Ateneo de Davao University

E. Jacinto Street, Davao City

Workplace Diversity: Opportunities and Challenges

HRM 2232: Human Resource Management

(3-706 / Monday and Wednesday / 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM)

Submitted by:

Kiara Shiyn Masgon

Submitted to:

Caesar Billones
Professor of Human Resource Management

September 12, 2022

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is the meaning of diversity in the workplace?...............................3

Reasons for increasing diversity in organizations……………………….3-4

Similarities and differences of employees at work.……………………….4

The impact of diversity on organizations: Challenges and

opportunities……………………….……………………….…………………….5-7

Diversity, competitiveness, and social change……………………….7-8

Managing diversity: Strategies and practices……………………….8-10

Managing knowledge workers and organizational learning.…………10-11

Interview 3 individuals namely: Muslim, Christian, and Lumad. Investigate

their lived experiences in the workplace related to the topic. ………

Reflection…………………………………………….……………………….11

References……………………….……………………….…………………12-13

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What is the meaning of diversity in the workplace?

Workplace diversity is the term used for the workplace composed of employees
with varying characteristics, such as different sex, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual
orientation, education, and other attributes. A company with workplace diversity is
the company who has employees with a wide range of characteristics and
experiences (TalentLyft, 2021).

Workplace diversity is affecting the entire the HR world. Employers are prioritizing
diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and investing resources to ensure
their teams are set up for success now more than ever. Focusing on DEI is not
only the smart thing to do for your company, but it is also the right thing to do as a
person and for humanity (Lee, 2022).

Diversity in the workplace provides numerous advantages, both internally and

externally. However, this does not negate the fact that implementing diversity
initiatives at work presents its own set of challenges. In the sections that follow,
we'll go over both sides of the equation (Lee, 2022).

Workplace diversity means that an organization employs a diverse team of people

who reflect the society in which it exists and operates. Unfortunately, determining
what makes a team diverse is not so straightforward (Builtin, 2019).

Reasons for increasing diversity in organizations.

Many factors are contributing to increasing workplace diversity: rising numbers of

immigrants, mergers or joint ventures with companies in other countries,
international competition that necessitates hiring a more diverse workforce, the
rising use of temps and consultants, and the increasing workforce, the rising use of
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temps and consultants, and the increasing order to compete for the best talent. As
a result, human resource personnel must constantly evaluate their cafeteria plan to
ensure that it remains relevant to their specific workforce (White, n.d.).

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The impact of diversity on organizations: Challenges and opportunities

Diversity is taking the human resources (HR) world by storm; many life sciences
organizations are recognizing the benefits of a diverse workforce. However, it’s not
without its challenges. With employees working upwards of 35 hours a week in
close proximity to one another, conflict will inevitably arise, and without a little due
diligence on your side, workplace diversity can fan the flames. There’s no denying
the many advantages of workplace diversity; increased productivity, better
problem-solving abilities, and financial growth (Fraser Dove, 2019).

Here are several challenges that can arise with diverse workforces:

Communication issues

Communication between team members can be difficult when you have a diverse
workforce. Many members of your team may not speak English as their first
language. Language barriers may cause team members to communicate
ineffectively and have difficulty understanding one another. Failure to fully
understand instructions may result in a significant decrease in productivity and
team synergy.

Organizations that have diversity plans work hard to close the gender and age
gaps. Employees may struggle to understand each other if demographic
differences encourage them to use slang or specific types of language.

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Too many opinions

Diverse employees approach the same scenario and present their ideas in
different ways due to their diverse backgrounds and experiences. Employees who
do so are extremely valuable to your organization because they will continue to
drive innovative ideas and identify problems. However, having too many opinions
can lead to a failure to reach a consensus. Innovative solutions to problems, in
particular, may go unnoticed among the plethora of other ideas. Due to this
decrease in productivity, having too many opinions can jeopardize the
organization's ability to meet tight deadlines.

Hostility

Humans, as much as we dislike admitting it, make decisions based on biases

rather than facts and logic. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon in the workplace;
despite their best intentions, employees will base their decisions and judgments on
unconscious biases. Employees may develop distrust when they doubt each
other's ability to do their jobs. "They're not like me, so I can't trust them," or "They
don't know what they're doing," are common reactions.

