1DIVERSITY & INCLUSION Executive Summary: The study is primarily focused on a local government council named as Auckland Council. The paper provides a brief assessment of the organization along with the history of the same. In addition to this, the paper delivers an important understanding of the administrative actions that the council conducts. Apart from this, the analysis provides an in depth analysis of the diversity management in the organization. Along with that, the study identifies the relevant stakeholders of the organization associated with the diversity and inclusion practices in the organization. Apart from this, the paper provides an accurate assessment of two focus areas such as gender and religion in context of the diversity and inclusion in the city council. From the literature, it is evident that the gender discrimination, discrimination on the basis of the religiousbeliefandculturalvalueshasthepotentialofdestroyingtheappropriate managementofthediversityintheorganizationalcontext.Fromtheanalysis,itis understandable that the participation of the male employees in UK labour and employment market is considerably higher than that of the female employees. Along With that, the UK list of bank holidays highlights greater preferences towards Christian communities than other religions such as Islam. On the contrary, the case is opposite in UAE and that increases the difficulty in the international human resource management.The inaccurate management of the diversity has the ability to decrease the team performances and restricts the commercial associationfromachievingthedesiredgrowth.Hence,itbecomesimportantforthe commercialassociationstoinitiatediversitymanagementactivitiesforpromotingand managing the same in the best possible manner.
2DIVERSITY & INCLUSION Table of Contents Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3 Organizational Overview:..........................................................................................................4 Stakeholder Discussion:.............................................................................................................5 Focus Areas:...............................................................................................................................7 Gender:...................................................................................................................................7 Religion:.................................................................................................................................9 Diversity Action Plan:..............................................................................................................10 Vision of the diversity action plan:..........................................................................................10 Objectives of the diversity action plan:....................................................................................11 Strategies:.................................................................................................................................12 Evaluation:...............................................................................................................................13 Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................13 References:...............................................................................................................................14
3DIVERSITY & INCLUSION Introduction: The importance of managing the diversity in the organizational context is notably evident for ensuring continuously improved performances. As per the comments of De Bruecker et al. (2015), majority of the modern mainstream organizations are seen to prioritize the workforce planning for achieving the desired sustainability in their business actions. Having said that, Grissom Kern and Rodriguez (2015), mentioned that the development of an efficient workforce that has the capability to conduct a sustainable business is seen to be dependent on their ability in sourcing expert professionals and in doing so, the companies are seen to develop an workforce that includes employees of different race, culture, language, gender and social orientation. As a result, the diversity of the workforces is seen to increase in a substantial manner. However, Bleidor et al. (2016) claimed that the companies do face the necessity of managing the diversity or the cross cultural differences amongst the employees to ensure that their team performances continuously improves. Hence, it is important for the companies to ensure that they provide the scope to their employees for participating in the diversity and inclusion practicesfor achieving the competency of managing the cross cultural differences and diversity. The discussion is based on one such organizationnamedasAucklandCouncilwhichwasestablishedintheyear2010 (Aucklandcouncil.govt.nz, 2020). The discussion delivers an important assessment of the operations of the administrative entity. Along with that, the paper evaluates the diversity management and inclusion practices of the organizations and in addition to this, it identifies the relevant stakeholders associated with diversity management processes of the organization. The evaluation of the diversity management processes is based on two different focus areas such as the religion and gender. With an exact understanding of the impurities that the organization is facing with the
