be defined as the composition of informational
differences (e.g. education, function, and tenure) within a unit. In essence,
task diversity pertains to heuristics, knowledge, and skill-based differences
between employees and is more closely related to an employees actual work
tasks. According to prior research, task diversity is a key element of team
performance as it increases the sources of information within a work group,
which helps facilitate innovation and complex problem solving among group
members
Deep-level diversity (also known as separation), is the combination of
differences in values, beliefs, and attitudes. While employees initially base
their evaluations of one another on surface-level characteristics such as race
or gender, they tend to evaluate one another on more deep-level
characteristics, such as attitudes and beliefs, as they interact more frequently
and begin to build relationships
Disparity can be defined as the combination or distribution of differences in
social power and social assets (rank, wealth, resources) within a unit (e.g.
department). It is an extremely important contribution to the discussion of
diversity as it describes power differentials, which are often understated in
organizational research but have several implications for group functioning

Diversity and inclusion affect not only the businesses people and operations
internally but also their customers, suppliers, and other external stakeholders.
Diversity heightens focus on organizations people as the strategic resource and the
importance of those people in achieving the organizations objective. As workforce
demographics shift and global markets emerge, workplace diversity inches closer to
becoming a business necessity instead of a banner that companies wave to show
their commitment to embracing differences and change, there is a heightened need
to understand the importance of diversity for working efficiently within the
organization and also for the worldwide free trade. Diversity impacts the working of
an organization in various ways: Mutual Respect
Workplace diversity fosters mutual respect among employees. Whether
employees work in groups or teams comprised of co-workers with varied
work styles, or colleagues who represent different cultures or generations, a
synergistic work environment become the norm
Conflict Resolution
Conflict inevitably occurs in the work environment. However, employees who
acknowledge others differences often also find similarities, particularly when
there are common goals -- production and quality. Respect for co-workers
either reduces the likelihood of conflict or facilitates an easier road to conflict
resolution
Business Reputation
Diversity in the workplace is important for employees because it manifests
itself in building a great reputation for the company, leading to increased
profitability and opportunities for workers. Workplace diversity is important
within the organization as well as outside. An organization known for its
ethics, fair employment practices and appreciation for diverse talent is better
able to attract a wider pool of qualified applicants
Job Promotion
The appeal of global markets creates two kinds of opportunities for
employees: opportunities for promotion and employee development. A global
marketplace opens doors for employees with diverse language skills and
multicultural understanding to build global profit centers
Increased Exposure
A diverse workplace offers more than exposure to employees from different
cultures and backgrounds. Employees learn from co-workers whose work
styles vary and whose attitudes about work varies from their own
Providing opportunities to capture non-traditional markets
emerging in ethno-specific markets
Becoming a supplier of goods for others who value diversity
Effective diversity management plays a very important role in
attracting capital investment and share holders

Measuring the impact of Diversity

Introduction
Management
of diversity in
Costs of diversity management
Benefits of diversity management
the
organization
1. Cost of time to establish policy
1. Decreased dysfunctional cost
2. Decreased absenteeism cost
and procedure
requires
3. Increased cost of productivity of
2. Cost of maintaining the inventory
manager to
employees
of organizational skills
rethink the
4. Decreased wastage cost
3. Cost of developing internal
management
5. Decreased Cost of legal and
communication vehicle
attitudes and
employee grievances
4. Cost of developing internal
6.
Increased employee morale and
strategies
evaluation and reward system
job
satisfaction
5. Cost of executing the policies,
which involves
7.
Increased
innovation
procedures and communication
monitoring,
8. Improved customer and supplier
channel
controlling
interaction
6. Cost of training to improve the
training and
9. Improved reputation.
diversity quotient
manipulating.
7. Cost of PR efforts
In order to
achieve the
desired level of
diversity
management it is imperative for the organization to assess the performance of the
diversity management measures undertaken by the organization.
Here we have listed couple of methods that can be used to measure the impact of
the diversity management techniques
Cost-Benefit analysis
Reactions to Diversity Inventory (RTDI)

In order to assess the perception of the employers towards diversity De Muse and
Hostager developed the index called Reactions to Diversity inventory technique.
They identified five categories of inventory reactions
1. Emotional reactions: Gut feelings about diversity
2. Behavioral reactions: Verbal and nonverbal actions of individual in response
to diversity
3. Judgments: Normative and cognitive notions about diversity
4. Personal consequences: Views about how diversity will affect an individual
personally
5. Organizational outcomes: beliefs regarding perceived outcomes on
organizational level.

Individual is asked to choose the words in the go out of the above category. In the
study by Muse and Hostager 110 individuals from university and 2 companies (X
and Y) with different backgrounds were chosen and were asked to mark the cells in
5x2 matrix. Later on the data was statistically analyzed for analyzing perceptual
breadth, Perceptual depth and perceptual balance. The results yielded that students
did not view the diversity in positive terms, but from the perspective of organization
they saw both positive and negative effects of diversity in much better way also
they saw the negative personal consequences of diversity in better way.
Hostager and Meuse further used the technique in order to judge the impact of
training on diversity on the university student and to judge the longevity of the
impact of the diversity training. In this research they conducted a pre-course and
post-course RTDI test on junior undergrad students to assess the impact of the
training and to judge if the diversity training has different effectiveness as per
gender. The longevity test was carried on the senior level undergrad students who
had received the training a year before. The pre test and post test results were
analyzed using ANOVA in order to test the statistical significance. The results found
were

1. The effect of training on the junior undergrad student was significant thus
diversity training had the impact on the diversity perception of the junior
undergrad students.
2. The effects of a diversity learning experience in the senior students were not
significant that is the effect of training they had received had eroded away.
Thus the impact of the diversity learning experience was short lived
3. Women are more likely to see the positive side of diversity.
4. Gender did not interact with Class to produce appreciable differences in the
number of positive and negative words associated with workplace diversity.