Diversity implementation challenges

Having a diverse workforce sounds good on paper, but putting it into action can be
difficult. Although there are numerous diversity guides available, there is no one-
size-fits-all diversity strategy that works. This is due to the fact that diversity means
different things to different people.

Retain bad talent

If your goal is to diversify your workforce, you may want to keep diverse
employees who are already working for your company just to boost your diversity
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figures. Poor performers, on the other hand, reduce productivity, morale, and
innovation.

Diversity in the workplace can bring positive changes to your organization, but it
can also present challenges. While these difficulties can be extremely inconvenient
and detrimental to your entire organization, they are avoidable. Prepare to face the
challenges listed above before launching your diversity initiative. If you rush your
diversity, it will suffer.

Diversity, competitiveness, and social change

Diversity means having a range of people with various racial, ethnic,

socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds and various lifestyles, experience, and
interests. Having a variety of individuals and points of view represented in the
department. Diversity is a group of people who are different in the same place
(How Would You Define Diversity?, 2010).

Competitiveness refers to the skill or ability to contend with rivals for the same
objective or prize. Competiveness does not necessarily mean an ability to beat all
your rivals but rather, your thirst and willingness to be involved in competition; to
staying in competition and not be booted out or totally outclassed
(Competitiveness, 2016).

Sociologists define social change as changes in human interactions and

relationships that transform cultural and social institutions. These changes occur
over time and often have profound and long-term consequences for society. Well
known examples of such change have resulted from social movements in civil
rights, women's rights, and LBGTQ rights, to name just a few. Relationships have
changed, institutions have changed, and cultural norms have changed as a result

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of these social change movements (May 29 & 2019, 2019).

Managing diversity: Strategies and practices

Managing diversity means acknowledging people's differences and recognizing

these differences as valuable; it enhances good management practices by
preventing discrimination and promoting inclusiveness. Good management alone
will not necessarily help you work effectively with a diverse workforce. It is often
difficult to see what part diversity plays in a specific area of management (6
Strategies to Boost Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace, n.d.)

According to (6 Strategies to Boost Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace, n.d.)

To help you develop the best action plan to develop a more inclusive recruitment
process, we made a list of the best strategies to boost diversity in the workplace:

Review Your Corporate Communication to Eliminate Unconscious Bias

Make sure that your marketing and communication materials reflect your
company’s diversity and inclusion values. Review all existing materials to eliminate
unconscious bias (career sites, job descriptions, and marketing copy) and include
clear guidelines on how to communicate diversity and inclusion in your company’s
content style guide.

Create Diversity and Inclusion Recruitment Policies

The human resources department must advocate for diversity and inclusion, and
recruiters, in particular, need to act as suppliers of diversity. This means they need
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to develop the right mindset and take diversity into consideration during the
selection process to assemble a diverse and inclusive talent shortlist for the final
interview stage. Recruit people from various sources and drive an evidence-based
recruitment process to boost diversity hiring.

Make Sure Your Team Knows What it Means to Recruit a Diverse Workforce
Senior level hiring managers need to ensure that their recruiters don’t limit their
attention to gender or ethnicity diversity. Diversity and inclusion go way beyond
education, thought, experience, or disability.

Provide Supervision and Support to Your Recruiting Team

Business leaders and hiring managers should follow-up on recruiters, assess
ongoing recruitment processes, and provide feedback regarding their diversity and
inclusion efforts. It’s very important to establish to what extent recruiters should
prioritize a diversity requirement in detriment of a candidate's experience or overall
fitness and help them make the best decisions.

Use Recruitment Technology That Helps Eliminating Unconscious Bias

Driving a modern and effective recruitment process requires you to digitalise and
streamline your recruitment process. Using recruitment software powered by
artificial intelligence (AI) not only helps you go through the initial steps of the
recruitment process faster but also helps you remove the recruiters’ unconscious
bias from the equation. Nevertheless, recruiters will still be part of the selection
process after the initial automatic matching of the candidates against the job
requirements. Therefore, you should also invest in training programs for recruiters
and hiring managers so they learn to identify and manage unconscious bias.

Assemble a Diverse and Inclusive Recruiting Team

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Having a team of recruiters with the same experience background and that think
alike won’t do much for your diversity and inclusion goals. The best way to ensure
a more diverse and inclusive recruitment process is to have a diverse group of
people involved in the decision-making process.

Managing knowledge workers and organizational learning.

