Analyzing Google's Approach to Managing Workforce Diversity Challenges

This report provides an in-depth analysis of workforce diversity within Google, exploring the challenges and strategies involved in managing a diverse employee base. It begins by defining workforce diversity and highlighting its importance in the 21st century, particularly for a company like Google. The report then delves into specific challenges faced by Google, including generation gaps, acceptance and respect issues, accommodation of beliefs, ethnic and cultural differences, gender equality concerns, accommodating physical and mental disabilities, language and communication barriers, and building a culture without biases. Each challenge is examined in detail, with real-world examples and potential consequences discussed. The report emphasizes the benefits of a diverse workplace, such as increased innovation and improved performance. Finally, the report concludes by suggesting recommendations for Google's senior management to enhance and promote workforce diversity effectively. This includes the development of company policies and procedures, cultural sensitivity training, and strategies to overcome communication barriers and biases.

Personal and Managerial
Effectiveness

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion and Analysis............................................................................................................3
References..................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
A diverse workforce refers to various means through which a company bills human
resource in such a way which consist of different type of people. This differentiation between
people can be due to their ethnicity is, social economic status, gender, religion, sexual
orientation, age and so on. This basically means that people working in organisation have
different personalities and will also approach to different situation in different manner. Some
can be introvert and some can be extrovert. When taking the following report into context
diverse workforce in Google is taken into consideration. There are a number of strategic and
environmental reasons due to which organisation is required to change their strategies. One of
the major strategy changes is due to response of managing workforce diversity in the
organisation (Putman and et. al., 2016). The following report consists of various challenges
that are faced by Google in managing diverse workforce effectively in the organisation.
Along with this a critical evaluation of workforce diversity in 21st century is discussed. At
the end of the report recommendations are provided which can be applied by senior
management in order to make sure that workforce diversity in Google can be enhanced.
Discussion and Analysis
In order to successfully work in 21st century it is required by Google to meet the
requirements of diverse workforce. There are a number of ways in which Google is working
so that they can recruit women, people of different colour as well as different sexual
orientation in their organisation. In United States Google is continuously working on hiring
more black people. It is necessary to hire black people in technical roles in the organisation
so that diversity in organisation can be increased. On the same period the percentage of
women in Google is also less than men and the company is effectively working on it. While
Google is successfully working on these strategies to enhance its diverse workforce there are
a number of different challenges that organisation has to face while this process goes on.
Below mentioned are the challenges faced by Google:
Generation gap: It is often seen that there are a number of employees working in similar
organisation who have different ages. It has been assumed that by 2025 most of the
percentage of employees in an organisation will consist of Millennial. This is stating that the
changing work culture in organisation will effectively have a great impact on business
structure. When taking Google into consideration most of the employs are young as Google

needs innovative and creative minds. Due to this the people of other generations usually find
it difficult to adapt with the changes in the organisation and it leads the organisation towards
various problems (Conway and Monks, 2017). It is often seen in large corporations such as
Google the diversity of age groups is higher than in other organisations. There are employees
within organisation who are teenagers as well as some of whom are teenagers. One of the
major challenge for managers in Google is to make sure that no social circles are formed
between the employs of similar age. This will lead to conflict between the employees
belonging to different generation in the organisation. It is often seen that people with
different generation disagree with the procedure of work of each other. In order to make sure
that teamwork and collaboration in the organisation is maintained it is necessary for
managers in Google to use proper communication to bridge gap between the generations in
the organisation.
Acceptance and respect: When there are a number of people with different backgrounds
included in the same organisation it is often seen that the acceptance and respect for each
other cannot be generated. It is necessary that every employee is contributing towards respect
among workers and employs successfully. Due to this lack of acceptance in a diverse
workforce believes of a number of employs are disrespected due to which conflicts between
employs arises. These conflicts can also turn into various situation of violence in the
organisation. It is a great challenge for managers of Google is to make sure that every
employee is accepting and respecting the cultural believes and values of each other.
Accommodation of believes: As Google tries to include diverse workforce in the organisation
it is often seen that there are a number of people who belong to different cultural, spiritual or
political believes. Due to this difference in believes and values there are a number of conflicts
taking place between the employees in the organisation. Employees tries to impose their own
believes and spiritual thinking on other employees due to which grievances between employs
occur. These lead to decrease in productivity of the organisation and the performance of
employs as well (Chandr, 2018). The managers in Google face a major challenge in bringing
peace between all the employs in the organisation that belong to different culture, political or
social belief. While including diverse workforce in the organisation the managers of Google
need to make sure that all the religious belief of different employees in the organisation are
given importance and none of them feel disrespected.

