Diversity Management: The Business Case and the Moral Case

This essay explores diversity management in business and moral cases, types and theories of diversities, and organisational perspectives for diversity in Australian companies. It discusses the business case for diversity, moral case for diversity, and issues faced by companies that do not follow either case. The essay concludes that organisations should follow both business and moral cases of diversity to make a profit, keep employees satisfied, and run the business smoothly for a long time.

DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT: THE BUSINESS CASE AND THE
MORAL CASE
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Business Case for Diversity.............................................................................................................3
Moral Case for Diversity.................................................................................................................4
Types and Theory of Diversities......................................................................................................4
Organisational perspective for diversity..........................................................................................6
Diversities issues.............................................................................................................................7
Link for business case for diversity and moral case for diversity...................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
The essay examines the diversity processes in business case as well as in moral case. Diversity
determines differentiating of people by colour, gender, age, cultural background, language,
religion, personality, educational level, marital status and life experiences. Diversity
Management in an organisation refers to the actions taken by the firm in order to promote best
inclusion to employees with different background into the structure of the organisation through
specific programs and policies. The strategies of diversity management have been adopted by the
organisation in order to manage talent in the organisation and improve employee’s productivity.
The thesis statement of this essay is to analyse the approaches to diversity management used by
Australian companies. In this essay, three companies have been chosen to understand the
different types of diversity management such as diversity management for the business case,
moral case and others.
Business Case for Diversity
Some approaches to diversity management are applied by the organisation in order to get more
profit from the business. As stated by Hoffman et al. (2014), the business case of diversity helps
the organisation to enhance their profitability. The performance, profitability, generation of
revenue and operational effectiveness are improved by the approach of business case diversity.
According to this type of diversity, an organisation values organisational diversity so that
employment can be done without any discrimination. This will enhance the productivity of the
workforce and improve the performance of the company. In accordance to Wrench (2016),
business case for diversity ensures high satisfaction among employees, which lead to
organisational profitability as well as productivity. With the help of this particular approach,
companies can ensure reduction of employee turnover by increasing creativity and skills among
employees.
Moral Case for Diversity
For some organisations, following the moral values and ethics are more important than
profitability. As stated by Demuijnck (2015), before applying the strategy, they think that
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whether the strategies are based on ethical norms or not. If the strategy is not meeting the ethical
considerations then the organisations will not apply the strategy. They give priority to the ethics
more than profitability that they are going to achieve. They do not apply anything any policy for
employees by restricting their welfare in order to get more profit. In the moral case of diversity,
there is respect for every employee. Organisations work in order to make the world better and to
provide the best services to the customers by maintaining moral values. In an organisation as per
moral diversity, there should be gender equality, no discrimination regarding age and religion. In
accordance to Hafenbrädl and Waeger (2017), there should be an integrated relationship among
the employees and the hierarchy. The organisation, which is following moral diversity, considers
welfare of employees by doing the right things. They do not perform anything that can harm any
human resource as well as environmental resource.
Types and Theory of Diversities
Different types of diversities are seen in the organisation such as diversity in age, diversity in
religious, diversity in ethnic or racial and diversity in disability. In an organization, people of
different ages work together. Sometimes it has been that people of old age work with the people
of early aged people. As a result, it brings differences in perception and approaches in the
workplace. People having different religions work together in the organisation. Sometimes,
challenges are arisen due to the difference in religion as every religion ensures some rules. The
organisation has its own religion to follow and employees may have the same or different. A
conflict arises regarding religious superiority among employee as well as hierarchy. Sometimes
it has been seen that people having different colour works together in an organisation and they
are treated differently according to colour. As stated by Schaltegger and Burritt (2018), in
Australia, the same situations arise due to colour of people as some people stigmatise black
people which bring obstacles in workplace. According to the government of Australia, disabled
people need to get equal opportunity of employment with all facilities from the organisations
such as accommodations. However, several companies in Australia do not employ Australian
regulation while appointing employee in the firm (Rani, 2017).
