Diversity Management: Strategies, Challenges, and Business Rationale

This report provides a comprehensive overview of diversity management within organizations. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the importance of reforming managerial strategies to thrive in the global market. The report defines diversity management as the effective employ...Read More

Running head: DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
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Running head: DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
Executive summary
In order for an organization to make its mark in the global market, it is necessary to reform and
revise its managerial strategies. Effective strategies in every aspect of the organizational function
can be crucial in the competitive advantage of the organization. This report deals with the
diversity management of an organization. Diversity management refers to the effective
managerial and flexibility of employing personnel of different cultures and aspects, irrespective
of caste, class, color, sex, ethnicity and orientation. Diversity management is crucial for a
organization in terms of productivity that can help it achieve midterm and long term goals. It is
an important strategic management initiative that helps an organization gather name and
recognition in terms of its liberal and flexible comprehension. Apart from having a huge business
rationale, diversity management faces several challenges in terms of differentiation and
distinction, like prejudice, biasness and discrimination that can be harmful for both the
organizational productivity and reputation. To counter such issues several strategies can be
adopted to mitigate the problems. An argument has been cited with reference to CERA that helps
justify the validity and the business rationale of diversity management. The purpose of this report
is to help understand and analyze the importance of diversity management in an organization, its
various aspects and the business rationale about how it can be constructive for an organization.

Running head: DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
Table of content
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................4
2. Diversity Management and its components.............................................................................4
2.1 About diversity management.................................................................................................4
2.2 The key components..............................................................................................................5
3. Managing diversity: The strategies..........................................................................................6
3.1 Government initiative............................................................................................................7
3.2 Maintaining dimensions.........................................................................................................7
3.3 Managerial strategies.............................................................................................................7
3.4 Operational strategies............................................................................................................8
4. Business rationale of diversity management............................................................................8
5. Challenges faced due to diversity...........................................................................................10
6. Managing the challenges faced by diversity management.....................................................11
8. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................15

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1. Introduction
The productivity of every organization not only depends on the successful application of
the strategies and the business building but human resource management is instrumental in
serving the purpose (Bratton & Gold, 2012. Human resource management is the defined as the
successful implementation and optimization of maximum utilization of the available resources
and the workforce (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). Diversity management in terms of human
resource management is one if the crucial strategic tool of using the best practices with proven
results to find and create a diverse and inclusive workplace (Harvey & Allard, 2015).
These reports define the fundamentals and the principles of diversity management in an
organization and define its business rationale in terms of organizational management and
productivity. In order to help understand the business rationale in diversity management an
organization has been cited. CERA (Centre for Educational Research Applications) has been
adopted. This report also includes the justification related with a business case for focusing on
diversity management in CERA.
The purpose of this report is to explain and justify the business rational in diversity
management with reference to human resource management and justify its validity.

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1. Diversity Management and its components
2.1 About diversity management
The success and the productivity of an organization lies in the cultural diversification of
an organization. Diversity management or managing the diversity refers to the strategic process
of managing the similarities and the differences. Based on a special skill set and values diversity
management chooses to focus and recognize the difference between the employees and the
potentiality of the organization (Olsen & Martins, 2012). This process is instrumental in creating
an environment that allows everyone and everything to contribute to the organizational
objectives and goal, thus leading to personal growth (Cameron & Spreitzer, 2011).
Diversity management is the management activity that includes educating the group and
providing support for the acceptance. It is not confined and defined by race and gender. It
extends to the chronological age, interpersonal attributions, corporate backgrounds, educational
qualification, functionality and individual personality (Gotsis and Kortezi, 2015). Diversity
management includes the lifestyle, the sexual preference and orientation, geological origin, the
duration or tenure of with the organization, excepted or non-excepted status as well as one is
management or non-management.
2.2 The key components
The key principle of diversity management is the accommodation of workforce
irrespective of the diverse cultural attributes. This system mainly performs to manage the people
so that the potential advantages of the diversity are maximized and the potential disadvantages
being minimized. Managing the diversity provides a distinctive advantage in a period where the

