MANAGING DIVERSITY

The increasing importance of managing diversity is because every day we have more diversity in our families, organizations, friends, etc. This brings advantages like a diverse workforces will increase organizational effectiveness and it can enhance the organization’s responsiveness to an increasingly diverse world of customers, also because in order for companies to fill positions in the foreseeable future, they will need to attract minorities.

How to manage diversity:
*Drawing upon individual Tolerance and Self-Control
*Trial and Error Processes + Personal Relationships
*Setting Up Transnational Cultures

To try to avoid discrimination we need people with open minds, but education isn’t enough, there are some things that come from home and come with the attitude:

Decentralization of power
Impact on diversity include intensive networking and collaboration and we also get to see development of self managed teams

Internationalization
More companies will go international even if they are not thinking to do so and Organization that were international will continue expansion overseas.

Virtual Companies
Business based on Knowledge and services increase
Reliability on people skills because of the teamwork done virtually


Diversity as human resource capital is a competitive advantage?

YES. It can be explain basically in 3 areas.
Decision quality: Different people with different cultures could help the company to make easier and more high qualified decisions. People from different cultures can have different points of view, back ground and perspective can help the firm to make more rational and well think decisions.
Connecting with customers: Due to the elevate migration in the countries, the once called minorities are now a big part of the population, that’s why companies should pay special attention to this. People tend to do more business with people they feel identified, with those they consider are in the same reference group.
Innovating: Innovation isn’t only about developing things that are totally new. We also innovate when we find different uses, combinations, places to use an old idea. The diverse perspective and ideas of different people stimulate and help to the development of innovation.

Firms have different kinds of jobs that require diverse people to do it, people with different skills, and if you have diverse people in your company you can chose and selected the best ones to do the job, in this way you can guarantee that the job is being made by the most qualified people, by people with the best skills to perform this job, in this way you are sure that the job is well done and we have a competitive advantage.

References:

Slater, Stanley F; Weigand, Robert A & Thomas J. Zwirlein (2008). “The business case for commitment to diversity”. Business Horizons. 51: 201–209.