Managing Diversity at Work: Key to Organisational Survival

Abstract

The indispensible nature of diversity management as a concept is no longer contestable, because it has become a major requirement for any organisation that wants to optimize the productivity of its workforce. Organisations are now faced with intense competition arising from a globalized workforce that necessitates the application of diversified management principles, culture and managerial thinking. One of the effects of a globalized workforce is that it places a high expectation on organisational managers on the need to achieve a higher premium on effective management of diversified workforce.  Globalization in this 21^st century has brought with it a higher than normal requirement to strike a balance between mono-cultural and multicultural workforce. This is caused by  heterogeneous background in terms of our biological and physical characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, educational,  political and  religious beliefs, just to mention a few.  It is on the basis of the above, that public and private organisations need to develop a culture that is compatible with diversification of workforce in order to remain relevant in a fast changing and globalized economy. This paper aims at evaluating the various ways in which diversity in organisations can be managed to ensure the survivability of global organisations in fulfilling the need of both the local market and the world market at large. Managing diversity effectively will unfold how to plan and develop a good diversity audit   in an organisation with a view to developing a robust program for your needs as well as creating an organisational culture that encourages diversity in order maximize the productivity of your workforce, build an all embracing multicultural work teams, design interesting meetings that work for everyone, and recruit, select, motivate, and promote a diverse workforce. Furthermore, managing diversity in organisations involves maintaining work-life balance; diversity sensitivity training; improved management information system on diversity; mentoring as part of staff development; and attitude change.

Keywords: diversity; organisational survival; cultural diversity; mono-culture;  multi-culture