THE UNIVERSITY OFZAMBIA

MANAGING EQUALITY
AND DIVERSITY
NAME: LUSA MULONGA

STUDENT ID: SEM 191095

COURSE CODE: HRM 4332

ASSIGNMENT TWO
In modern times today, we’re in an ever-changing work environment. The world is smaller and a
homogeneous workplace rarely exists. Today, leaders deal with a variety of employees across
generational and cultural lines, each with their own values, beliefs, work ethics, and needs.
Successful organizations embrace diversity and strive for inclusion among their employees,
especially in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as other social changes..
The mosaic of people who bring a variety of backgrounds, styles, and perspectives are assets
to the groups and organizations with which they interact.

According to Ely.J,(2020), “The case for establishing a truly diverse workforce, at all
organizational levels, grows more compelling each year….The financial impact—as proven by
multiple studies—makes this a no-brainer.”

While many companies adopt a strong approach to diversity simply because it is the right thing
to do, they often reap multiple economic benefits from nurturing an inclusive and diverse
workforce. Diversity and inclusion bring additional skills, ideas and perspectives. Embracing a
diverse workforce isn't just beneficial; it's a major factor of success in the modern business
landscape. Organizations that seek, celebrate, and embrace diversity have several very real
advantages over their competitors. Additionally, it also acts as a source for organizational
competitiveness.

Different perspectives, opinions, and ideas can lead to more innovation and better problem
solving. This can help companies better serve their customer base, reach new business
markets, and gain a competitive advantage.

A diverse workplace may also foster a stronger sense of belonging among those in traditionally
underrepresented groups. When an employee is no longer the only woman, person of color, or
person with a disability, they may begin to feel more integrated into the team. This can lead to
higher employee engagement, lower turnover, and better productivity.

The creativity of teams that were homogeneous on a series of attitude measures was compared
against teams with heterogeneous attitudes. Problem solution creativity was judged on
originality and practicality. Results indicated that as long as the team members had similar
ability levels, the heterogeneous teams were more creative than the homogeneous ones, Cox &
Blake, (1991).

Open, inclusive and diverse societies directly benefit economic growth, as well as act as a
starting point for a competitive mark within the organization. One reason for this is that
individuals who work in open, diverse and inclusive environments are usually able to perform
better, because each individual is able to bring their authentic self to the workplace. This will
greatly increase the competitive nature because every employee will want to prove that they can
bring something new, never seen before from their own respective ideologies.

The biggest driver for higher level diversity strategy is the need to tap the creative, cultural, and
communicative skills of a variety of employees and to use those skills to improve company
policies, products, and customer experiences. Diversity executives cite the importance of having
an open mind because the job requires them to come out of their comfort zone and experience
things that they may not be familiar with or drawn to Rodriguez, L, (2006).

Only when people are comfortable in their workplace does their organization get the best
possible results from its workforce. Most organizations operate with a range of stakeholders,
including clients, alliance companies and shareholders, all of whom are themselves diverse.
Organizations must reflect the diversity of the ecosystem within which they operate to maximize
their relationship with every stakeholder.

Diversity has enhanced performance by broadening the group’s perspectives. There is a strong
empirical confirmation that successful diversity management and a resulting improvement in
organizational performance are positively correlated. Ozbilgin and Tatli, (2008).

Competitiveness in a diverse management creates and maintains a positive work environment

Creating a work environment that hosts a diverse talent pool is attractive to clients, job seekers,
and investors alike because it provides a competitive advantage. A diverse team is difficult to
replicate and offers a number of benefits to the business.

Having competition within the organization and understanding the benefits of a diverse
workplace will not only benefit your company culture and team but it will ensure the business's
staying power in our current economic climate. Having diverse talent from different ethnic
groups, ages, genders, and cultural backgrounds is statistically linked to higher performing
teams and more successful businesses.

Being genuinely valued and respected involves more than just feeling included. It involves
having the power to help set the agenda, influence what and how work is done, have one’s
needs and interests taken into account, and have one’s contributions recognized and rewarded
with further opportunities to contribute and advance.

INCREASED PROFITS

Companies with greater workplace diversity achieve greater profits. McKinsey & Company, a
global management consulting firm, conducted research that included 180 companies in
France, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States. They found that that companies with
more diverse top teams were also the top financial performers. Companies with a diverse
workforce make better decisions, which gives them a serious advantage over there competitors.
As a result, companies with diversity in a workplace achieve better business results and reap
more profits.

