Managing Diversity in an Organization: Challenges and Strategies

This essay delves into the critical aspects of managing diversity within an organizational context, emphasizing the importance of equality and diversity in fostering a productive and inclusive work environment. It explores the concept of organizational culture and its impact on promoting equal opportunities for all employees, regardless of their background, gender, age, or other attributes. The essay discusses the benefits of a diverse workforce, such as enhanced collaboration, better problem-solving, and improved understanding of customers. Furthermore, it addresses the challenges and barriers that can arise from diversity, including language barriers, biases, and discrimination, particularly focusing on the experiences of disadvantaged groups such as women and members of the LGBT community. The essay also highlights the role of management in promoting diversity, emphasizing the need for proper diversity management practices, enforcement of relevant legislations, and the importance of leadership in addressing discrimination. The essay concludes by underscoring the significance of diversity management for modern organizations and its positive impact on employee growth, innovation, and overall organizational success.

Running Head: DIVERSITY IN AN ORGANIZATION
Diversity in an organization
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author’s note

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Introduction
Culture refers to the distinctive way an organization does its business. Culture provides a
description about the complications an organization encounters when it attempts to change and if
a supportive culture does not exist or cultivated, the change may result in counter-productive.
The organization which has a culture that operates in an environment of equality and diversity is
most profitable. The objective of the essay is to explain the equality and diversity in an
organizational culture. Further in the essay, the discussion is also based on effects of
disadvantaged group in the organization.
Response to question 1
Organizational culture includes a set of values, attitudes, beliefs, norms, customs and
personalities that defines an enterprise. Culture is a tool for managing equality and diversity in an
organization. A positive work culture gives equal opportunity to all the members to grow
professionally as well as personally. It gives equal chance to initiate and participate in the
change. A positive environmental culture encourages equality and diversity in the workplace.
Equality refers to respecting all the members on the basis of gender, age, culture, race, career
experience, skills, background, disability, marriage or public relationship, sexual orientation,
beliefs and many more. Equality gives equal chances to all the employees to participate and
progress in the workplace. This removes the barriers that hinders the growth of the individual.
Similarly, diversity refers to an organization that involves a workplace of individuals of different
age, sec, experience, pay, education and other attributes. Equality and diversity both are essential
for the growth of the organization in the competitive market.

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When an organization hire employees from different backgrounds like different
nationalities and different culture, it helps in bringing varieties of collection of perceptions to the
organization. This leads to benefits like collaboration and better problem solving which enhances
productivity. A diverse workplace helps in understanding the customers better because many
multinationals offers their products and services on international level, so it gives appeal to
handle the customers universally. This also provides a superiority for the company to deal with
its competitors. It breaks down the language barrier because employees from different
nationalities will take the business to achieve high success. The wider talent pool brings new
innovation for the company through strong and effective brainstorming sessions, and also
encourages the employees to perform better. The organization that encourages diversity should
properly exercise equality as well as diversity management so that it gives equal opportunities to
all. Though the organization is benefited from equality and diversity but it has some barriers that
negatively affect the organization.
Diversity creates language barrier and biasness in terms of position and pay. The
employees in many organization suffers badly form the harmful effects of gender pay gap from
which women employees suffer the most. According to the worldwide statistics out of five
hundred CEOs only twenty four are female. According to the worldwide data of 2018, only 75%
companies have only one women in top management, only 24% managers are female and only
5% females are CEO of the company. There is a huge disproportion between male and female
especially in the senior manager positions. These organizations give rise to glass ceiling. Glass
ceiling acts as invisible barrier for the organization which prevents women from advancing to the
top management positions. For example, the women are prohibited from getting promotions, pay