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flexibility and creativity are keys to achieving competitive advantages. In order to achieve such
an organization needs to be flexible and adjustable to meet new client needs.
Heterogeneity promotes creativity and these diverse groups have been proven to produce
improved solutions to problems and a superior level of decisive analysis. This can be of a
fundamental advantage at a point of time when the organization is undergoing tremendous
alteration and self-assessment to discover new and additional effective ways to function.
With efficient management of diversity, the organization not only develops a reputation
as an organization of preference but it unleashes its ability to magnetize the finest aptitude from a
dwindling employment puddle. This can be crucial since it can hoard time and funds in terms of
employment and revenue costs.
The organization will accomplish its role as an unrestricted establishment by reflecting
the diversity of the cultures as well as meeting the escalating order to provide culturally
conversant service to growing diverse inhabitants.
2. Managing diversity: The strategies
In order to deal with diversity issues certain questions about policies, practice and ways
of judgment within the organizational culture come up that might have discrepant blow on the
diverse groups. Questions related to the organization changes that might be necessary to meet the
requirements of such a diverse employees might come up as well at the same time, make the
most of the potential of all the employees (Kirton & Greene, 2015).
Most people consider or believe in the golden rule of treating others like the way they
want to be treated. The implied statement about how one wants to be treated is how others wants

Running head: DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
to be treated. However, with close reference to this maxim through a diversity perspective one
might question about what does cultural diversification and values are meant by. The perspective
depends on the individuals who share related values, such as respect and need for appreciation
but the appreciation is done through, activities may be different for other diverse culture (Avery
& McKay, 2010).
3.1 Government initiative
A strategy to achieve diversity management by the government has been implemented
through Equal Employment opportunities and confirmatory actions. It is a government approach
to ensure that all the individuals have equal and unbiased opportunity to be employed,
irrespective of diverse physical and other characteristic features. Every individual have equal
right for employment regardless race, religion, orientation and origin or nationality. The
affirmative action is associated in providing quota and other form of reimbursement to
compensate for the past injustice that has been suffered by the group (Podsiadlowski et al.,
2013).
3.2 Maintaining dimensions
The strategic initiatives to conserve diversity is the development of three dimensions that
needs to be taken care of while building a culture that supports and values the diversity. It can be
achieved through, delineating the nature of existing culture, establishing the magnitude of the
desired culture and identification of the process in which the origin of the existing culture hinder
or obstructs the development of the desired culture.

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3.3 Managerial strategies
Managerial strategies to support the diversity management involve the job analysis, the
employment pattern and the working hours. It also includes the recruitment and the selection
procedures as well as their criteria. Managerial strategies also formulate the policies that deal
with the career paths, the promotion procedures and their criterion. It controls and monitors the
performance management system specifically the performance training and improvement
measures. It is instrumental in the controlling of the reward systems, support services that
includes the elder care and the family members as well as the employment support programs.
3.4 Operational strategies
The Operational strategies refer to the characteristics that needs to acknowledged while
executing the operational policy changes. These kind of strategies is instrumental in identifying
the category of preparations such as pre-training, communication and developing relationships.
This is considered necessary before initiating and introducing the change. It is fundamental in
determining and establishing a pragmatic timeframe and anticipation about the rapidity of the
change. Operational strategies assist in the growth of practical milestones against which to
measure.
3. Business rationale of diversity management
Business rationale of diversity management refers to the importance and validity of
diversity management in organizations. Diversity management is important since it promotes
uniqueness inside an organization, obliging with the fact that every individual can contribute in
a special and creative manner with new perspectives and solutions. Employees with diverse
backgrounds and experience can collaborate and combine a variety of new perspectives on

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various issues, thus helping in increasing of the productivity and delivering better
solutions. Diversity brings about different talents as well as strengths and functioning together
towards a familiar and specific objective, using different skill sets that increase their
efficiency and productivity (Barak, 2016).
Diversity within a workplace helps in construction of a strong trade name and this in turn
makes the company further attention-grabbing and enviable employer. With a diversified
workforce and employee base, an organization gains superior name and image because it
is considered to have fair employment pattern and practices that is unbiased (Trompenaars &
Hampden-Turner, 2011).
A culturally diversified organization encourages individual development and
expansion. Having experts or personnel with global background working for the organization
that can help the other fellow employees to gain knowledge about new ideas, perspectives and
connect competently with different individuals. This in turn enriches the employees by imparting
them with a different point of view about the market and the business operations and activities.
Interaction with culturally diversified employees can be favorable to gather knowledge and work
in a different work culture and environment in different styles and personalities.
Diversification in an organization can optimize an its capability to serve the requirements
of diverse market. Individuals representing a different country can be combined with individuals
of the similar background, helping in creating a comfortable bridge and this might be
instrumental in creating client loyalty towards the organization. To consider an example,
considering an employee who belongs or resident of a definite culture or region where a pre-
planned trade is to be carried out. This would supposedly be an advantage for the organization