Theory of Diversity
Institutional Theory is based on culture of the society. In accordance to Carroll (2016), different
types of processes of routine, structure, norms and rules are considered in this theory. This theory
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ensures the social structure that will consist of diversity with equal opportunity. On the other
hand, social identity theory refers to the social identity in order to explain the behaviour of
intergroup according to difference in status, legitimacy and the capability of movement from one
to another group. This theory deals with the social selves of human. In order to manage diversity
within firm, this theory can be applied where employees will be treated individually with equal
opportunity (Sharma, 2010).
Organisational perspective for diversity
In order to understand the diversities in the perspective of organisations, three organisations have
been selected. The selected organisations are Made Comfy, Telstra and Rio Tinto from Australia.
For understanding diversity management of business case, the organisation Made Comfy has
been chosen. It provides the complete services including marketing of the property, manages the
process of rental and as primary service provider for the guests. In this organisation, different
types of strategies have been adopted in order to manage diversity of business case. It is a
recently developed property management firm which is striving for profitability and competitive
advantage. For this reason, it has adopted business case for diversity management. In diversity of
business case, Made Comfy focuses on the satisfaction of employees so that the organisation will
get profitability and productivity. It focuses on the skills harnessing of the employees in order to
improve the creativity as well as innovation in the organisation. It reduces the turnover of
employee in order to maintain profitability (Made Comfy, 2018). Made Comfy invests in
recruiting employee from different cultural background in order to maintain its corporate image
and get competitive advantage.
In order to understand moral case of diversity, Telstra has been chosen that deals with the
mobiles, mobile devices, internet and home phones. Telstra does not focus only on profitability
of the organisation but it also focuses on the ethical and moral values. The main aim of Telstra is
to provide best services to the customers by maintaining their corporate image (Telstra, 2018). It
does not follow the strategy that will harm any human or environment only to increase their
profitability the organisation understands that in order to run the business for long time, ethical
and moral values are important as this can improve organisations corporate image. They provide
equal opportunity to the employees coming from different background only to ensure diversified
initiatives in firm.
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Rio Tinto is the organisation that neither uses the business case of diversity nor moral case of
diversity that is why it is facing many challenges while running the business. It has been found
that in the company, there is a lack of female directors (Financial Times, 2017). The company
focuses only on male directors for the business that is why it is not able to grow in the
competition world due to lack of equal talent. It is not maintaining the business case of diversity.
According to the moral and ethical values, there should be gender equality however the company
is not providing the equal opportunity for both male and female employees which drag them
behind in meeting corporate social responsibility.
Diversities issues
Made Comfy that is following business case of diversity, is dealing with different kinds of issues
such as conflicts among the employees, negative behaviour among employees, dishonesty among
the employees and many other issues Due to the lack of moral values, it is not able to have a
better environment or workplace (Made Comfy, 2018). As the company is only focusing on their
profitability, employees satisfaction needs will not be fulfilled which will lead to agitation.
Telstra, which is following moral case of diversity, is also facing issues in profitability and lack
of wage satisfaction among the employees (Telstra, 2018). As it is not focussing on the business
strategies in order to make profit from the business, it is suffering from loss sometimes. Though
they follow moral values while managing diversity, employee feel more work pressure in respect
of their wage which lead to degraded employee productivity.
Rio Tinto, which is neither following business nor moral case of diversity, is facing lots of
challenges in the business (Financial Times, 2017). As it does not focus to increase the number
of female directors, it is not able to maintain the business properly and also facing challenges and
warnings from the government to increase the number of female directors.
After studying the business as well as moral case of diversity of different organisations, it has
been understood that an organisation needs to follow both businesses as well as moral case of
diversity. It follows both then it is able to make better profit as well as create the better
environment of workplace where employees have well relationship with each other.