Ethnic and cultural differences: The ethnic and cultural differences in today’s environment
and organisation are very common. There was a report generated by New York Times which
stated that there are only five African American CEO in all of the Fortune 500 companies. It
is often seen that the African-American are less likely to receive a call back when looking for
a job. Google is working on this and making sure that they are including African American
people in their organisation as far as possible. The issues due to ethnic and cultural
differences are always present in a diverse workforce. It is often seen that the people who are
belonging to same ethnic and cultural backgrounds form groups in organisation and the
others who have minority in cultural backgrounds are left behind. Prejudice against people
who belong to various different cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds is a great challenge
which the managers in Google need to face while including diverse workforce in the
organisation (Hunte, 2020). The managers in Google need to make sure that this judgement
or discrimination should never be entertained in the organisation. It is necessary to develop a
number of different company policies and procedures which will help in regulation of all the
act of employees and make sure that no discrimination against employees is taking place in
the organisation. There are a number of cultural sensitive training provided which can also
help in increasing awareness and addressing the issue of ethnic and cultural differences
within Google.
Gender equality: It is often seen that a number of organisations are usually hiring men over
women. It is a common believe that men work better in corporate sector when compare to
women. However Google is taking a number of steps when hiring women and providing
them equal rights in the on salary there are equal opportunities and promotion provided to
women. Often gender discrimination leads to harassment of women at workplace. This is a
great challenge which can be faced by managers in Google when they try to build diverse
workforce with equal population of men and women in the organisation.
Physical and mental disabilities: It is often seen that the employees who are disabled find it
difficult to move throughout the organisation. It is necessary that they are accommodated
with proper wheelchair and rams throughout the organisation. However Google is providing
such services to the employees wherever possible. Still there are some of the areas where
these services cannot be provided to employees with physical disabilities. Also there are a
number of employees who have service dogs with them and organisations do not allow
entrance of dogs in the premises (Trehan and Glover, 2019). These are various challenges
that Google have to face working with physically disabled employees in their diverse

workforce. There are also a number of people in the organisation who are not mentally stable.
It is necessary for Google to make sure that they are providing proper working environment
to such people in order to reduce their anxiety. It is a great deal for Manager in Google to
work with people who have physical or mental disability in order to make sure that they are
successfully included in diverse workforce and any discrimination in the organisation
towards them can be avoided.
Language and communication: Language and communication methods are one of the major
barrier which are present in every company according to research. It is often seen in Google
also when diverse workforce communicates with each other the barrier of communication and
language always appears. In United States and United Kingdom there are a number of people
with their native tongue and their first language is not English. Due to this it is difficult for
employees in the organisation to communicate effectively with each other. It is difficult for
managers in Google also while hiring to decide whether the employee with a different first
language can successfully work in organisation or not. Due to communication barrier often
miscommunication takes place and the productivity of organisation is lost. However Google
can work on various training for non-native English speakers which will prevent losses due to
miscommunication. Hiring of people who know more than one language is also an effective
way to bridge this gap. In order to make sure that organisation is increasing their benefit from
diverse workforce it is necessary to overcome the barrier of language and communication in
Google.
Building and acknowledging culture without biases: One of the major challenge that an
organisation with diverse workforce have to face is building a culture in the organisation that
is acknowledging everyone’s believes and values without any bias between them. It is often
seen that consciously or unconsciously there are a number of cultural barriers built between
people working together who belong to different culture and background. It is also a great
threat for the managers in Google who are trying to apply diverse workforce within the
organisation. There are a number of talented and capable workers present in the external
environment who belong to different cultures and backgrounds. It is necessary to make sure
that each one of them is provided with a fair opportunity (Malik, Lenka and Sahoo, 2018).
However it is often seen that the managers could not manage the bias behaviour of different
employs towards minority groups in the organisation. It is necessary for organisation to make
sure that they are investing their time in order to change culture in the organisation which can

