Respecting Employee Diversity

Introduction
Problems arise when dissimilar people are treated as inferior or excluded. Customers and employees who differ from others according to some prominent characteristic often report not being respected by the dominant social group. Damages employee morale, productivity, customer relations, revenues and profits and can result in litigation. Avoidance of lawsuits and increased govt. regulations are fear based incentives for respecting diversity. May be required to work in MNCs. Within the country diversity. Need to manage diversity.

Competitive Advantages of Diversity Management

1. 2. 3. 4. To attract and retain diverse customers. Every body wants respect. To attract and retain diverse employees. To achieve cost reduction Fewer employee grievances, turnover, absence and litigations. To enhance decision making, problem solving and creativity Different cultural groups perceive the world differently. They have different life experiences. More informed decisions regarding their own cultural groups which provides multiple perspectives. To increase stakeholder goodwill The organizations get good will from media, govt., socially conscious consumers and job candidates willing to contribute to social mission. They all will support such an organization which results in free advertising and high profile govt. and industry task forces.

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Four Layers of Diversity

1. Internal Personality Dimension. MBTIs four dimensions, introvert vs extrovert, sensing vs intuition, thinking vs feeling, perceiving vs judging. None of MBTIs 16 dimensions are better than other. Each has different strengths and weaknesses in terms of leadership style, working with others and conflict resolution Unchanging External Dimensions. External characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender etc. A man born sikh, punjabi, male remains so throughout life. Evolving External Dimensions. Age, height, weight, religion, education, physical ability, marital status, income level and geographic location etc. Organizational Dimensions. Can be unchanging or evolving. Include hierarchical status, work content, department and seniority etc.

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Implementing Diversity Initiative

1. Present a business case for the diversity initiative. 2. Create a shared vision statement. 3. Respectfully build from the past. 4. Create a sense of urgency. 5. Empower a change agent. 6. Gather political support 7. Craft an implementation plan. 8. Develop enabling process. 9. Evaluate the progress. 10. Reinforce the change.

Best Operational Practices for Managing Diversity

Diversity office/ committee / officer. Recruiting and hiring. Personnel policies. Dispute resolution mechanism. Retention and promotions. Performance appraisals. Termination and downsizing.

Diversity Training Problems and Solution

Problem Trainer lacks credibility with either dominant group or subordinated group Organizations diversity problems are portrayed too negatively. Employees from the dominant group are portrayed too negatively Solution
Use workshop co-leaders, one from D group and one from S group. They can model positive behaviors through their interactions managing the workshop. Begin the workshop with recognizing efforts of diversity champions so that others may rally around them. Then discuss org. shortcomings. Begin the workshop by recognizing efforts of particular members of D group having succeeded in managing diversity. Then challenge everyone else to do even more

Diversity Training Problems and Solution

Problem Training is limited to dominant group. Training exercises are not relevant. Training emphasizes employee differences to the exclusion of common ground. Training emphasizes knowledge & attitudes not behavior. Solution
Explore prejudices of both the groups as they are not unique to any one particular group. Discuss real work place situations. Training must improve work related interaction between groups. Highlight commonalities as despite differences, diverse groups share many things.

Diversity training must lead to behavioral change. Cleary articulate and discuss specific acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Practice rules of civil behavior.

Diversity Discussion Guidelines

Agree on discussion guidelines Have attendees review the existing guidelines and make modifications as needed. If organization lacks a guideline then have participants develop one, share, reach at consensus. Guideline: being open and honest, participating fully at your own comfort level, listening respectfully, maintaining confidentiality