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4DIVERSITY & INCLUSION implementation of the diversity and inclusion practices with respect to the two focus areas which are religion and gender, the study provides a detailed action plan for the employees operating in the organization along with the provisions for the evaluation. Organizational Overview: With an exact look at the selected entity, it is understandable that the Auckland Council is a local government council that has the expertise and power of a unitary authority. The structure of the association is unique in nature which includes three different positions such as Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Councillors (Aucklandcouncil.govt.nz, 2020). The mayor is regarded as an independent affiliation in the association and at the same time, the Deputy Mayor is seen to be affiliated with Team Franklin. The mayor of the association is Phil Goff and the Deputy Mayor of the association is Bill Cashmore. Other than this, the councillors of the association are Cathy Casey, Tracy Mulholland, Efeso Collins, Linda Cooper, Chris Darby, Alf Filipaina, Christine Fletcher, Richard Hills, Greg Sayers, Shane Henderson, Pippa Coom, Daniel Newman, Desley Simpson, Sharon Stewart, Angela Dalton, Wayne Walker, John Watson and Paul Young (Aucklandcouncil.govt.nz, 2020). Considering the operational activities of the administrative authority, it is observed to play a crucial role in formulating property rates and in conducting the valuations of the properties. Along with that, the administrative authority is seen to have the expertise of managing the procedures related to the licenses and compliance of the regulations. Apart from this, the unitary authority is seen to play an important role in formulating the plans, policies, projects, reports and bylaws. Apart from executing these operative actions, the council also has the capability of controlling several other important bodies such as the Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development Ltd, Auckland Transport, Panuku Development Auckland, Regional Facilities Auckland and Watercare Services Ltd (Aucklandnz.com, 2020). With a detailed
5DIVERSITY & INCLUSION look at the operations of the administrative authority, it is understandable that the mentioned body played a substantial role in the development of the plans such as the Auckland Plan, LongTermCouncilCommunityPlanandCityCentreandWaterfrontPlans (Aucklandcouncil.govt.nz, 2020). Hence, it is understandable that the local government council is managing their operational activities in a professional manner for the socio cultural and infrastructural development in the region. Stakeholder Discussion: As mentioned earlier, the selected entity is a local government council which works for the betterment of the local region. Similar to many of the employer organizations operating in the Auckland region, Auckland Council is seen to have substantial number of employees belonging to different cultural orientation and societal values. As a result, the efficient management of the diversity from the part of the council becomes much required for the success of the organization ensuring quality services to their citizens. The primary stakeholders that are associated with the operations of the local government council are seen to be the employees working under the administrative authority, the managerial position holders of the organization, the diversity managers and the general citizens of the region. With a detailed focus on the list of the stakeholders associated with the organization for the managementof the diversity,it isunderstandablethatthe importanceof the employees is notably high in the same. As per the comments of Jones, Wicks and Freeman (2017), the employees are the primary group of people with the responsibility for the management of business actions of the organization. The success of the employees in executing their operational activities has the potential to place the organizations in a better position for the management of the excessive work pressure that they are subjected to. Having said that,D’Innocenzo,Mathieu and Kukenberger(2016), mentionedthatthe
6DIVERSITY & INCLUSION excellence of the team performances from the part of the employees of the organizations, is an important success factor for the companies when it comes to manage the excessive demandsofthemarket.However,theformationofthedestructiveconflictsorthe inappropriate working environment as a result of the inappropriate management of the diversity, has the potential to affect the success of the companies in ensuring optimal workforce management and in enhancing the brilliance of team performances. Hence, the employees are the main stakeholder of the diversity management processes or the inclusion action plan as they are the responsible individuals who will take part in the program for ensuring a substantial improvement in their approach in managing the diversity in the organizational context. Other than this, the managerial position holders of the organization are also a crucial stakeholder group for the diversity management plan and for the inclusion activities. With a close look at the actions of the managerial position holders, it is understandable that he mayor, deputy mayor and the councillors do face the necessity to enhance the collaboration amongsttheirsubordinateemployeesforimprovingthequalityofbusinessactions undertaken by them. As the success of many of projects or initiatives of the administrative authority is dependent on the ability of the lower level employees in performing efficiently, it becomes important for the higher authority of the organization to ensure that the diversity amongst the lower level employees is managed in a professional manner. Along with that, another stakeholder group that holds a higher degree of interest in the diversity management practices of the organization will be the external or the internal diversity managers (Holck, Muhr & Villeseche, 2016). The mentioned group of individuals are responsible implementing the diversity managementaction planand for educatingthe employeesregardingthe importance of the inclusion practices. Hence, their success in executing their operational
