The Impact of Diversity on Effective Teamwork in Organizations

This essay delves into the multifaceted impact of diversity on teamwork within organizations. It explores the challenges posed by diversity, such as potential conflicts and communication difficulties arising from differing cultural backgrounds, values, and work styles. The essay analyzes the advantages of diversity, including enhanced creativity, innovation, and the ability to cater to a diverse customer base. It also discusses strategies for managing diversity effectively, such as diversity training programs, to mitigate negative impacts and leverage the benefits. The analysis draws on various scholarly viewpoints and literature, providing a comprehensive understanding of diversity's role in shaping team dynamics and organizational performance. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of recognizing and respecting individual differences to foster a competitive advantage and improve workforce diversity, underscoring the need for organizations to navigate the complexities of diversity to achieve optimal teamwork and organizational success.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1MANAGEMENT
Topic- Diversity is barrier to effective teamwork
Introduction
The essay will discuss the different kind of issues that are faced in teamwork in
different organizations due to the diversity. The discussion will be supported by the help of
different literatures and viewpoints of different authors on understanding the reasons that
diversity is the big barrier in the effective teamwork. The essay will include different kind of
reasons that includes the analysis of the different disadvantages and advantages of the
diversity implementation in teamwork.
Meaning of Diversity in Workplace
Diversity workplaces and teams are essential and it is composed with varying
characteristics that includes the religious along with cultural beliefs. The diversity helps the
entire workplace in increasing the overall productivity in the organization and increases the
morale of the employees. Diversity in the workplace builds different kind of opportunities in
building proper reputation for the organization and create opportunities for the workers
(Barak 2016).
However, there are different issues relating to the diversity as this creates issues in the
workplace as there can be issues related to unproductivity in few firms as there are employees
from different cultural backgrounds. A diverse workplace is important in different
organization among the employees as this is the main reflection of the changing world on the
workplace. It is the main duty of the employees in organization to manage the diversity issues
related to culture in an operative manner to handle the grievances of the different employees
who are from different cultural background (Wrench 2016).
Diversity as barrier in teamwork

2MANAGEMENT
The phenomenon of the diversity at workplace is directly related to the organizational
performance wherein the workplace diversity is responsible for the positive and negative ills
that takes place in the organization. The diversity issues are now considered essential and this
is projected to become more relevant in future as there is increasing differences in population
in many countries. Proper valuing and managing diversity is the major component in
effective people management and it helps in achieving the organizational goals.
Sabharwal (2014) has commented that workplace diversity is complex and
controversial process and it has been conceptualized by the author in several viewpoints.
There are different authors who has looked into the concept through narrow perspective and
on the other hand there are different authors who has provided the same from a broader view.
Furthermore, the article (Peoplematters.in, 2018) has stated the different key issues of the
diversity that arises due to the discrimination along with exclusion of the cultural groups from
the different kind of traditional groups. The diversity is the concept that is inclusive in all the
individuals and this becomes difficult to identify the practices of the discrimination.
The danger in narrowly defining the concept of diversity includes the cultural
diversity dimensions. However, the scholars who has advocated the broader concept of
workforce diversity argues that the diversity encompasses the possible manners through
which the individual can differ. The individuals who are in accordance with the respective
school of thought do not differ on the basis of the race, gender and age, however it includes
different values, tenure, personality and organizational functions. Klarsfeld et al. (2014) has
contented that the different individuals with multiple identities along with the manifold
dimensions can never be isolated from the organizational setting.
The diversity has a major role to play in understanding the dynamics of the
heterogenous workforce and understanding the interactive effects of the multi-dimensional

