Diversity and Inclusion - Importance, Definition, and Development Plan

This article discusses the importance of diversity and inclusion in the modern business context, along with the definition of diversity and inclusion, and the development plan for becoming an efficient diversity and inclusion practitioner. It also covers the strengths and areas of improvement of the author as a diversity and inclusion practitioner, and their vision for the future. The subject is Diversity and Inclusion, and the document type is an essay with a development plan. The course code, course name, and college/university are not mentioned.

Running head: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Diversity and Inclusion
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Section 1:....................................................................................................................................4
Section 2:....................................................................................................................................7
Section 3:..................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................12
References:...............................................................................................................................13

2DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Introduction:
The importance of the diversity in the modern business context is observed to be
significantly high and that is evident with the increasing urge amongst the senior
management of the organizations in promoting the diversification. The modern business
world is seen to experience notable amount of competition and that is one of the main reason
that is influencing the management of the organizations operating in the various industries
towards the undertaking of different strategies (Baden-Fuller and Mangematin 2013). The
increasing intensity of the market competition is considered to be one of the prime factor that
is forcing the senior management of the companies towards the establishment of the scientific
management inside the organizations. Under such situation, the companies are facing the
need of prioritizing the skills and competencies of the employees rather than the race,
nationality or the gender. It is pretty evident that the objective of the human resource
management of majority of the organizations are well achieved with the recruitment of the
employees on the basis of their skills and the competencies instead of their race, nationality
or the gender (Alfes et al. 2013). As the companies are preferring the diversity of the
employees solely because of the impact of their skills on the success of the organizations, it
becomes evident that the companies will face difficulty in integrating he diverse background
of the employees. Under such situation, the team work has the possibility of getting affected
and that will be a major menace for the managers of the organizations. Here lies the
importance of the diversity and inclusion practitioners.
The paper is focused in the description of the concept of the diversity and inclusion.
Along with this, the paper analyses my capability in becoming an efficient diversity and
inclusion practitioner. Apart from this, the paper provides a significant analysis of my areas
of improvement as a diversity and inclusion practitioner along with the approach that I prefer

3DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
to undertake as a diversity and inclusion practitioner. The paper also elaborates the various
aspects of a diversity and inclusion developmental plan with precise focus on my areas of
development in becoming an improved diversity and inclusion practitioner. Other than this,
the paper includes my vision that I would set as a diversity and inclusion practitioner. The
paper summarizes one critical situation that is expected to occur in near future along with an
evaluation of my skills as a diversity and inclusion practitioner for the identification of the
improvements that I will be able to achieve.
Section 1:
Diversity:
The definition of the diversity terms it to be a dimension that has the possibility to be
used for differentiating the groups and the people from others. Dhanani and Jones (2017)
commented that the concept of diversity is based on the empowerment of the people through
respecting and appreciating the factors or the aspects that make them different from one to
another. Neffke and Henning (2013) stated that the importance of the diversification of the
workforces in the modern business world is observed to increase in a notable manner.
Fujimoto, Härtel and Azmat (2013) claimed that there are various factors of diversification
such as education, ethnicity, nationality, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation along with
the religion, present in the modern context of business and with the increasing consideration
towards the skills of the employees as the main influential factor, the companies are
considered to be promoting the diversification.
Hence, the study of the diversity becomes important as it provides significant
elaboration regarding these sorts of differences in a positive and safe environment. The study
of the diversification is pretty simple according to Wambugu (2014) as it only requires a
simple level of tolerance from the part of the people which ensures that they value the

4DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
differences that they have amongst each other. It is evident that each of the employees in a
workforce, is associated with a diverse life and work experiences, religious faith and cultural
beliefs along with a set of different perspectives which they bring to the workforces with
them. Njoroge and Yazdanifard (2014) commented that the power of the diversity of the
workforces will only be utilised well in cases where the people acknowledge the differences
that they have amongst each other. Hence in order to achieve, the diversity in the workforces
and the benefits of it, it becomes important for the individuals to respect the differences.
Inclusion:
Inclusion, on the other hand, is considered to be the efforts and activities from the part
of the companies that are employed to make sure that the socially and culturally diverse work
groups are well accepted in the workforces long with their different backgrounds. As
mentioned, the factors that promote the diversity such as education, ethnicity, nationality,
age, disability, gender, sexual orientation or the religion can be self -evident and the practices
from the part of the companies to make sure that these differences are well managed so that
they do not become a major constraint in the operations of the employees, are considered to
be inclusion. Daya (2014) commented that the inclusion is a sort of sense of belonging and
further added that the inclusive culture becomes significant in making people feel valued and
respected for the differences that they have in comparison to another person. Sabharwal
(2014) commented that the practices that are designated as inclusion plays a crucial role for
the organizations in providing a supportive energy and commitment to the employees from
the other employees. Tienda (2013) stated that the people have the tendency of functioning in
an improved manner and at times exceeds their usual capacity when they feel valued. The
shift in culture of the organizations with the incorporation of the inclusion and the practices
that ensures the diversification are seen to be responsible for the creation of the high
performing organizations.

5DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
The approach that I will undertake in executing my operations as the diversity and
inclusion practitioner will be participative in nature. I will prefer the employees to take the
charge for the effective management of their differences. I will be able to provide them the
sufficient scope and infrastructure to identify the techniques that they will apply for the
management of the issues that can be a concern for them going forward. As the individuals
are expected to work as a team more often than as an individual, it is important for them to
increase their involvement and know each other in a better manner. One thing that I will
make sure that does not happen is the skipping of the comments of the employees. It is
important for me as a diversity and inclusion practitioner to hear the issues of my people and
more often than not, it becomes heavy for a majority of the practitioners to have the patience
and concentration for effectively hearing the issues of the individuals and that notably affects
their application and approach as the diversity and inclusion practitioner. Hence this will be a
major aspect of the diversity and inclusion practitioner’s operations that I will not repeat. I
will hear the issues of each and every individuals to make sure that they feel important and I
be able to identify the differences to respect.
The main purpose of focusing on the diversity and inclusion development plan is the
fact that I want to develop myself in a more appropriate manner and along with that, I want to
make sure that I be able to improve my efficiency as a diversity and inclusion practitioner. It
is understandable that each of practioners will have their set of strengths and weaknesses and
the success of them will be dependent on their capability of effectively managing the
detrimental impact of their weaknesses (Martín Alcázar, Miguel Romero Fernández and
Sánchez Gardey 2013). While they manage their weakness, it is also important for them to
make sure that they build on their strengths. The developmental plan provides the framework
for the improvement and manage the developmental activities with a precise focus on the
areas of improvement or the weaknesses.

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Section 2:
Strengths:
One of the major strength of mine in role of a diversity and the inclusion practitioner
is the communication. I have the capability to communicate with the individuals in a manner
that makes them involved in the process and along with that, the reflection of the
interpersonal skills of mine becomes notably evident in my communications with the other
individuals. I have the usual tendency of greeting the individuals in accordance to their own
cultural names or the greetings. This plays a crucial role in favour of mine in making them
feel that I acknowledge their cultural beliefs and their traditions. Other than this, I make sure
that I communicate with them with a precise focus on all the cultural beliefs and the values
that they hold. The objective in this aspect for me is to make sure that I do comment anything
that affects their social beliefs and the values. It is pretty evident that, such sort of comments
that have the potential to affect a particular relation in a negative manner will always be
against the suitable code of conduct for the diversity and inclusion practitioners. Hence I have
the expertise to make sure that I do not comment anything that goes against the social beliefs
and the cultural values of my employees.
Other than this, I have the tendency of applying my skills of communication in the
consultation with the individuals for the effective identification of the factors that are
affecting the inclusion. The capability of consulting with the employees provides me notable
amount of benefit in gaining the much needed expertise in researching the issues that are
related to the diversity and inclusion. With the help of effective consultation, I not only be

7DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
able to identify the factors that affect in the formation of an inclusive culture inside the
organization but also gain the quality of proposing or advising relevant tactics that can be
employed for managing the impact of the issues. The identification of the issues that affect
the formation of the inclusive culture provides me the base for the design of the relevant
training and developmental activities for the increment of the bond between the employees of
different backgrounds.
Apart from this, I have the capability of providing the sufficient scope to the
employees for improving their bond with the other employees through the relevant diversity
and inclusion training activities. This becomes significant for them as it has the potential to
provide them a perfect place for creating the relationships with the other employees to
improve their performances as team. With the improvement in the team performances of the
employees, the organizations will be the actual beneficiary as the improvement in the
performances of the teams in the aspect of the quality and quantity as a result of the
enhancement of the bonding between the employees, will be crucial in the increment profit of
the organizations (Osa and Amos 2014).
Areas of Improvement:
One of the areas that I require notable amount of development is the design of the
disability services. It is evident that the disability of the employees is one of the crucial
factors that contributes to the diversification of the workforces and under such situation, it is
important for me have the capability to meet the issues that are affecting the performances of
the disable employees. One of the major need of the disable employees is seen to be the
support services and under such situation, I lack in a significant manner in the design of the
relevant support services for the disabled employees. Other than, I do feel that I need to take
the initiative of making sure that the higher management of the companies are communicated

8DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
or consulted regarding the needs of the provisions in the recruitment policies of the company
that effectively formulates sufficient amount of scope for the disabled employees in getting
recruited in the companies.
I consider that it is important for the companies or the relevant teams of the
companies to effectively communicate to the people regarding their openness and acceptance
towards a diversified workforce. Hence it becomes important for them to contribute in the
development of the inclusive culture and in the communication of the existence of that
culture inside the organization to the general people of the probable candidates. Being an
efficient employer, this becomes the necessity of majority of the organizations of modern
world of business (Van de Vijver 2013). However, I feel that the diversity and inclusion
practitioners are also responsible for helping these teams in creating an improved image of
their organizations and under such situation, I feel that I am notably limited in the formation
of the content that have the potential to help a recruitment manager or a marketing manager
in creating an improved image of the company with their relevant business activities.
Other than this, one of the major shortcomings of my practices as a diversity and
inclusion practitioner is seen to be the incapability in identifying the external trends that have
the potential to affect the diversity of the workforces and that becomes a major issue for the
companies. The appropriate evaluation of the changes or the trends is significantly important
for the managers in order to identify the best practices that have the potential to improve the
operations of the diversified workforces (Hahn and Kühnen 2013). Hence, the effective
management of the external trends or the changes become important for the diversity and
inclusion practitioner where I have significant amount of limitations.
The class readings have provided me significant amount of knowledge regarding the
role of the diversity and inclusion practitioner and my capabilities in effectively managing the

9DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
role. As a potential diversity and inclusion practitioner, I have the capability of
communicating with the employees in an efficient manner and at the same time, it positioned
me in a perfect place for the identification of the factors that are affecting the diversification
and strengthening of the bond between the employees. Hence, it is evident that I have
gathered the knowledge of creating and running successful training sessions for promoting
the inclusion and managing the diversification inside the organizations. I have the potential to
identify the difficulties that people are facing and I also have capability to provide them
suitable solutions for the effective management of those difficulties so that they be able to
overcome them in an efficient manner.
In spite of having these qualities, I have some major shortcomings and the
improvement in these areas for providing an improved operations is my vision going forward
as the diversity and inclusion practitioner. My vision is to be a diversity and inclusion
practitioner who effectively considers the people to the main priority and believes that there
is no perfect way of managing their diversity and inclusion inside the organizations until the
people of the company are involved in it. The main reason that influences me in having such
consideration is the fact that I believe the participation of the employees is the most important
factor for the organizations in promoting an inclusive culture and in managing the differences
that the people have amongst each other.
Section 3:
A critical situation that can occur in near future is the unrest amongst the diverse set
of employees regarding the inappropriate rewarding policy along with the partially
appropriate team bonding practices. It is important to motivate the employees in the
organizations for extracting the best out of them and Shahzadi et al. (2014) commented that
the efficiency of a motivated workforce is seen to be much higher than a set of employees

10DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
who are not motivated. Hence it is pretty evident that the importance of the motivation in the
modern business context with the formation of the relevant rewarding policy that includes the
intrinsic and extrinsic rewards is increasing in a notable manner. Under such situation, the
success of the mangers in the formation of such rewarding plan that effectively motivates the
employees of different background is seen to be dependent on the capability of the managers
in the identification of the different needs of the employees. For example, it is understandable
that a Christmas tree will be an important motivator or reward for a Christian child, however
that might not be as influential for an Islamic kid. On the other hand, the concept of Eidi will
be crucial in motivating an Islamic kid in a more prominent manner in comparison to a
Christian child.
Hence it becomes important to identify the needs of the employees in appropriate
manner to increase the effectiveness of the rewards. In the future context, my operations will
include that added edge or support for the human resource managers to provide the relevant
information regarding different needs of the employees. This will be a crucial improvement
in my operations where I will be able to help the other teams of the organizations in
improving their business activities in context of the diversity and inclusion. This will enable
that section of the company to create an improved image of the company as an efficient
employer. Other than this, one of the improvements that is expected to occur in near future in
managing the diversification in the workforces is the increment in the consideration towards
the engagement activities. Currently, I have a style where I effectively consult with the
employees for the identification of the issues that they are facing or for identifying the ways
in which the team bonding can be improved. In near future, I may apply an improved tactics
in the enhancement of the team cohesion through introducing the employee engagement
activities for the employees. The weekly occurrence of the employee engagement activities

11DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
along with the team dinners will be crucial for me in improving the bonding between the
employees of different backgrounds.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it can be said that the importance of the diversity and inclusion
in the modern business context is increasing in a rapid manner. However, the companies are
facing considerable number of challenges in managing the diversification and the differences
amongst the employees. With a precise focus on such a scenario, the significance of the roles
and responsibilities of the diversity and inclusion practitioners such as mine is subjected to a
notable enhancement. As a diversity and inclusion practitioner, I consider the communication
or the skills of identification of the training needs of the employees to be my strengths
whereas I do feel that my limitation in helping the other teams of the organizations in
promoting an inclusive culture is a major area of improvement.

12DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
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Alfes, K., Shantz, A.D., Truss, C. and Soane, E.C., 2013. The link between perceived human
resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated
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351.
Baden-Fuller, C. and Mangematin, V., 2013. Business models: A challenging agenda.
Strategic Organization, 11(4), pp.418-427.
Daya, P., 2014. Diversity and inclusion in an emerging market context. Equality, Diversity
and Inclusion: An International Journal, 33(3), pp.293-308.
Dhanani, A. and Jones, M.J., 2017. Editorial boards of accounting journals: gender diversity
and internationalisation. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 30(5), pp.1008-
1040.
Fujimoto, Y., Härtel, C.E. and Azmat, F., 2013. Towards a diversity justice management
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and implications for future research. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal,
20(1), pp.39-49.

13DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Neffke, F. and Henning, M., 2013. Skill relatedness and firm diversification. Strategic
Management Journal, 34(3), pp.297-316.
Njoroge, C.N. and Yazdanifard, R., 2014. The impact of social and emotional intelligence on
employee motivation in a multigenerational workplace. Global Journal of Management And
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Business Management, 2(9), pp.107-122.
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performance. Public Personnel Management, 43(2), pp.197-217.
Shahzadi, I., Javed, A., Pirzada, S.S., Nasreen, S. and Khanam, F., 2014. Impact of employee
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