To start with, considering the fact that knowledge workers work on the basis of
their intellectual capabilities, the HR managers have to ensure that these workers
remain mentally agile and intellectually fit to cope with the demands of their jobs.
Therefore, in recent years, the theorists as well as the practitioners in the HR field
have emphasized the fact that knowledge work and knowledge workers must be
treated in a manner that makes them central to the organizations objectives. In
other words, the knowledge workers are the key assets to the companies in their
sectors and not plant or machinery or even other assets such as buildings. This
attitude has been summed up concisely and lucidly by the Indian IT icon, NR
Narayana Murthy, who said that the IT companies assets’ leave every evening and
return the next morning to work. In other words, what this means is that the HR
managers have to treat the knowledge workers in the same manner in which
earlier era management used to protect their physical assets. Further, managing
the knowledge workers also means that the pay and benefits have to be
commensurate with their skills, experience, and the value that they add to the
bottom-line of the organizations. It is no wonder that IT employees often command
stratospheric salaries and humungous perks as they are indeed valuable to the
companies who just cannot afford to let go of their top performers. Another aspect
of knowledge work is that these companies are flat in terms of organizational
arrangements as opposed to the hierarchical nature of organizations’ in the
manufacturing and allied sectors. This means that the HR managers have from
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other sectors that make the switch to IT and allied services sectors companies
have to get used to the informal, first name basis as well as the lack of hierarchy in
the companies in these sectors (Managing the Knowledge Workers, n.d.).

Reflection

I've learned a lot about workplace diversity from this course. My reflection will
center on workplace diversity. Workplace diversity includes not only different
nationalities or races but also age, ethnicity, gender, physical ability, and sexual
orientation. Furthermore, it takes into account differences in religious beliefs,
education, experience, and family status. Furthermore, I've learned that minorities
and women can face diversity bias in the form of job and pay discrimination. In an
organization with a majority of white males and a minority of women, people of
color, and other minorities, for example, members of the majority culture are likely
to dominate higher management levels. Many people can become concentrated in
the subcultures with which they identify and interact primarily with others who are
similar to themselves. Although they do so unintentionally most of the time, they
can develop tendencies to act in ways that suggest their subculture is superior to
all others. People form shared identities around their work, which leads to the
formation of occupational subcultures. Diversity in the workplace continues to be
essential for the successful implementation of businesses around the world. A
diverse workforce is beneficial not only to employees but also to the company's
well-being if they want to develop or improve processes and relationships with
their audiences. A diverse workplace allows people to be their best, most authentic
selves; it allows businesses to improve their productivity and creative levels; and it
creates a safe space for their employees.

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REFERENCES

6 Strategies to Boost Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace. (n.d.).

Www.skeeled.com. https://www.skeeled.com/blog/6-strategies-to-boost-
diversity-and-inclusion-in-the-workplace

Builtin. (2019). Diversity and Inclusion: Definition, Benefits and Statistics | Built In.
Builtin.com. https://builtin.com/diversity-inclusion

Competitiveness. (2016, August 15). Cleverism. https://www.cleverism.com/skills-

and-tools/competitiveness/

Fraser Dove. (2019, December 16). Top Challenges of Diversity In The

Workplace. Fraser Dove International.
https://www.fraserdove.com/challenges-of-diversity-in-the-workplace/

How would you define diversity? (2010). https://sph.unc.edu/wp-

content/uploads/sites/112/2013/07/define_diversity.pdf

Lee, S. (2022). Diversity in the workplace. Culture Amp.

https://www.cultureamp.com/blog/benefits-diversity-in-workplace

Managing the Knowledge Workers. (n.d.). Www.managementstudyguide.com.

https://www.managementstudyguide.com/managing-the-knowledge-
workers.htm

May 29, T. S. D. E. D. of G. C. C., & 2019. (2019, May 29). What is Social Change
and Why Should We Care? Www.snhu.edu. https://www.snhu.edu/about-
us/newsroom/social-sciences/what-is-social-
change#:~:text=Sociologists%20define%20social%20change%20as
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TalentLyft. (2021). What is Workplace diversity? Recruiting and Hiring Resources.
https://www.talentlyft.com/en/resources/what-is-workplace-diversity

White, G. (n.d.). Journal of Management and Marketing Research Diversity in

Workplace Causes. https://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/08082.pdf

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