Challenges and Critical Issues in Managing Diversity in Modern Organisations

Running Head: Diversity
Diversity
Essay
System04104
8/13/2019

Diversity
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Diversity
Introduction
The concept of diversity has been raised in the modern world of business practices
because organisations are trying to expand their business to one nation to another nation. In
the era of global business practices, managing different workforce in different nations is a
challenge for any organisation. Managing diversity is a challenge for business organisations
because management of diversity needs to understand the each individual differently
(McMahon, 2010). Every individual have different needs, culture, values, norms, and ethical
views. Therefore, managing diversity in global organisation is a challenge and it is one of the
major issues in corporate organisation because without managing the diversity in culture, no
organisation can survive for long time or compete with other players in the industry. The
present work includes the challenges and critical issues related to diversity management and
shows how modern organisations are facing so many difficulties in managing diversity in the
organisation.
Diversity is set of conscious practice in the modern global organisations that involves
understanding and appreciating the cultural, moral, and ethical difference between the
individuals. The diversity in people can also be identified in terms of religious and social
economic beliefs, ideological differences, sexual differences, gender differences etc.
However, the organisations are looking to exercise positive diversity management in the
organisation so the organisation can gain competitive advantages over other competitors
(Barak, 2016). The organisations are currently facing strong challenges to manage the
diversity at the workplace. For example, it has been found that diversity in the workplace
enhance the critical thinking, problem solving, and employee professional skills. However, if
organisation failed to manage the diversity in the organisation then it directly affects the
capabilities of organisation to recruit and attract people for the organisation in future. Proper
diversity management is not only required to manage the workforce rather it is also beneficial
for the organisation to recruit talented and competent people for the organisation. The growth
and success of an organisation depends how organisation manages its people. However, the
discrimination, disrespect, and anger of people with different background or culture are some
of the major challenges in managing diversity in the workplace (Bond & Haynes, 2014). The
poor diversity management leads to low morale in employees having different culture or
background, decrease in self-confidence and poor performance of employees, poor

Diversity
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teamwork, and decrease in profit of the organisation. Therefore, it is essential for the modern
business organisation to find out the causes of these issues related to diversity and exploit the
benefits of workplace diversity in such a way that maximise the profit of the organisation and
give competitive advantage over other players in the industry (Ilmakunnas & Ilmakunnas,
2011).
The major challenge of diversity is faced by the recruitment department. The
recruitment company always face challenges related to diversity management (Patrick &
Kumar, 2012). Diversity in workplace generally promote the respect, acceptance, and
teamwork despite being differences in cultural, gender, language, social belief or political
belief, communication style, or sexual orientation. However, the major issue is that if the
workplace has more diversity then it creates more issues for the organisation. The HR and
recruitment board of any company if fail to manage the diversity in the organisation, then it
destroy the reputation of the company among its people and stakeholders (Martin, 2014). It is
crucial for the organisation that employees who belong to different culture or background can
create a strong bonding with each other and share their ideas and views. This leads to the
growth of the organisation and help the organisation to carry out business operation in
efficient and effective way. Diversity also leads to the innovative thinking or innovation in
the organisation because people can share different views and ideas to the organisation
(Navon, 2010). For example, if the human resource department of an organisation fail to
manage the diversity then it leads to poor workplace culture, which affects the performance
of the organisation as well. Diversity in organisation sometimes leads to poor communication
between the people who belong to diverse culture. People who belong to different work
culture sometimes take time to understand and respond the query of other person. This leads
to delay in decision-making process. However, this issue is really a great challenge for a
manager to resolve the conflict between the two people, which generally arises because of
poor communication or poor understanding between the people. Therefore, it is necessary for
manager or senior officers in organisation to understand the different culture and opinion of
people so manager can make the right decision regarding the conflict resolution (Legas &
Sims, 2011).
Diversity in the workplace generally promotes the individuality at the workplace and
it facilitates the organisation to receive different opinions and ideas from the people. It not
only helps the organisation to improve its performance rather it also facilitates the