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7DIVERSITY & INCLUSION activities is seen to be crucial for the success of the organization with the diversity management plan of the organization. Other than this, the general citizens of the region are the end customers of the services that the council offers. Hence, it is understandable that the improved collaboration amongst the employees as a result of implementation of the diversity management action plan has the potential to increase the quality of services that the general citizens will receive. Focus Areas: Withanaccurateconsiderationtothenecessityofdiversityinthechosen organizational context, the primary aspects that require considerable amount of improvement are seen to be related to gender and religion of the employees. As the council has the necessity to ensure that they provide equal opportunity to each and every employees, it becomes important for them to source the professionals irrespective of their religion, culture, language and race (Rice, 2015). Gender: With a specific look at the modern organizations, it is visible that the workforces comprise with participants of different genders as in majority of the cases, the recruitment in those workforces are conducted on the basis of the skills and expertise of the employees. Having said that, Ozturk and Tatli (2016), mentioned that the participation of individuals belongingtodifferentgendersnotonlyincreasesthequalityofthecollectiveteam performances but also invites certain challenges for the companies in managing their operational activities. According to the esteemed opinion of Cumming, Leung and Rui (2015), there are several job role or activities in the various business industries that are regarded as specific for the male professionals. Such specified job roles or activities are largely laborious works where the companies prefer the allocation of male workers to ensure
8DIVERSITY & INCLUSION that the consumption of the time for executing the same is limited. Along with that, the allocation of the male workers for such activities is seen to incorporate the necessity faced by the companies for ensuring the safe and secure execution of the operational activities. (Information:Employment rates in London (UK) from April 2015 to June 2018, by gender) (Information Courtesy: Statista.com, 2020) From the statistics, it is understandable that the participation of the male employees in the UK labour industry is considerably higher than that of the participation of the female employees. The participation of male employees is above 70% from middle of June’ 2015 to middle of June’ 2018 whereas the participation of female employees is lower than 60%. Having said that, such bias from the part of the higher authority of the companies has the potential to restrict the participation of the professionals of a particular gender. As a result, such allocation of the professionals can demotivate the professionals of other gender in the workforces. Apart from this, Ozturk and Tatli (2016), claimed that the gender bias is a
9DIVERSITY & INCLUSION major challenge for the modern professionals which affect the diversity in the organizational context. As per the comments of Kirton and Greene (2015), the success of appropriate management of the diversity in the organizational context, is seen to be dependent on the level of collaboration it achieves. Kirton and Greene (2015) further mentioned that there are several cases where the gender bias has affected the performance evaluation of the employees and that destroyed the normalcy in the workforces. Cumming, Leung and Rui (2015) delivered a brutal reflection of the gender bias with the comments that, a great share of the modern managers evaluate the performances of their employees with a certain level of bias towards them. The rater bias which is primarily influenced with the sexual orientation of the employees has the possibility of creating the context for the gender discrimination. AccordingtothecommentsofGlassandCook(2016),inmajorityofthe organizations, the introduction of the female managersat the higher authority or the managerial positions, is associated with a certain difficulty and that is regarded as the glass ceiling. On the other hand, Lucifora and Vigani (2016) mentioned that there is considerable number of examples where the wage and other value added services offered to a female employees is considerably higher than that of a male employee. As a result, it creates disparity in the performance evaluation of the employees and that has the possibility of creatingdissatisfactionamongst theemployeesof other gender.Hence, itbecomesa challenge for the modern managers to formulate a productive team and to ensure the formulation of a strong bonding amongst the employees of the organization. Religion: Another important factor that increases the diversity in the organizational context, is seen to be the religion. According to the comments of Martikainen (2016), the modern workforces are seen to experience the participation of the individuals belonging to different religious viewpoints and that increase the diversity in the organizational context. Xie (2017),
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10DIVERSITY & INCLUSION stated that certain managers have the tendency of discriminating their employees on the basis of their religion which is a major concern for ensuring the sustainability in the workforces. Xie (2017), stated that the formulation of the paid holiday list is one of the important responsibility of the human resource managers of majority of the modern organizations. As an efficient employer, majority of the companies try to provide the scope of celebrating the religious red letter days to their employees and in doing so, such religious red letter days are seen to be included in the list of holidays. However, the appropriate inclusion of such red letter days in the list of holidays of an organization has the potential to get affected on the basis of the preferences towards a religious view point. According to the comments of Martikainen (2016), the personal preferences of a business leader towards considering the inclusion of a religious day in the list of the holidays and excluding another red letter day from the list of the holiday on the basis of lesser preferences, is a point of concern in ensuring efficient management of the diversity in the organizational context.Considering the example of UK bank holidays, it is evident that none of the 7 bank holidays of the nation is there to celebrate for the minority religions such as Islamic or Hindu. On the other hand, 3 out of the 7 bank holidays of the nation are observed to provide the scope to the Christian community to practice their religion (Gov.uk, 2020). Similarly, the list of bank holidays of UAE is observed to include approximately 5 out of 8 holidays designed to celebrate the memorable days of Islam (Government.ae, 2020). On the other hand, none of the memorable days of the Christian religion is seen to be recognized in list of Bank holidays of the nation.At the same time, Fourie, Rosselló and Santana‐Gallego (2015), mentioned that such basis of the mangers have the potential of affecting their success in ensuring appropriate performance evaluation. As such bias provides an undue advantage to the employees belonging to a certain religion, it also increases the level of dissatisfaction of the employees of other region. Hence, it not only becomes challenging for the managers to
