Workforce Diversity in Organization

Workforce Diversity in Organization

Introduction

Workforce diversity can be defined in two stages. The first stage is related to the culture, race, gender, ethnic background, religion, age, disability. The second stage includes defining diversity in terms of personality, working style, communication style, job role etc (US Department of Commerce). Workforce diversity plays a pivotal role when it is about dealing with challenges and competition at a global level. According to Ditomaso, change in nature and work processes of organization has increased the need for a diverse workforce. Changing technology and innovations are the major contributors to the increased demand of a diverse workforce. Organizations catering to the client across the border must hire people belonging to that particular culture and environment. Customer's preferences and need for products with latest features and technology is another very important factor that gives rise to the need of diversity in human resources. Ditomaso further suggest that as work processes and methods have become more complicated and specialized, it has become very crucial to hire people who are experts in the field, regardless of their cultural and ethnic background. Dealing with global competition is only possible when people belonging to different backgrounds and with a variety of skills and expertise work jointly to contribute to the overall productivity of the organization (Ditomaso & Post, 2004).

Discussion

Strengths and Weaknesses of Plan

Workforce diversity is the result of product preference, customer preference, competitors, labor market, government regulations (European Commission, 2003). The strength in her framework is that she has obtained permission from the Canadian Humans Right Commission to implement in the organization which is the first and the most crucial step. Additionally, she possess the required knowledge and information that why the implementation of workforce diversity is important for the success of the bank.

An analysis of Francoise case study very clearly shows that she is new to the organization and does not possess the detailed information about the employees in terms of their personality and attitude. Another weakness in her framework is related to the communication between her and the managers. There is almost no communication or networking between her and the employees. She also does not have any structured plan or guidelines in place regarding the implementation of the plan. She knows what she wants but do not know how and when. There is lack of awareness in employees, and they are happy with the way things are.

Implementation

For successful implementation of Francois workforce diversity plan, it is very important to that she takes an insight in the thinking and attitude of what do people working at managerial level think about the concept of the work force diversity. How and positive and negative they are towards introducing people belonging to a different culture and minority groups. Eliminating prejudices and existing biases about workforce diversity is crucial for the success of Francois' plans. She must conduct a meeting with all the line manager and people working at important positions to discuss the ...