MANAGING DIVERSITY IN AN ORGANISATION IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT

Issues Involved In Managing Diversity in an Organisation in a Global Context

Issues involved in managing diversity in an organisation in a global context.

Britain now has one of the most diverse workforces in the world, consisting of a wide range of religions and ethnic backgrounds. However, diversity is not just acknowledged in terms of religious and ethnic origin. It can refer to political beliefs, age, sexual orientation, nationality, colour, etc. Therefore, it is absolutely paramount that diversity is managed effectively in parallel with Britain' s rapidly changing social society. The need to manage diversity is even greater after the events of 9/11 as the world's societies have become more politically charged and involved than ever before. Attached to diversity is the concept of equality from which any contentious questions arise. One such issue is the extent to which UK organisations are fair when it comes to offering equality of opportunity to minority groups in employment.

There is a wide range of elements involved in managing diversity including legislative considerations, the handling of equal opportunity issues, as well as the aims of making 'managing diversity' work for organisations. The traditional approach has focused on using the legislation driven equal opportunities route in tacking issues of diversity, and the broad aims of managing diversity are similar to that of equal opportunities, but managing diversity has a more internal focus. Many of these aims are bound up with the various legislation that outlaws discrimination on the grounds of sex, pay, race, disability and criminal record:

Sex Discrmination Act 1975 and 1976.

Equal Pay Act (Amended) 1983.

Race Relations Act 1976 (Amended 2000).

Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

So why should organisations make the most employee diversity? Well, as mentioned previously, the make-up of our society is changing, and businesses must reflect this change. Wheatley, (p, 30, 2000) highlights three important trends that exist and are continuing to develop further. Firstly, the UK population is ageing fast. In 2000, there were 1.5M fewer 16-25 year olds entering employment than in 1987. Secondly, ethnic minority groups made up 5.5% of the total UK population at the time of the 1991 census. Thirdly, women now are a large and significant proportion of the UK workforce. Generally, the management of equal opportunity issues involves a social responsibility on the part of the individual organisation, objective consideration when taking selection decisions, develop a reputation for managing diversity, creating a more healthy business environment including high staff morale.

Managing diversity also holds huge significance for business growth. Managing diversity also entails issues of organisational culture that refer to an organisation's norms, values and beliefs. A diverse organisation in which there is a broad mix of people will add to the social dimension of the organisation and help to reduce the under-representation experienced by minority groups. Managing diversity is an internally driven proactive mechanism that acknowledges the interests of these groups. Moreover, at a strategic level, managing diversity involves:

Board level participation, responsibility and accountability on diversity issues;

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