often be time-consuming and also strong leaders are required in the organisation that can
make people listen to them and effectively build a diverse and inclusive workforce in Google.
Diversity in a working place successfully promotes respect, acceptance as well as
teamwork in an organisation apart from the factor that people belong to different gender, age,
race, political believes, sexual orientation, community style and so on. There are also a
number of benefits which can be gained by a diverse workplace. Innovation is a great result
of using diverse workplace in an organisation along with wide variety of background and
demographics. It is often seen that when different mind in an organisation come together to
achieve a similar goal the result is more beneficial and better for the organisation. There are a
number of companies along with Google who are continuously working towards diversity
and inclusion in their workplace in order to make sure that they outperform their objectives
successfully. However in the way of becoming a more diverse organisation there are also a
number of different issues which can be faced by the managers in an organisation. These
issues can be for recruitment professionals as there are a number of challenges associated to
diversity in an organisation. However it is necessary for the managers to make sure that they
are facing these challenges and coming up with various ideas in order to make sure that
diverse workplace can be included in organisation in order to achieve all its goals and
objectives successfully.
Conclusion
With the help of the above mentioned report it can be clearly concluded that
organisations need to make sure they are specifically working upon diverse workforce which
will help in bringing a number of benefits to the organisation. There are a number of different
challenges that organisations have to go through which include generation gap, acceptance
and respect, accommodation of beliefs, ethnic and cultural differences, gender equality,
physical and mental disabilities, language and communication barrier, acknowledging culture
without any bias and so on which are resulting in barriers for managers to adopt diverse
workforce. It is necessary that managers in organisation are successfully working towards
providing all the employees with equal opportunities and rights in the organisation. When
employees are successfully motivated towards completing all their objectives in the
organisation without any buyers it helps in achieving the need for diverse workforce. There
are a number of benefits which can be achieved by an organisation which is having a diverse
workforce such as Google has along with innovativeness and creativeness in the organisation

the brand value and market reputation of business also increases. In a culture of organisation
when people belonging to different backgrounds are given equal importance it helps in
aligning goals of individuals and organisation through which all the organisational goals and
objectives can be achieved.
Recommendations
There are a number of ways in which Google can successfully implement diverse
workforce meeting all the challenges. Some of the recommendations are mentioned below:
 It is necessary for managers in Google’s to train and develop employees specifically
upon cultural knowledge. It is required that employees are provided with knowledge
about different cultures which will help them in understanding and valuing beliefs of
others.
 Strict policies and procedures must be adopted in the organisation in order to make
sure that any bias towards a culture or certain diverse group of people can be
neglected. People in organisation practising such actions should be legally punished in
order to stop their behaviour.
 It is required by organisation to adopt practises and festivities of different culture
which will help in bringing together all the employees in the organisation and it will
also help the organisation to successfully prosper aligning believes of individuals with
culture of organisation.
With the help of above mentioned recommendations Google can successfully implement
diverse workforce in their organisation and bring innovativeness using different mind from
their human resource

References
Books and Journals
Putman, H. and et. al., 2016. High Hopes and Harsh Realities: The Real Challenges to
Building a Diverse Workforce. Brookings Institution.
Conway, E. and Monks, K., 2017. Designing a HR system for managing an age-diverse
workforce: Challenges and opportunities. In The Palgrave handbook of age
diversity and work (pp. 585-606). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Chandra, M., 2018. MANAGING DIVERSE WORKFORCE ISSUES &
CHALLENGES. NOLEGEIN-Journal of Human Resource Management &
Development, pp.35-37.
Hunter, L., 2020. Akamai Workforce Initiative: A New Era of Building a Multi Level Diverse
Workforce in Astronomy and Remote Sensing. University of California Santa
Cruz Santa Cruz United States.
Trehan, K. and Glover, J., 2019. Creating a Diverse Workforce. In Reimagining the Future
Public Service Workforce (pp. 125-134). Springer, Singapore.
Malik, P., Lenka, U. and Sahoo, D.K., 2018. Proposing micro-macro HRM strategies to
overcome challenges of workforce diversity and deviance in ASEAN. Journal
of Management Development.