¶ … Diverse Workforce
Today, there are nine billion people in the world living in more than 200 countries and the need for informed approaches to the management of a diverse workforce have never been greater. Effectively managed, a diverse workforce can create a wide range of beneficial outcomes for organizations. Although many observers champion a diverse workforce because of the numerous benefits that are possible, the research will show that there are a number of challenges to the effective management of a diverse workforce that must be overcome in order to achieve the intended outcomes. To determine the facts, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature to evaluate the benefits and challenges of having a diverse workforce. A summary of the research and important findings concerning these issues are presented in the conclusion.
Review and Evaluation
How can diversity in age, gender, ethnicity, skills, background etc. influence social cohesion and group and organizational outcomes?
The concept of a "diverse workforce" includes several aspects that are not reflected in the term. For instance, according to Mor Borak (2009, p. 339), "The concept of 'the inclusive workplace' refers to a work organization that is accepting of the diversity of its own workforce, is active in the community, participates in state and federal programs, and collaborates across cultural and national boundaries." These are valuable outcomes, but in many cases, the more diversity that is involved, the more difficult it becomes to achieve them. In this regard, Neault and Mondair (2011, p. 73) emphasize that, "Workplace diversity can have negative effects, including increased conflict between groups, poorer performance, and lower job satisfaction for some." Unfortunately, these negative outcomes are not the only problems that a diverse workforce can cause. For instance, Neault and Mondair (2011, p. 73) add that, "Diversity creates social divisions, especially when some groups are singled out and labeled as diverse (i.e., when specific subgroups are the targets of diversity initiatives)." Clearly, divisiveness in the workplace is undesirable, and there is a growing recognition that diversity issues are becoming increasingly important as discussed further below.
Why are diversity issues gaining more importance?
One of the main reasons diversity issues are gaining importance is the proliferation of recent information concerning the need to more effectively manage workforce diversity in an increasingly multicultural society and globalized marketplace. For example, according to Fine (2008, p. 485), "Cultural diversity in the workplace is currently a hot topic. Only ten years ago, virtually no books were available on the topic, and journal articles were just as rare." By sharp contrast, diversity issues are gaining increasing importance today for a number of other reasons as well, including their impact on the organizational performance (Kochan, Bezrukova, Ely, Jackson, Joshi, Jehn & Thomas 2003). In this regard, Fine (2008, p. 485) emphasizes that, "Today, hardly a day goes by that a national newspaper or magazine does not run a story on some aspect of the increasing diversity of the U.S. workforce, such as the changing demographics of the U.S. population, immigration policy, and the debate over affirmative action programs."
Indeed, these trends clearly point to one inevitable eventuality that distinguishes organizations in the 21st century from those in the past. As Hopkins and Hopkins point out, "The workforce of most U.S. corporations will display only one major characteristic in the near future: diversity. The workforce of these corporations will be a technicolor tapestry of ethnicity, gender, age, attitudes, cultures and races." These assertions are supported by the current demographic breakdown of the American population which is set forth in Table 1 and depicted graphically in Figure 1 below.
Table 1
Demographic Breakdown of the United States
Category
Percentage of Population
White
79.96%
Black
12.85%
Asian
4.43%
Two or more races
1.61%
Amerindian and Alaska native
0.97%
Native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander
0.18%
Source: CIA World Factbook 2013 at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html
Figure 1. Demographic Breakdown of the United States
Source: Based on CIA World Factbook tabular data
An important point concerning the above breakdown is that although Hispanics now represent the largest minority in the U.S., the U.S. Census Bureau does not provide a separate category because the Census Bureau regards Hispanic to mean persons of Spanish/Hispanic / Latino origin including those of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican Republic, Spanish, and Central or South American origin living in the U.S. who may be of any race or ethnic group (white, black, Asian, etc.); about 15.1% of the total U.S. population is Hispanic (U.S. population 2013)
Diversity issues are also gaining importance because these trends affect all aspects of doing business. In this regard, Baugher and Varanelli (2000, p. 391) report that, "The impact of increased workforce diversity touches virtually all management concerns. The diversity literature includes a large number of areas of inquiry including the impact of diversity on communication-oriented outcomes,...
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