⦁ INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Globalization has increased to date. Therefore, there is the need for massive interaction among employees from different backgrounds. Non-profit and profit organizations must, therefore, embrace diversified workforce to compete favorably in the global market. Workplace diversity has become the main concern in an organization according to many public relation managers and human resource managers in large economies. A good example is United States of America’s economy. Since the 1990s, many companies have positioned themselves as organizations championing diversity in workplace and supports of diverse communities.
The push towards diversified workforce has resulted from booming of service sector careers, investor relation and sincere ethical moves in business. At the workplace, employee differs or be similar in terms of cultural background, age, physical abilities, religion, gender, sexual orientation and race. These differences imply workplace diversity. Two or more employee, when compared, may be found to be different not only in terms of gender that may appear to be obvious but also psychological and social characteristics, their prejudice and perspectives. The large range of causes of diversity results in a lot of problems at the workplace. One example of the problems related to diversity is a pay gap between men and women which have continued to be persistent. Different levels of the workplace ladder can provide various platforms to separately measure diversity within an organization. These levels include management team, project team, boardroom and shop floor. Phenomena such as job segregation and wage gap can be used to project the disparities in fairness in an organization.

1.2 Figure 1: Diversity at workplace for an organization.

⦁ CURRENT SITUATION

Respect for diversity is essential for an organization to date. Diversity at workplaces is enhancing fast each day in every organization. Research shows, for instance, that in the United States of America one in four Americans is foreign born or comes from a minority. Women are expected to take the up to 65 percent of created jobs in the next ten years. The success of the businesses or organizations will depend on the ability to operate in a marketplace that is diverse in terms of gender, culture, age, race, sexual orientation religion and physical abilities of the employees. The current situation does not allow an organization to discriminate the employees on the grounds of their diversity. With the globalization in place, the world has become a global village, and human resource has become the most mobile factor of production in the marketplace. The department of human resource management of every organization has to view workplace diversity as a source of efficiency and effectiveness. Diversity management in the workplace is essential in achieving goals of a company. Even though the importance of workplace diversity is increasing, many companies have not embraced diversity training courses and programs that are currently available. New York Times iterates in 2003 that only 21 percent of people surveyed ascertained they had taken part in programs promoting workplace diversity awareness.
Therefore, efforts by the human resource management in an organization to enhance workplace diversity may fail to be filtered down to the employee echelon. There are negative aspects connected to workplace diversity. Some of these aspects include prejudice, bad inter-group competition, and ethnocentrism. Whereas the shortcomings of workplace diversity exist, its benefits can be seen in the platforms it creates for the exchange of innovative ideas among the employees. Also, viewpoints of employees from diverse cultural background may be embraced for effectiveness. A competitive advantage of an organization is created when viewpoints of employees from the different cultural background are regarded (Chanda, 2009).

⦁ STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Currently, employing diversified workforce is become a trend in different economies and organizations. Economies and organizations are moving towards increasing their profitability through the improvement of profitability. This is the only way to survive the competition and thrive in the competitive world. However, the diversified workforce at the workplace brings many challenges to the employees. Some employees may not cooperate due to the diversity present at the workplace in terms of culture, religion or any other. On the contrary, an organization has set goals It must achieve. Therefore, employees must be efficient in terms of functionality in a certain department of the organization. Should an organization fire employees on the grounds of not being cooperative due workplace diversity? Sacking an employee is not a solution. This research will critically evaluate the influence of workplace diversity on an organization’s productivity and efficiency based on the previous researches. Moreover, this research paper will recommend ways of managing diversified workforce so that employees can work together to achieve the goals of an organization and maintain harmony at workplace irrespective of diverse environment.

4.0. ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEMS

The workplace diversity has an impact on the productivity of an organization. Many researchers have carried out studied the issues about workplace diversity both locally and internationally. These researchers have conducted studies that have been a breakthrough to HR. The analysis of the issues related to the workplace diversity is essential in maximizing the productivity of business. However, a lot of attention is normally given to the issues related to race, gender, and cultural diversity. To address the problems related to workplace diversity, there is the need to broaden the aspects of diversity and not limiting it to the gender, race and culture.