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gap as compared to men for the same job and more issues like sexual harassment, working hours
and more.
Therefore, to overcome the problem arising due to diversity and equality, proper diversity
management should be practised at workplace that gives equal opportunities to all. Equality and
diversity can be promoted by enforcing certain legislations like Equality Act, Sex Discrimination
Act, The Employment Equality Act, The Equal Pay Act and many more.
Response to question 2
The term disadvantaged refers to the state where an individual is supresses by other
members due to some backwardness. In an organization, the employees that are included under
the disadvantaged group are the individuals who comes from economic backward classes,
persons belonging to the other gender, physically challenged and more. Though, the tag
disadvantaged does not prevent the individual to perform better but there are some challenges
and limitations that are encountered by them inside the organization. In many cases, the
employees faces harassment, discrimination from impervious coworkers. Due to this, the
employers sometimes do not employ such persons. This created inequalities and discrimination
in an organization. This is based on misapprehensions that backward people cannot perform and
are not able to meet the demands of the company. The discrimination leads to bullying of the
disadvantaged which creates unfriendly, and hostile environment inside the organization. This in
turn results in low morale, low productivity and even cause harmful for the reputation of the
company. This occurs due to the negative stereotype inside the workplace. These issues results
from the negative effects of diversity. For example, white employees sometimes feel
discriminated at diverse workplaces. Conversely, African employees feel socially discriminated
in an organization that has white administration team. Similarly, the employees from the third

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gender, gay or transgender resigns from the job due to bully and discrimination faced at the
workplace.
In organizations globally, the gender and regime choices of its employees have
become an vital issue of discussion. This is based on the evidence that the perceptive
biases, conduct and attitudes of employees in the workplace can effect and effect decision
making and constant problems. For example, the employees from the LGBT (lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender) constantly suffers discrimination and disrespect from the colleagues.
These behavioral attitudes cause major challenges for the company and creates uncomfortable
atmosphere and low productivity in the workplace. Similarly, gender pay gap issues, promotions,
low status of females in comparison to females created prickly issue before the management. The
women are considered incapable against men because of the common belief that women
employees quit at the peak of their career due to marriage and childbearing.
In order to fight with the issues of discrimination that results from discrimination, the
management should play a vital role. The leadership plays a vital role in addressing the issues.
Diversity is often treated as a single creativity owned exclusively by human resource. But for
actual change to occur, each distinct leader needs to participate into the worth of respecting the
individuals both logically and enthusiastically. Actual managers must be conscious that certain
expertise are mandatory for generating a positive and assorted workforce due to which
understanding discrimination and its significances is essential. The executives must identify their
own cultural biases and preconceptions to admit the shifting workforce environment. Human
resource managers should be exposed towards speaking diversity interrelated issues with the
employees. Communication is a vital tool that generates and sustains consistency in the
workplace. The managers should initiate with the top executives because these officials inspire

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many other workforces. Human resources manager should play critical characters in practicing
diversity management since they can regulate and control the particulars of implementation. The
management bring a change in the culture that should always encourage diversity in the
workplace. If diversity management is the aim of corporations and if management promotes
such organizational objectives, it can increase satisfactory diversity managing practices in
establishments. The management should also focus on the ethnic minorities. The organization
should have policies to reward the employees on the basis of equality, justice, and self-
sufficiency. The diversity management policies should be grounded on the philosophies of
respect, morality, confidentiality, transparency and liberty which can deliver security in the
workplace. Engaging the employees in diverse workforce can recover administration
reputation and permit it to fascinate and retain employees and progress
providing towards suitable amenities.
Due to globalizations, the diversity in the workforce has increased and
the organizations faces lot of challenges in managing equality and diversity
in the workplace. If properly managed it can bring a progressive consequences for handling
a diverse workforce which in turn is profitable for the company. The management pledge for
managing a diverse workforce is critical but not sufficient because it not the duty of the
management to eliminate the problem of diversity but the each individuals should positively
participate in the change. The managers from the upper as well as lower administrative levels
needs to work on the problem. The organization should follow steps like workplace orientation,
empowerment of culture, training programmes related to diversity management, proper
communication and team building under proper legislations like Equality Act, Discrimination

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Act, The Human Right Act and many more should be properly practiced to safeguard the
workplace as well as the employees.
Conclusion
Therefore, it concludes from the above discussion that diversity management is a crucial
matter for all the modern organization of today. Diversity and equality promotes critical thinking
and problem solving capacity for the firm and also enhances employee growth, development,
corporate strength, innovative ideas and skills in the workforce. Apart from this, the harmful
effects of the improper diversity management and inequality issues should be addressed properly
and on priority basis by the management as well as the employees to remain competitive in the
global environment. As the positive work climate cultivates empowerment, job description,
retention of the employees, and build team spirit through effective communication.

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