3MANAGEMENT
diversity has to be addressed. It has been argued by Klarsfeld et al. (2014) that the broader
concept of diversity can create positive effect on the programs of the diversity management
that is potential in nature. Furthermore, the literature related to workplace diversity espouses
the different theoretical frameworks in order to understand the possible implications of the
same on workplace and teamwork. Social Categorization helps in describing the people
categorization that is based on salient features such as ethnicity, gender that is based on
differences (Trittin and Schoeneborn 2017).
The second is the attraction/similarity theory that helps in asserting the actual
similarity on non-salient and salient features such as values that increases in the interpersonal
attraction along with attachment. The third is the decision-making theory that helps in
examining the facts and impact of the distribution of the information. These are the different
theories that lead to contradictory hypothesis regarding the effects of the diversity on the
group process along with performance. It has been seen that there are different companies
that are complying with the different diversity programs in order to avoid legal consequences
while there are other companies that are reaping benefits from adoption of such program
(Human Resources Today, 2018).
Benefits of Diversity Management
Greene and Kirton (2015) has commented that there are different kind of positive
impacts of the diversity management in organizations and in teamwork. The author has
hypothesised that the organizations that engage in the diversity experiences increase in the
synergy among the different employees in the organization and this allows the staffs in taking
up different kind of tasks that are varied in nature.
The diversity is required to be valued that assists in recognising the differences that
are not absolute in nature, however they are variable. These kind of differences enables the

4MANAGEMENT
organizations in becoming more effective as this capitalizes on perspective that is
heterogenous and this provides superior solution in different situations. According to Choi
and Rainey (2014), the organizations that utilizes diverse workforce concept can able to sell
diverse customer base wherein the instance has been taken of Avon wherein initially it has
low profitability, however after adopting diversity, they have tried to increase their
productivity in the organization.
Furthermore, Cascio (2018) has stated and hypothesised that the other positive aspect
of diversity in the workplace helps them in overcoming the cross-cultural challenges from the
organizations when the business expands and they spread internationally. This is one of the
essential benefits derived from the cultural diversity of the different employees as there are
different kind of modern companies are expanding their business on corporate agendas. With
the expansion of the business in different foreign countries, there is inclusion of the obstacles
that includes the understanding the local customer base in the country. Proper designing of
the different innovative strategies has to be developed by the entire team in the company to
overcome such risks (Human Resources Today, 2018).
Pham (2017) has hypothesised that when the organizations have diverse workforce in
a cultural manner, they can utilise the knowledge and information of the individual employee
to achieve such objectives and overcome aforementioned obstacles. It is essential in nature
that the employees are diverse in nature to create and inspire creativity and drive innovation.
The diverse teamwork and diverse skills allows the organization to offer adoptable and
broader range of products and services. The organizations that adopt the policies of diversity
and integrate diversity into the corporate culture can expect reduction in the turnover of the
employees and this will be a benefit for the organization (Besic and Hirt,2016).
Weaknesses of Diversity Management

5MANAGEMENT
However, on the other hand there are different kind of negative impacts of the cultural
diversity in the organizations and among the teams. It includes the increased tendency of the
personnel of organization to indulge into different kind of interpersonal conflicts. The
workers with cultural diverse attitudes has different kind of viewpoints, customs and values.
However, Benschop et al. (2015) has stated that there are colleagues in the company who are
from some other culture may be less likely in nature to let their voices to be heard in the
teamwork practices. The management of the organizations has to manage the diversity related
issues to improve the intercultural issues and perform the various tasks equally with all the
employees.
The integration across the different multicultural teams can be difficult in face of
negative cultural stereotypes. According to Sabharwal (2014), diversity can create negative
effects on different aspects of the organization that includes difficulties in the process of
communication, conflict among the groups, poor and racial integration. However, from the
psychological perspective, it has been seen that greater diversity in the team may lead to poor
performance and this may lead to intra group conflicts among the groups as well. The
professional communication can be misinterpreted or it is difficult in nature to understand
across the different cultures and languages.
The other challenge includes the conflicting style of works across the different teams
that reflects the cultural values and compounding kind of differences. This is the other major
reason that causes decrease in the productivity of the employees who are working in a
particular team. The culturally diverse workers have different kind of opinions, values and
beliefs along with traditions. These kind of deeply buried qualities offer the actual essence of
the diversity in teamwork in different organizations.