11DIVERSITY & INCLUSION execute their business activities but at the same time, it also creates considerable amount of chaos inside the organization. Hence, it is understandable that the diversity amongst the employees gets difficult to manage for the companies when there exist such unbalanced approach of managing the human resources from the part of the higher authority of the companies. Diversity Action Plan: With a particular look at the two main focus areas which are the gender and religion, the substantial differences and the detrimental impact of the same on the smooth management of the operations of the mentioned council is prominent. Being an administrative authority, the councilfacesthenecessity of increasingthequalityof theiroperationsor more specifically, the employees of the council have the obligation of ensuring continuous enhancement of their team performances. As inaccurate management of the diversity present amongst the employees of the council, has the probability of affecting the sustainability of the workforces, it is important for the council to tackle the same through implementing a diversity action plan in a professional manner. Vision of the diversity action plan: The vision of the council with their diversity management action plan is to influence their employees for eliminating the scope of occurrence of any sort of inappropriate actions that has the potential to affect the culture of the organization in negative manner. As the discrimination amongst the employees on the basis of the gender and religion has the potential to affect the success of the employees of the council in serving their citizens, the diversity action plan of the organization is designed for ensuring the fact that each and every members of the council is valued in the appropriate manner. Along with that, the diversity
12DIVERSITY & INCLUSION action plan of the organization provides the opportunity to the council in achieving their mission of empowering their employees for maintaining high quality of services. Objectives of the diversity action plan: With a precise look at the literature, it is understandable the mainstream organizations are affected with the inaccurate management of the diversity and the unprofessionalism from the part of such organizations in handling the diversity on the basis of the religion and gender is not only affecting their quality of services and performances, but also decreasing the sustainability of their workforces. In such situation, the objectives of the diversity action plan of the organization are as follows: Formation of a talented, diverse and dedicated workforce. Developing education amongst the employees of the council regarding the diversity management. Improvement of the collaboration amongst the employees of the council. Enhancement of the respect of the employees towards the individual differences. Providing the opportunity to each and every employees of the organization in celebrating their festivals or he religious events in the best possible manner. Providing equal opportunity to each and every employees of the organization for achieving the desired promotions. Ensuring unbiased and appropriate evaluation of the performances of the employees from the part of the higher authority of the companies. Strategies: The primary strategy for the management of the diversity in the council is to initiate theemployeeengagementactivities(Fourie,Rosselló&Santana‐Gallego(2015).The organization is in need to formulate employee engagement activities such as fun game
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13DIVERSITY & INCLUSION sessions or team dinners as that will increase the collaboration amongst the employees of the organization in a professional manner. Apart from this, the organization is required to provide equal opportunity to their employees for achieving the managerial positions. The unbiased evaluation of the suitability of the candidates for the managerial positions will be of great significance in ensuring the placement of the deserving candidates. This will also increase the participation of the female executives at the managerial team of the council. In addition to this, the organization has the necessity of recruiting diverse professionals at all levels of their workforce as that will be importantinpromotingthediversityandrespectingtheindividualdifferencesofthe employees inside the organization in an effortless manner (Cascio, 2015). In addition to this, the organization is required to ensure that they include equal number of religious events in their list of holidays from all the religions for promoting the diversity and for providing the scope to the employees to celebrate their culture. Other than this, the council authority is required to formulate an executive panel with diverse leaders for assessing the performances of their employees without the impact of any sort of bias or gender preferences (Cascio, 2015). Apart from this, the council is required to follow parameter based performance evaluation forms for evaluating the performances of their employees without any sort of bias. Evaluation: The council authority is in need to follow the practice of the employee surveys for the evaluation of their success in managing the diversity (Ashikali & Groeneveld, 2015). In addition to this, the evaluation of the recruitment and promotion statistics of the organization will be crucial in assessing the capability of the higher authority of the organization in promoting the diversity and respecting the individual differences of the employees.
