Workforce Diversity and Its Implications for Organizational Behaviour

Running head: RESEARCH ESSAY
RESEARCH ESSAY
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1RESEARCH ESSAY
Topic: Workforce diversity and its implications for organizational behaviour
Introduction
With the advent of globalization, there have been various changes in the work culture and
workforce component. This is because the different countries as present in the globe have
become comparatively closer in terms of technology and for this purpose, the different
organizations now aim for a diverse culture which will assist them in having a diverse customer
base as well (Cole and Salimath 2013, p. 155). As the different organizations tend to look out for
expansion plan, the presence of a diverse workforce may be suitable for the long run. However,
the different organizations often perceive the workforce diversity as a challenge. Hence, the
primary aim of the essay is to understand the concept of workforce diversity and understand its
implications for the organizational behavior. The method to improve diversity in the workplace
will also be stated along with various practical examples.
Discussion
Concept of workforce diversity
Workforce diversity can be rightfully defined as the prospect of bringing different types
of people together in the workplace. If a workforce is diverse then this will assist in bringing
about a wide range of experiences and characteristics to the workplace. The different aspects
which make a workforce diverse comprise of factors like ethnicity, gender, age, sexual
orientation and ability. According to Harvey and Allard (2015), companies which have been able
to embrace diversity in the workplace have been successful in becoming more competitive. The
workforce diversity is considered to be very important for the business because there are a large
number of positive aspects which are associated with a diverse workforce. It is a proven fact that
those organizations who have a diverse workforce have a large number of benefits such as
innovation, positive reputation and creativity. Moreover, having a different perspective for a
workplace may also assist an organization to successfully be able to innovate and create a
positive public reputation in the eyes of the customers.
However, as stated by Janssens and Zanoni (2014, p. 320) workforce diversity is often
considered to be a challenge which is faced by the different organizations. This is because

2RESEARCH ESSAY
although the phenomena of workplace diversity has a large number of benefits for the company,
there are various shortcomings and problems having been associated with it. These problems
which are associated with diversity management are problems like communication styles,
lifestyle acceptance, conflicts in the workplace, generation gaps and a lack of consistency
(Riccucci 2018). These problems often lead to a disruption in the daily working of an
organization and often leads to a disruption in the productivity of a workplace. Moreover, there
are various employees who are not willing to change with respect to the different organizational
aspects and may harbor negative feelings towards the concept of diversity and this leads to
various problems as well as challenges.
Implications for organization behavior
Although as identified in the previous section that workforce diversity is often taken to be
challenge in the organization, however there are certain positive implications as well with respect
to the organizational behavior. Hence, this section of the essay will be highlighting the positive
as well as negative implications of workforce diversity on the organizational behavior. The
positive implications of workplace diversity on the organization behavior are as follows.
Firstly, workplace diversity assists a business to attain a broader client base. This is
because a diverse workforce provides a business with a competitive edge. Hence, if the different
clients exist around the globe, they will be able relate to the employees in the workforce easily
and the staff will understand how to sell or market to different stakeholders.
Secondly, having a diverse workforce has positive implications on organizational
behavior because it contributes to creating a better performing team. A team which is diverse in
nature will perform better than the non-diverse teams in the sense that they will be able to create
creative strategies and improve the potential of the organization (Podsiadlowski et al. 2013, p.
170). Moreover, an organization which has a better diverse workforce will be easily able to find
different employees for the firm and not limit their hires.
However, having a diverse workforce has various negative implications on the
organization as well. These implications are aspects like a sense of discomfort among the
existing employees, lack of acceptance, cornering and bullying.