Running head: DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
due to predefined research about the region and its cultures and the contribution of the prevalent
employee of that region, working in the organization.
A culturally flexible company would attract and hold on to different talents, both fresher
and professionals, in turn adding a competitive perimeter to the organization. Possession of
different and unique skill sets and a good command over different and foreign languages as well
as recognition due to such ability generates a familiar environment. This would result in the
organization’s ability to compete and perform well in the international market and help amplify
or generate a diverse client base and achieve a better market positioning.
4. Challenges faced due to diversity
Diversity in workplace bears benefits as well as tough challenges. Diversity Management
is not just managing or handling the diversification between the employees but it also involves
the recognition and the differentiation between the employees and combating discrimination and
the difference in opinion (Patrick & Kumar, 2012. The managers face a crisis in combating the
differentiation or dissimilarity between the employees resulting in workplace clash and conflict.
The challenges might result due to prejudice and discrimination in respect to cultures, color,
race, religion and orientation (Bell et al., 2011). Often clash can result in filing complaints and
lawful actions that are against the organization due to these prejudices between the employees,
with the organization taking the heat.
Another major challenge that is faced in terms of diversity management is regarding the
linguistic differentiation. People coming from various different cultures and regions have varied
linguistic representation. In such case, this difference in the verbal communication can give rise

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to language barriers that could result in miscommunication or misinterpretation leading to
misunderstandings and arguments between employees or with the organization.
Negative attributes and behavior can prove to be hazardous for the organization since
these clashes and differentiation can misbalance the social harmony and the working
environment of the organization, affecting the productivity of the organization and reputation.
Negative or unethical attitudes and perspectives like prejudice, stereotyping and
discrimination should never taken into consideration by the organizational management in terms
of recruiting, employee retaining or termination purpose. This could be fatal and lead to filing of
cost incurring lawsuit against the organization, offering a blow to the reputation and the image of
the company.
5. Managing the challenges faced by diversity management
The differentiation in the orientation could give rise to major setbacks. In order to
counteract with these challenges the organization should use the policy of tolerance and make
effort to understand the issues that rise.
In order to manage verbal issue or linguistic barriers a common language should be
incorporated that can both comprehensible and easy to speak by the employees in terms of
communication (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014).
Certain policies need to be implemented by the organization that enforces the employees
to treat their co-workers with tolerance and with respect, irrespective of the differentiation the
cultures and orientation. These policies should be strict and come up with penalization in terms
of breaching.

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To avert clash between the employees all the employees should have the freedom to
choose and segregate themselves to the groups or teams in which they are comfortable. This
would result in better interaction and higher productivity (Ghorashi & Sabelis, 2013).
The use of McKinsey 7s model should be adopted by the organization in order to manage
the diversity management. The implementation of the Hard and Soft elements should be applied
to achieve such. The elements of Strategy, Structure, Systems, Shared Values, Skills, Style and
Staff can be used to achieve and maintain the diversity management of an organization (Singh,
2013).
6. Argument with reference to diversity management
The business rationale for the diversity management being previously discussed is
convincing because it argues the importance for the diversity management in the contemporary
business organizations. In the current business scenario, business organizations have to cater to
diversified requirement of the customers around the world (Podsiadlowski et al., 2013). In case
of CERA, they also have to cater to diversified customers around the world. Thus, diversity in
the workplace will have favorable implications in their internal organizations. Effective diversity
management will help to bring employees together from different social and ethnic background.
It will help the organization in determining the diversity in the opinion of the employees, which
will in turn help to generate more options in case of any issue. Thus, the organization will have
the access of different ideas, opinions and suggestions for a certain issue.
Due to the fact that CERA operates in the international market with having presence in
various countries around the world, they have the requirement of effective determination of the

