Management Principles: Diversity's Influence on Teamwork Effectiveness

This essay delves into the multifaceted relationship between diversity and teamwork within organizational settings. It begins by establishing the importance of diversity management, highlighting its role in fostering inclusive workplaces and capitalizing on the heterogeneous nature of modern workforces. The essay then explores the potential barriers to effective teamwork arising from diversity, such as language barriers, lack of fairness, and differing communication styles. It examines both the positive and negative traits associated with diverse workplaces, referencing relevant literature and case studies. The discussion includes the advantages of diversity management, such as increased employee morale and improved problem-solving, alongside its disadvantages, such as increased costs and potential for discrimination. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of leadership in managing diversity, providing tools and strategies for creating an inclusive and productive work environment. This essay, available on Desklib, offers valuable insights into the complexities of managing diverse teams and leveraging diversity for organizational success.

Running head: MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES
Management Principles
Name of the Student
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Topic- Diversity is barrier to effective teamwork
Introduction
The essay helps in understanding the issues related to diversity that is issues of
diversity in the different organizations. The discussion will be conducted with the help of the
different types of literatures and as to understand the diversity is the huge barrier in the
teamwork in different kind of organizations in the competitive business environment. The
essay will be inclusive of the different reasons that included the different pros and cons of the
diversity management in different organizations in an appropriate manner.
Diversity Management at Workplace
Diversity management is one of the essential concepts in different organizations as
this is the main strategy of utilising the best practices with the assistance of the proven results
to create and find inclusive and diverse workplace. The workforce diversity is essential in
nature as the organizations are becoming complex and there is heterogenous mixture of
different individuals in the organization. Diversity in the workplace assist in building
opportunities for the individuals to build reputation that can create opportunities for the
employees (Barak 2016).
However, there are different kind of issues related to the diversity management in the
organizations that is affecting the morale of the individuals. There are different language
barriers, lack of fairness and respect among the different employees. A diverse kind of
workplace is essential and important to be adopted in the workplace as this is the reflection of
changing world in the entire workplace. It is the duty of both employees and employers in the
organization to adopt different employees form different cultural background to manage the
issues of diversity (Wrench 2016).
Problems related to diversity in teamwork

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The diversity management is related to the improvement in the organizational
performance in which the diversity is responsible for the negative ills and analysing the
positive outcomes. The issues related to diversity are considered important and this has been
one of the increasingly used phrases in the global business environment. According to (),
diversity management is the actual process of directing, planning, organizing and application
of the different comprehensive attributes of managers for development of the organizational
environment.
Sabharwal (2014) has commented that there are different kind of critical issues in the
diversity management that is faced by the different organizations effectively. The diversity is
the concept that is applicable to all the employees and this do not encompass the range of
differences, however the individual kind of differences makes the individual unique. There
are different kind of personality traits of the diverse type of workplace that is inclusive of
positive and negative traits. The positive traits include honesty, reliable, intelligent,
trustworthy and patience among the different individuals in the workforce.
On the other hand, Klarsfeld et al. (2014) has stated that there are different negative
traits in the diverse workplace that is inclusive of rude, obnoxious, laziness and unfriendly
nature of the individuals. The highest level of the “diversity awareness” is the actual
discipline of the diversity management. Trittin and Schoeneborn (2017) has commented that
workplace diversity management is the complex along with controversial process and there is
different conceptualization of the different authors.
There are both narrow and broader concept of the diversity management in different
organizations. Greene and Kirton (2015) has stated and hypothesised that South Africa is one
of the example that has diverse population in which there are different kind of companies in
which different individuals from different cultures work together effectively. South Africa is

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one such good example that helps in understanding that there is huge importance of the
diversity management in the workplace as this makes the entire process successful. The
proper achievement of the competitive advantage through the assistance of the management
of diversity has become essential managerial, leadership and consideration. The managers in
the organizations need to exhibit the traits of leadership that can help the entire organization
among with the employees to create a dynamic and diverse workforce.
Greene and Kirton (2015) has commented that the changing existing attitudes
towards the diversity in the entire workplace and among the team involves the different
decisive leadership that includes cooperation among the employees and solve those issues
effectively. It is obvious in nature discipline management leadership is essential in nature as
the diversity management in the intercultural individuals is essential in nature. According to
(), the similarity theory has helped in analysing the salient and non-salient features that
includes value and this increases the interpersonal attraction and attachment as well.
There are different articles that has helped in stating that the key issues of the
diversity management that arises due to the discrimination among the employees who are
from different cultures. Diversity management plays a major role in analysing the different
dynamics that can be adopted by the different organizations to avoid the different kind of
legal consequences in the management and this can benefit the companies from such loyalty
programs. The respective article has highlighted that there are different companies in which
the diversity management plays a major role in measuring the different kind of issues related
to intercultural adoption of individuals (Peoplematters.in, 2018).
For instance- there were diversity challenges at Coca-Cola Company wherein the
company incurred high cost of diversity management wherein significant cost has been
incurred for providing the different employees with mentoring and training programs