CULTURAL BENEFITS

Cultural diversity is a great opportunity to bring new ideas, creative input and innovative thinking
in an organization. Many companies believe that a diverse workforce helps to create a
competitive advantage. Because of globalization many people are confronted with a high
diversity of cultures, languages, religions, characters or peculiarities. Therefore, most of our
societies and organizations have to be multicultural with the familiar or strange aspects.
Concerning cultural diversity many companies make use of the so called diversity management
which is the ability and the expertise to steer the diversities as well as the similarities in an
effective and successful way.

On the other hand, diversity is also a cause of misunderstanding, suspicion and conflict in the
workplace that can result in absenteeism, poor quality, low morale and loss of competitiveness.

There are two structural principles that form the foundation for network perspectives. One
principle focuses on dense patterns of local interaction as the basis for coordination and
collective action. The other principle focuses on the bridges across global divisions as the basis
for information transfer and learning. Moreover, both principles capture important elements of
what it takes for a task group to achieve success in reaching its goals. A team that does not
develop the connections among their members, which enable it to coordinate effectively, faces
an uphill battle. However, when such networks remain concentrated among homogeneous sets
of individuals, the team fails to generate the learning that can only come from interaction among
different individuals Reagans & Zuckerman,( 2001).

Another flaw in the familiar organizational work case for diversity is the notion that a diverse
team will have richer discussions and a better decision-making process simply because it is
diverse. Having people from various identity groups “at the table” is no guarantee that anything
will get better; in fact, research shows that things often get worse, because increasing diversity
can increase tensions and conflict. Under the right organizational conditions, though, employees
can turn cultural differences into assets for achieving team goals.

If your goal of building a more diverse team becomes a top-down diversity initiative that feels
unnatural, forced, or deceptive to your existing team, it can be detrimental to the company
culture and cause team members to check out. This would defeat the purpose of improving on
the culture if it’s nonexistent. Keep in mind that most people have a difficult time with change,
even if it's for the greater good.

If employees feel that they can’t be themselves at work, they won’t fully engage as part of the
team. This type of environment can significantly influence an employee’s involvement in their
department or organization; it can potentially lead to low morale, increased absenteeism, and
decreased productivity. Leaders play an important role in setting the tone for diversity and
inclusion. This may lead to inequality.

Inequality is bad for both business and society. Organizations limit their capacity for innovation
and continuous improvement unless all employees are full participants in the enterprise: fully
seen, heard, developed, engaged—and rewarded accordingly. Moreover, such treatment can
unleash enormous reserves of leadership potential too long suppressed by systems that
perpetuate inequality.

If a company is just beginning to recognize the potential of diversification, there will likely be
challenges to creating a more diverse work environment. Old ways of thinking and entrenched
prejudices may hinder any efforts and create tension and conflict. Additionally, as cultures
collide, there may be misinterpretations of meanings. What’s funny to one culture may be
considered disrespectful to another
The problem is that nearly 25 years later, organizations have largely failed to adopt a learning
orientation toward diversity and are no closer to reaping its benefits. Instead, business leaders
and diversity advocates alike are advancing a simplistic and empirically unsubstantiated version
of the business case. They misconstrue or ignore what abundant research has now made clear:
Increasing the numbers of traditionally underrepresented people in your workforce does not
automatically produce benefits. Taking an “add diversity and stir” approach, while business
continues as usual, will not spur leaps in your firm’s effectiveness or financial performance.
Thomas, A. (2020)

Communication issues can be somewhat common on diverse teams, and for a wide variety of
reasons. There may be language barriers, different communication styles or preferences, or
people with hearing loss on your team. It’s important to address these challenges before they
become problematic.

For instance, you find a generational difference in communication preferences. Your younger
team members prefer to communicate via Slack, while your older team members prefer to use
the phone. Or, you may find that someone who speaks English as a second language, or
someone with hearing loss, is struggling to follow the conversation in meetings.

CONCLUSION

Organizations can benefit by creating a fair and safe environment where everyone has access
to opportunities and challenges are best dealt with. Management tools in diverse workforce
should be used to educate everyone about the diversity and its issues so that organizations are
able to adjust and adapt to be successful.
REFERENCES

Cox, T. (2001). Creating the multicultural organization, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Equality and Human Rights Commission (2009) Beyond tolerance: Making sexual orientation a
public matter. London: EHRC

Harvard Business review on Managing Diversity (2001) Harvard Business school press

HMI Report (2005) Race equality in further education: progress and good practice in

colleges in the further education sector. HMI 2463.

Kirton, G,(2004), The dynamics of Managing Diversity, Second Edition