Running head: DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
diverse requirement of the customers from different countries. In this case, diversity management
will prove beneficial for them (Harvey & Allard, 2015). This is due to the reason that, diversity
management will help to employ employees from different background and employing them
according to their background will help to provide customized service to the customers. Thus,
the level of customer satisfaction will be enhanced. Moreover, the effective management of
diversity will help to enhance the level of motivation among the employees. This is due to the
reason that, the more effective will be the diversity in the workplace, the more will be the
knowledge sharing among the employees. They will have the access of more diversified ideas,
which will make them equipped and motivated in facing the organizational challenges.
CERA will also get benefited from the effective management of diversity with the
generation of innovative ideas. This is due to the reason that, the more will be the knowledge
sharing among the employees, the more will be the probability of generation of new and
innovative ideas (Bosetti, Cattaneo & Verdolini, 2012). Thus, it will be help in gaining
competitive advantages in the market. Therefore, it is being recommended that, in the internal
management of CERA, diversity management should be effectively initiated and implemented.
However, Mark French should consider some factors before initiating the diversity management.
This is due to the reason that there are some factors, which if not properly managed may create
barriers in the diversity management (Patrick & Kumar, 2012). One of the key factors to be
considered is the maintaining the equality among the employees. This due to the fact that,
diversified workforce comprise of employees from different background and thus it is important
to ensure the equal representation of all the employees in the organization. Otherwise, it will
create issues among the employees being less represented. In addition, the organization should
not have any inclination towards any particular social community. This may lead to the

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impression that, employees belonging from one particular community are getting the
opportunities. Thus, these factors should be effectively managed in order to initiate an ideal
diversity management.
7. Conclusion
Effective strategies in every aspect of the organizational function can be fundamental in
the competitive advantage of the organization. This report deals with the diversity management
of an organization. Diversity management refers to the effective managerial and flexibility of
employing personnel of different cultures and aspects, irrespective of caste, class, color, sex,
ethnicity and orientation.
Diversity management is crucial for a organization in terms of productivity that can help
it achieve midterm and long term goals. It is an important strategic management initiative that
helps an organization gather name and recognition in terms of its liberal and flexible
comprehension. Apart from having a huge business rationale, diversity management faces
several challenges in terms of differentiation and distinction, like prejudice, biasness and
discrimination that can be harmful for both the organizational productivity and reputation. To
counter such issues several strategies can be adopted to mitigate the problems. An argument has
been cited with reference to CERA that helps justify the validity and the business rationale of
diversity management.
The purpose of this report is to help understand and analyze the importance of diversity
management in an organization, its various aspects and the business rationale about
productiveness.

Running head: DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
References
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practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Avery, D. R., & McKay, P. F. (2010). 6 Doing Diversity Right: An Empirically Based Approach
to Effective Diversity Management. International review of industrial and organizational
psychology, 25, 227.
Barak, M. E. M. (2016). Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage
Publications.
Bell, M. P., Özbilgin, M. F., Beauregard, T. A., & Sürgevil, O. (2011). Voice, silence, and
diversity in 21st century organizations: Strategies for inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual,
and transgender employees. Human Resource Management, 50(1), 131-146.
Bosetti, V., Cattaneo, C., & Verdolini, E. (2012). Migration, cultural diversity and innovation: A
european perspective.
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2012). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave
Macmillan.
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organizational scholarship. Oxford University Press.
Ghorashi, H., & Sabelis, I. (2013). Juggling difference and sameness: Rethinking strategies for
diversity in organizations. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 29(1), 78-86.

Running head: DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
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Podsiadlowski, A., Gröschke, D., Kogler, M., Springer, C., & Van Der Zee, K. (2013).
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Singh, A. (2013). A study of role of McKinsey's 7S framework in achieving organizational
excellence. Organization Development Journal, 31(3), 39.
Trompenaars, F., & Hampden-Turner, C. (2011). Riding the waves of culture: Understanding
diversity in global business. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

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Harvey, C. P., & Allard, M. (2015). Understanding and managing diversity: Readings, cases, and
exercises. Pearson.
Patrick, H. A., & Kumar, V. R. (2012). Managing workplace diversity: Issues and
challenges. Sage Open, 2(2), 2158244012444615.
Podsiadlowski, A., Gröschke, D., Kogler, M., Springer, C., & Van Der Zee, K. (2013).
Managing a culturally diverse workforce: Diversity perspectives in
organizations. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(2), 159-175.