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Link for business case for diversity and moral case for diversity
There is deep relation between business as well as moral case of diversity. It is important for the
organisation to follow both businesses as well as moral case of diversity. Organisation needs
both the profit as well as sustainability in order to stay in the market. An organisation will be
sustainable if it has some ethical values and morals. As stated by Lightfoote et al. (2014),
business strategy is required in order to earn more profit so that the organisation is able to satisfy
the employees and they will be excited and motivated to work for the benefits of the
organisation. Moral and Ethical values are required in the organisation so that the employees
have better relate to each other and they behave well in order to make the environment of
workplace positive. Business case of diversity in combination with moral case of diversity helps
in the growth of the organisation with the values. Business case of diversity helps the
organisation to increase the productivity by using the different strategy but if it is not followed
by moral case of diversity then there will be less chance of sustainability of the organisation for
long time. In accordance to Carroll (2016), if only business case of diversity is followed then
there will be lack of honesty to the customers as the organisation focuses on the profitability
only. If only moral case of diversity is followed by the organisation then it has values but due to
lack of business strategy, there is less chance that the organisation will be able to run the
business for long time. So, both business and moral case of diversity should be followed to make
the organisation profitable as well as valuable.
Conclusion
In this essay, different kinds of diversities have been discussed in the organisation. Business case
of diversity has been discussed with the help of Made Comfy. Made Comfy makes better profit
but due to lack of moral values it is not able to run the business smoothly. Moral case of diversity
has been discussed with the help of Telstra. Telstra is not focusing on the profitability more than
ethical values that are why it is not able to make the employees satisfied. Rio Tinto is the
organisation that is neither following business nor moral case of diversity and facing too many
challenges due to that. It is not increasing the female directors in the organisation that is against
the business as well as moral case of diversity of gender. After studying different case of
diversity, it has been concluded that an organisation should follow both businesses as well as
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moral case of diversity in order to make profit, keep their employees satisfied, have better
environment of workplace and to run the business smoothly for a long time.
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References
Books
Hoffman, W.M., Frederick, R.E. and Schwartz, M.S. eds., 2014. Business ethics: Readings and
cases in corporate morality. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Wrench, J., 2016. Diversity management and discrimination: Immigrants and ethnic minorities
in the EU. Abingdon: Routledge.
Journals
Demuijnck, G., 2015. Universal values and virtues in management versus cross-cultural moral
relativism: An educational strategy to clear the ground for business ethics. Journal of Business
Ethics, 128(4), pp.817-835.
Hafenbrädl, S. and Waeger, D., 2017. Ideology and the Micro-foundations of CSR: Why
Executives Believe in the Business Case for CSR and how this Affects their CSR
Engagements. Academy of Management Journal, 60(4), pp.1582-1606.
Schaltegger, S. and Burritt, R., 2018. Business cases and corporate engagement with
sustainability: Differentiating ethical motivations. Journal of Business Ethics, 147(2), pp.241-
259.
Online Article
Carroll, A.B., 2016. Carroll’s pyramid of CSR: taking another look. International journal of
corporate social responsibility, [Online] 1(1), p.3. Retrieved from:
https://jcsr.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40991-016-0004-6
Lightfoote, J.B., Fielding, J.R., Deville, C., Gunderman, R.B., Morgan, G.N., Pandharipande,
P.V., Duerinckx, A.J., Wynn, R.B. and Macura, K.J., 2014. Improving diversity, inclusion, and
representation in radiology and radiation oncology part 1: why these matter. Journal of the
American College of Radiology, [Online] 11(7), pp.673-680. Retrieved from:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1546144014001252
Rani D. (2017). Management of diversity at workplace. Available at<
https://www.peoplematters.in/article/diversity/management-of-diversity-at-workplace-14924?
utm_source=peoplematters&utm_medium=interstitial&utm_campaign=learnings-of-the-day>
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Sharma A. (2010). Managing diversity in the workplace. Available at<
https://www.peoplematters.in/article/employee-engagement/managing-diversity-in-workplace-
289>
Website
Financial Times (2017), Rio Tinto faces pressure over lack of female directors, 11th April, 2017,
Available on< https://www.ft.com/content/0a11d61c-1ec2-11e7-a454-ab04428977f9>
Made Comfy (2018), Property Management, 12th April, 2018, Available on<
https://madecomfy.com.au/property-management>
Telstra (2018), Healthcare, 12th July, 2018, Available on< https://www.telstra.com.au/business-
enterprise/industries/healthcare>
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