Question

Review and discussion question Number 4 page 21 on Supervision: Concepts and Skill Building Edition 10 .....Chapter 1

What are some advantages of greater diversity?

Answer 1

Diversity at a workplace is the characteristic of mixed manpower that provides a wide array of experiences, abilities, strengths, thought processes and knowledge. This range is due to the difference in their age, race, gender, ethnicity, etc.

Inclusion at a workplace is to treat all employees alike irrespective of how diverse they are. Inclusion tries to prohibit any kind of discrimination and bias among employees.

Diversity and inclusion are combined as one unit by HRD to prepare an organization to become an inclusive workplace. An inclusive workplace is one that embraces all its employees and treats them alike irrespective of how diverse they are. The inclusiveness of a workplace prohibits discrimination, enhances synergy and thereby increases the creativity, talent and knowledge of the employees.

Diversity and inclusion can be implemented together by:

·       Treating all employees alike

·       Offering opportunities to employees based on their capabilities and not any other bias

The path to equality, diversity and inclusion is not smooth. Some of the barriers that arise in the path of equality and diversity in workplace are:

·       Negative attitude including prejudice and stereotyping: One of the major roadblocks to establishing equality and diversity is the negative mindset with which people approach differences. They get judgmental and start stereotyping which obstructs the mutual feeling of equality and diversity inclusion.

·       Personal bias and favoritism: Every human has a favorite. But giving priority to favoritism over talent and efforts in workplace is unethical and a major roadblock to equality and diversity

·       Lack of employer involvement: The employer needs to show active involvement in establishment of equality and diversity at the workplace. It must be the top-down approach and the employer must lead by example.

·       Lack of resources: Sometimes there are not enough resources in the company to account for equality and diversity.

·       Language and cultural barriers: The cultural and language differences can lead to workplace and opinion crash that can have a negative impact in the path of equality and diversity establishment at the workplace.

The primary advantages of greater diversity at workplace are:

·       Innovation and creative thinking gets propagated in the company

·       Decision making and problem solving is facilitated

·       Problem can be analysed from several angels

·       Overall appeal of the business increases

·       High level talent can be easily retained by the company

·       The business becomes more adaptable and can witness any kind of change, quite strongly