6MANAGEMENT
Sabharwal (2014) has stated that the factionalism is the other issue in the managing
diversity in the entire team. When the team is larger in nature, there can be a huge risk that it
will break down into different factions when the team is heterogenous in nature. Furthermore,
the style of communication differs among different cultures in the team of organizations. For
instance- the lawyers are comfortable in nature with confrontational style than most other
kind of groups. On the other hand, there are different individuals from Asian cultures view
the confrontational style of communication disrespectful in nature. As per the different
articles, it has been seen that there are different organizations in which workshops are
conducted to increase the scope of diversity and nurture the same efficiently. At Zurich
number of initiatives has been taken and implemented to promote diversity among the
employees and in the entire workplace (Zurich Insurance Group 2018).
Diversity Training
Therefore, from the above, it can be commented that there are different kind of
negative and positive aspects of diversity in workplace. The definition of the diversity varies
from one organization to the other organization and there are times when the organizations
define the diversity training is influenced heavily by the process and understanding the
meaning of diversity in their respective organization.
Bolman and Deal (2017) has commented that from broader kind of corporate
perspective, the diversity training is the raising personal type of awareness about the
differences of individuals and try to find out the different strategies that can help in
enhancing the manners in reducing the differences among the individuals effectively. The
training is the most widely used strategies and tactics that can help them in reducing the
differences that includes perceptual, problem solving between the different employees in the
workforce.

7MANAGEMENT
The different kind of management tools in the diverse workplace is required to
educate all the employees about the diversity issues that includes laws and legislations.
However, there has been different kind of issues in diverse work culture among employees
wherein it has been seen that the companies and the employees need to understand the
challenges and turn them into advantages.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that diversity among the teams in different
organizations is essential, however there are different kind of impacts of diversity that can be
positive and negative in manner. The negative impacts of diversity included dysfunctional
conflicts, loss of productivity and difficult to achieve harmony in group settings. The respect
of the individual differences in the workplace will benefit the organization by creating
competitive advantage and increases the workforce diversity as well.
Furthermore, it has been seen that there are different kind of positive impacts of the
diversity management in the organization that included strong base of knowledge that is
created on cultural differences and this provides huge tendency to expand the business in
foreign cultures. After analysis of the different researchers, it has been analysed that diverse
workplace is the reflection of the changing workplace and it brings huge diversity in the
performance of the team as well.
Lastly, the diversity is essential for both employees and employers in different
organizations as this manifest itself in building proper reputation for the entire organization
and leading it to gain productivity and profit in their business. The issues related to
communication gaps has to be reduced with implementation of innovative strategies in
workplace.

8MANAGEMENT
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
Administration, 34(4), pp.307-331.
Greene, A.M. and Kirton, G., 2015. The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical
approach. Routledge.
Human Resources Today. (2018). Diversity Sourcing Strategy: 3 Tactics of Highly Diverse
Companies. [online] Available at:
http://www.humanresourcestoday.com/2017/diversity/trends/?open-article-
id=6437239&article-title=diversity-sourcing-strategy--3-tactics-of-highly-diverse-
companies&blog-domain=lhra.io&blog-title=lighthouse [Accessed 8 May 2018].
Human Resources Today. (2018). Top 2017 Workplace Trends: Employee Diversity, Change
Management, and Self-Directed Learning. [online] Available at:

9MANAGEMENT
http://www.humanresourcestoday.com/2017/diversity/trends/?open-article-
id=6138777&article-title=top-2017-workplace-trends--employee-diversity--change-
management--and-self-directed-learning&blog-domain=blr.com&blog-title=hr-daily-advisor
[Accessed 8 May 2018].
Klarsfeld, A., Booysen, L.A., Ng, E., Roper, I. and Tatli, A. eds., 2014. Country Perspectives
on Diversity and Equal Treatment. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Peoplematters.in. 2018. People Matters - Interstitial Site. [online] Available at:
https://www.peoplematters.in/article/employee-relations/why-does-workplace-diversity-
matter-16362 [Accessed 8 May 2018].
Pham, D.M.A., 2017. Diversity management in the Finnish workplace: a study on five small-
sized restaurants in Mikkeli, Finland to explore the level of activeness of Finland-based
employers in pursuing racial diversity management in the workplace.
Sabharwal, M., 2014. Is diversity management sufficient? Organizational inclusion to further
performance. Public Personnel Management, 43(2), pp.197-217.
Trittin, H. and Schoeneborn, D., 2017. Diversity as polyphony: Reconceptualizing diversity
Management from a communication-centered perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 144(2),
pp.305-322.
Wrench, J., 2016. Diversity management and discrimination: Immigrants and ethnic
minorities in the EU. Routledge.
Zurich Insurance Group. 2018. Diversity and inclusion in the workplace. [online] Available
at: https://www.zurich.com/en/knowledge/articles/2017/03/diversity-and-inclusion-in-the-
workplace [Accessed 8 May 2018].