14DIVERSITY & INCLUSION Conclusion: On an ending note, it is understandable that the council is managing the administrative actions in the Auckland region in a professional manner. The higher authority of the council is able to contribute to development of the region on the parameter of infrastructure, economy and the style of leading. Having said that, the success of the council in enhancing the quality of their operations is seen to be primarily dependent on their ability in enhancing the team performances in the organizational context and in such situation, the efficient management of the diversity is seen to hold the key to the success of the organization.
15DIVERSITY & INCLUSION References: Ashikali, T., & Groeneveld, S. (2015). Diversity management for all? An empirical analysis of diversity management outcomes across groups. Personnel Review. Aucklandcouncil.govt.nz(2020).AucklandCouncil.Retrieved1February2020,from https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Pages/default.aspx Aucklandnz.com (2020). About ATEED | Aucklandnz.com. Retrieved 1 February 2020, from https://www.aucklandnz.com/about-ateed Bleidorn, W., Arslan, R. C., Denissen, J. J., Rentfrow, P. J., Gebauer, J. E., Potter, J., & Gosling, S. D. (2016). Age and gender differences in self-esteem—A cross-cultural window. Journal of personality and social psychology, 111(3), 396. Cascio, W. F. (2015). Managing human resources. New York: McGraw-Hill. Cumming, D., Leung, T. Y., & Rui, O. (2015). Gender diversity and securities fraud. Academy of management Journal, 58(5), 1572-1593. D’Innocenzo, L., Mathieu, J. E., & Kukenberger, M. R. (2016). A meta-analysis of different forms of shared leadership–team performance relations. Journal of Management, 42(7), 1964-1991. De Bruecker, P., Van den Bergh, J., Beliën, J., & Demeulemeester, E. (2015). Workforce planning incorporating skills: State of the art. European Journal of Operational Research, 243(1), 1-16. Fourie, J., Rosselló, J., & Santana‐Gallego, M. (2015). Religion, religious diversity and tourism. Kyklos, 68(1), 51-64.
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16DIVERSITY & INCLUSION Glass, C., & Cook, A. (2016). Leading at the top: Understanding women's challenges above the glass ceiling. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(1), 51-63. Grissom, J. A., Kern, E. C., & Rodriguez, L. A. (2015). The “representative bureaucracy” in education:Educatorworkforcediversity,policyoutputs,andoutcomesfor disadvantaged students. Educational Researcher, 44(3), 185-192. Holck, L., Muhr, S. L., & Villeseche, F. (2016). Identity, diversity and diversity management: On theoretical connections, assumptions and implications for practice. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 35(1), 48-64. Jones, T. M., Wicks, A. C., & Freeman, R. E. (2017). Stakeholder theory: The state of the art. The Blackwell guide to business ethics, 17-37. Kirton, G., & Greene, A. M. (2015). The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical approach. Routledge. Lucifora, C., & Vigani, D. (2016). What if your boss is a woman? Work organization, work- life balance and gender discrimination at the workplace. Martikainen, T. (2016). Multilevel and pluricentric network governance of religion. In Religion in the neoliberal age (pp. 141-154). Routledge. Ozturk, M. B., & Tatli, A. (2016). Gender identity inclusion in the workplace: broadening diversitymanagementresearchandpracticethroughthecaseoftransgender employees in the UK. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(8), 781-802. Rice, M. F. (2015). Diversity and public administration. ME Sharpe. Xie, Z. (2017). Religious diversity and public religion in China. Routledge.
17DIVERSITY & INCLUSION Government.ae (2020). Public holidays - The Official Portal of the UAE Government. Retrieved12February2020,fromhttps://government.ae/en/information-and- services/public-holidays-and-religious-affairs/public-holidays Gov.uk(2020).UKbankholidays.Retrieved12February2020,from https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays Statista.com (2020). Employment rates London by gender 2018 | Statista. Retrieved 12 February2020,fromhttps://www.statista.com/statistics/379713/employment-rates- london-uk-gender-distribution/