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Global Diversity Conference-Lessons from Corporate
Challenges in Managing Diversity:
With the advent of globalization and genesis of aggressive competition in the world today, the need to stay fit and stride ahead has become an unrelenting quest. Be it an individual or an organization, only the FITTEST will survive. An organization might have umpteen number of resources, but the most important of them all is the “Human Resource”. The make or break of a company rests on the efficiency of the workforce in it. Attracting, retaining, and effectively using people are increasingly the top priorities of leaders in all kinds of organizations, from high-tech firms to universities, from government agencies to heavy manufacturing firms.
People no longer live and work in an insular marketplace; they are now part of a worldwide economy with competition coming from nearly every sphere and continent. For this reason, every organization needs diversity to become more creative and open to change. Maximizing and capitalizing on workplace diversity has become an important issue for management today.
Diversity is generally defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status.
In organizations comprising of huge number of people, diversity exists in every form. And as a result, challenges would exist in managing a such a diverse work population. Managing diversity is more than simply acknowledging differences in people. It involves recognizing the value of differences, combating discrimination, and promoting inclusiveness.
For any organization to achieve excellence, coherence of individual aspirations of employees and organizational goal is of paramount importance. Aligning these two forces is the most important challenge. It is upto each individual to respect the principle vision of the organization and build his/her career aligning with the organizational aim. Some challenges faced in managing diversity in an organization are:
· Communication
· Recognition
· Respect & Acknowledgement
Communication: Working in teams with great diversities in terms of age, gender, intellectual ability, geographical location, I have observed that one of the most difficult challenges faced by folks in the group is Communication. All of us need to understand that in a bunch of people working together, the chances of two or more people being on the same page at all times is seldom possible. Any assumptions on our part might convey exactly opposite of what we intend to say. Hence, it is imperative to convey the information as clear as possible and represent it in the most easily understandable way.
Recognition: Not every one in a diverse team are blessed with a same intellectual ability. It is the duty of every team member to recognize the fact that every one has their own time to gets a hang of the things. Also, it is a know fact that every individual has a certain qualities which make him stand apart from the rest of the crowd. It is very important for a team to understnd and recognize various talents and areas of excellence in their peers. A well knit team which understands the strong holds and vulnerabilities of its members always wins the battle.
Respect & Acknowledgement: Irrespective of the qualification, experience and position, every human being deserves and expects certain degree of respect from peers family and everyone around him. It is of extreme importance that every member of the team is treated with respect – regardless of the amount of experience or the skill sets he/she has. Infact respecting the other individual is a basic human courtesy. Every action big or small if acknowledged only inspires the team and its members and thereby increases productivity. A workplace where each one respects the other and acknowledges their achievments thrives with energy and enthusiasm.
Managing Multi-Cultural and Virtual Teams:
In huge organisations that carry out exhaustive deliverables, multicultural teams have become the norm. Diversity in teams can foster innovation and increase productivity. Effective diverse teams happen by design, not by accident; There can be several factors that dictate the probability of success in a culturally diverse and discreetly spread virtual teams:
· Be sensitive to time zones.
· Flexibility is the key: Make your coworkers feel you are not judging them by religion or race, but by what they are AS HUMAN BEINGS!
· Develop understanding for different cultures and values: Respect various cultures.
· Arguing gets you nowhere but being able to convince others does.
· Develop your interpersonal skills: so you can communicate with your team members from others cultures more effectively.
· Never-ever tell people their views are 'wrong': Be a little diplomatic when you disagree.
· Win friends :Remember, friendship and respect are common to all cultures.
· Inspiration is vital: Be inspired and keep others inspired.
· Don’t let personality or ego clashes ruin your work environment.
Cultural Assumptions and Practical Outcomes:
Wrong assumptions lead to poor cross-cultural communication. They slow down our progress and can even jeopardize our success.There are a few assumptions that pop up often.
· Lack Of Effort in understanding the stakeholders.
· False Perceptions
· Cultural Generalizations
· Assumptions can also pop up due to accepted cultural generalizations.
· We usually acquire these generalizations from our environment.
So, how can you avoid falling into the trap?
- First, refrain from reacting emotionally
- Then, get curious
- Turn to the client or market
- Ask questions
Leveraging Differences:
Customer focus – matching internal employee diversity to population diversity can provide performance benefits which enhance awareness of consumer needs
Business process – recruiting diverse talent will help inject new ideas and challenge the organisational mindsets and ways of doing things that can hinder change and organisational progress.
Innovation – the flexibility, creativity and ability to innovate are enhanced by the diverse groups (constructive conflict supports ‘out of the box’ thinking).
Learning – employers have more choice from a greater skills base, improved employee satisfaction, reduced internal disputes, greater workplace harmony, improved retention and more effective and fairer promotion of talent.