4.1. Answering the Questions

The main questions that must be answered in this research include:
⦁ How does an organization develop workplace diversity?
⦁ How does diversity impact on recruitment of employees?
⦁ How will workplace help an organization to prosper?
⦁ How can an organization measure its success on its workplace diversity initiatives?
These questions will guide in choosing the best steps to solve the diversity issues that may negatively impact on the productivity of an organization. Firstly, creating the best programs to teach human resource managers on how to manage workers from diverse backgrounds at the workplace is essential. Creation of the atmosphere that welcomes employees no matter their backgrounds will attract many workers from different backgrounds. Many employees chose the companies that have what they want. Observing the staff at the workplace is fundamental since it offers the insight on productivity that results from the diversity of workers in a business. Human resources managers must step in if a conflict arises and get the employees refocus on the goals of an organization.

4.2. Addressing the Problems

Critical evaluation of the various researches about workplace diversity offers the best insight into the solutions of the problems connected to diversity in an organization. Firstly, it is clearly that an organization strives to earn profits; this is the main objective for almost all the profit organizations. Researchers suggest that employing diversified workforce is the way to achieving maximum profits in today’s marketplace scenarios. Employing workers from the diverse background will enhance the productivity of a company. On the contrary, the diversified workforce may become disastrous if human resource management fails to manage it effectively. Considering the workforce harmony determines the progress of a company. Its diversity plays a major role in the shaping up its productivity. Through enhanced innovation among the diversified workforce, the productivity of an organization is heightened. Therefore, observing the staff at the workplace is fundamental since it offers the insight on productivity that results from the diversity of workers in a business. Human resource managers must step in if a conflict arises and get the employees refocus on the goals of an organization. Also, the creation of the atmosphere that welcomes employees no matter their backgrounds will attract many workers from different backgrounds. Many employees chose the companies that have what they want (Saxena, 2014).

5.0. RECOMMENDATIONS

The shortcoming of workplace diversity is a significant matter of concern to the human resource management professionals. The HR department has always played a major role in the ensuring that there is smooth running and use of human resource available in an organization for the efficient productivity. Since shortcomings of workplace diversity is a problem to HR department of an organization, below are recommendations for addressing the issues related to workplace diversity. Organizations should:
⦁ Promote the use of common language among employees within premises
⦁ Availing open channels of communication among the management team and the employees
⦁ Initiate different mentorship and motivational programs.
⦁ Human resource managers should ensure that employees are satisfied and if not, ask them the course of their discomfort and address it amicably.
⦁ Make works feel involved in the running of the organization and facilitate managers to understand the essence of teamwork towards achieving the productivity goals of the company.

6.0. CONCLUSION

The various researches concerning workplace diversity have been able to shade light on the solution of problems related to diversity at the workplace. A diverse workforce reflects a changing marketplace. Work team that is diverse creates high value to an organization. The respect of individual’s differences will benefit an organization’s workplace through the creation of competitive edge and productivity. Human resource management of a company must perform diversity management in the most effective manner. This will create a safe and fair environment where every employee has equal access to challenges and opportunities. The human resource management tools should be employed in educating every member of an organization about diversity at a workplace in relation to its issues: laws and regulations. The majority of workplaces comprise diverse culture, religion, race, gender, and sexual orientation to date, so organizations and companies must learn ways of adapting to these diversity aspects to be successful.

References

Chanda, A. (2009, February 2). Managing diversity through human resource management:an international perspective and conceptual framework. The International Journal of Human Resource Management,, 20(2), 235-251. Retrieved October 2016
Saxena, A. (2014, July 14). Workforce Diversity: A Key to Improve Productivity . Procedia Economics and Finance, 11, 76-85. doi:10.1016/S2212-5671(14)00178-6