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effectively (Zurich Insurance Group 2018). Some of the employees filed lawsuit against
Coca-Cola when they felt they were discriminated by their race. Recently, there were more
than 15 employees who filed lawsuit against the organization as they were discriminated and
this affected their morale in order to perform the different activities. There are different kind
of diversity and education at Coca-Cola Company wherein this continued to promote then
diversity among the different employees to train them about the different kind of initiatives
(Human Resources Today, 2018).
Advantages of Diversity Management in Organizations
Choi and Rainey (2014), has commented that there are different positive implications
of the diversity management in different organizations and among the employees. The
respective author has stated that organizations that engage in different experiences of
diversity management that includes increase in the morale of the employees and allows the
different staffs in taking various tasks that are varied and different from one another. The
diversity management is required to be valued that are not fixed and absolute in nature,
although they are variable in nature. Furthermore, Bolman and Deal (2017) has commented
that these are the different kind of differences helps in enabling the organizations in
becoming more efficient in nature and this will capitalise more on the heterogenous concept
and provide different solutions.
According to Cascio (2018), the different companies uses the diverse workforce, it
has helped the company in selling diverse customer base that can be seen in case of Avon in
which the respective organization has generated low profitability in the organization.
However, after adoption of the diversity management in their organization, it has helped them
in increasing the entire productivity and this has increased the profitability of the entire
organization.

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Furthermore, it has been noticed that there can be exchange of ideas and frameworks
as in the present scenario, it has been seen that teamwork is increasingly adopted by the
organizations as the means of assuring better outcomes on the different tasks that is
performed by the employees. A single individual who is performing the different kind of
tasks at the same time cannot be successful in delivering the accurate services, therefore it is
necessary for the entire team support with their different ideas and offers unique perspective
during the problem-solving situation which will deliver the best solution within shortest
possible time.
According to Pham (2017), learning and growth is the other tactics in the diversity
management that creates different opportunities for the personal growth of the employees.
When the workers are exposed to different new cultures along with perspectives, it can help
the person to intellectually reach out and provide clear insight of the place in the entire global
environment and surroundings as well. Then more time that is spent with the culturally
diverse colleagues, this can help in slowly breaking down the subconscious barriers and
encourage the different workers to become more experienced in the working environment.
However, () has stated that the workplace diversity can immensely strengthen the relationship
between the specific group of customers. The employees and the colleagues come from
diverse backgrounds and this helps them in gaining unique experience from the different
kinds of tasks by adopting to the changing conditions.
Disadvantages of Diversity Management in Organizations
As stated by (Besic and Hirt,2016), there is high cost of diversity management is the
major disadvantage in which in order to increase the job satisfaction among the different
employees, the workplace diversity management can be costly in nature and it undergoes
diversity management training during which the different supervisors and managers receive

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lessons. The other disadvantage of working with the diverse team is the discrimination in
parts of managers and employees. It has been seen that when the worker is discriminated in
the organizations, it affects the entire ability to perform well and there are different issues
related to litigation.
There can be communication gap among the different employees that can negatively
impact the communication in the organizations. It can prove to be a big obstacle in the
effective communication process that can decrease the level of productivity and dampen the
cohesiveness among the different employees. Social incorporation at the workplace can never
be influenced to the maximum degree. Proper formation of the social groups is natural
process, however there are times when it can not be controlled as well.
Furthermore, Benschop et al. (2015) has stated that the although the premise of the
diversity in the workplace is mutual respect and this helps them in accommodating diverse
workers can be burdensome of the employers that can be difficult in managing the diversity
in the organization. For instance- It can be seen that there can be different festivals of
individuals from different culture and there can be huge diversity issue in the organization as
the accommodation of such needs of the employees are not easy for the company to manage
the different needs effectually.
Tools for managing the diverse workforce
According to Sabharwal (2014), managing the diversity in the workforce requires that
the managers need to recognise certain kind of skills that is vital in nature to create effective
and successful kind of workforce. The managers and leaders need to understand the
discrimination along with the consequences that can prevail in the organization. Managers in
the companies need to recognise the cultural preferences of the different employees and this
can reduce the diversity differences among the different employees and from the

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organizations as well. According to Sabharwal (2014), diversity management entails more on
providing opportunity for the different employment. The managers and employees of the
organization needs to realize the change that occurs and continue to encourage the change in
a positive manner.
Dealing with diversity requires providing secure environment for the workers and
employers to communicate, such kind of environments include social gatherings along with
business meetings wherein all the members feel comfortable and create friendly atmosphere
for all the members who are working in the organization to create access to the important
information. The different mentoring programs has to be implemented by them to guide the
workers on how to access such essential information effectively. The constructive feedbacks
are required to be provided to the different employees as this will assist the employees in
learning about the mistakes and learn lesson to achieve success.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that diversity management is essential to be
incorporated in the workplace as this creates healthy working environment for the employees.
The main objective of the essay was to analyse the change management strategies that has
assisted the different companies in reducing the cultural issues and solve them effectively as
well. The actual emphasis was provided to examine the different kind of pros and cons of the
diversity management in organizations. The identification of the different trends and
perceptions of the diversity management has been discussed wherein there are different kind
of values followed in the different companies that has to be solved apparently in a positive
manner.

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References
Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage
Publications.
Benschop, Y., Holgersson, C., Van den Brink, M. and Wahl, A., 2015. Future challenges for
practices of diversity management in organizations. Handbook for Diversity in Organizations,
Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp.553-574.
Bešić, A. and Hirt, C., 2016. Diversity management across borders: the role of the national
context. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 35(2), pp.123-135.\
Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and
leadership. John Wiley & Sons.
Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
Choi, S. and Rainey, H.G., 2014. Organizational fairness and diversity management in public
organizations: Does fairness matter in managing diversity?. Review of Public Personnel
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