Managing Diversity in Human Resource Management

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
People management
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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
1. Introduction
Human resource management is an important parameter in the business. The
stakeholders and shareholders are people (human resources), which needs to be managed for
extracting the required labour. Therefore, the role of the managers is crucial for the effective
management of resources for mapping the benefits and risks. In the workplace, the employees
hail from different socio-cultural backgrounds, which enhances the cultural diversity
(McMillan-Capehart and Simerly 2008). This aspects is also a concern, as it leads to
conflicts, discrimination and harassments, which contradicts the teamwork needed for
enhancing the profitability. This assignment attempts to develop a briefing paper on the
effective management of the people, that is, the stakeholders and shareholders.
2. Literature review
2.1 Managing diversity
The basic form of managing diversity is acceptance towards the variety, which
prevails in the demographic and cultural differences in the workplace. The main essence of
diversity management is “valuing and accommodating differences” for achieving competitive
advantage. Knights and Omanović (2016) states that lack of proper understanding in this
direction aggravates the complexities in managing the diversified workforce. This lacuna
compels the managers to encounter the situations of employee turnover, stalling the
productivity. In order to maintain the balance in the operations, strategic approach is needed.
For exposing strategic approach, the managers are required to gain an understanding about
the different stages, which persists in the diversity. These stages are Equity, Affirmative
action, business case and productive diversity.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Fig: Diversity stages
(Source: Gotsis and Kortezi 2015)
Equal treatment for the workforce is vital for averting the instances of conflicts due to
misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Typical evidence of this lies in the implementation
of Affirmative Action (EEO for women) Act (1986). Involving the clients from other cultures
is a direct means for enhancing the productivity. Interaction between the social, environment
and economic parameters is assistance for mapping the harms and benefits, which can be
achieved. Legislations levies equal opportunities, contradicting the instances of
discriminations. Mostly, the businesses adopt “one size fits all’ strategy for managing the
human resources. As per the arguments of Grivastava and Kleiner (2015), this generates
negative outcomes, as the differences between the workers is ignored, leading to
misunderstanding and misinterpretation.
2.2 Dimensions of Diversity
same treatment for all
Equality Act (2010)
Equity
Affirmative Action (EEO for women workforce) Act 1986
Affirmative action
extracting profits through involving different cultures
Business case
Positive connotation towards diversity in the people
Productive diversity

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Diversity has two levels, in which, appropriate managerial techniques and strategies
needs to be applied. The first level comprises of some characteristics, which are visible to
others. These characteristics are either impossible or difficult for the individuals to change.
Typical examples in this level are age, ethnicity, gender, mental abilities, physical abilities,
race and sexual orientation among others. The second level comprises of some
characteristics, on which the managers have control regarding making choices for acquisition,
modification and dismissal (Kwon and Nicolaides 2017). The examples of this diversity level
include communication style, education, family status, religion and others.
2.3 Effect of diversity in workplace
If diversity is properly managed, innovation is brought about in the workplace. In this
case, the skills, expertise and knowledge of the research and development team is
empowered. Proper sharing of the relevant information disseminates the exact information
contradicts the aspect of knowledge gaps. However, rationality needs to be maintained in the
information, which is disclosed. This rationality is vital for achieving trust, loyalty and
dependence from the clients and customers. As per the arguments of Dwyer and Azevedo
(2016), dissimilarities in the shared information adds hypothetical parameter to the indicators,
which are set for the employees to attain. This stalls the productivity, aggravating the
complexities executing the activities in accordance to the requirements. On the contrary,
improper management techniques leads to negative outcomes like discrimination,
communication and others. This is also a challenge for exerting control towards managing the
human resources for extracting the maximum benefits.
2.4 Research on diversity
Preparing diversified team, through the consideration of Tuckman’s stages of team
development, has led to positive results for gaining the necessary benefit. In this, involving