Challenges of Diversity
Rob Kindred
Dr. Stephen R. Ball
MGT 360 – Human Resource Management
14 December 2016
“Diversity is defined as the differences between people. These differences can include race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, background, socioeconomic status and much more” (Dias, p. 52, 2011). Diversity in the workplace has become a main focus in today’s business. There are many benefits that come along with having a more diverse workplace and companies are becoming more aware of these advantages. The problem comes with actually implementing the proper techniques that promote diversity and allow the business to run more efficiently. It is simple to put into words that the company needs to be more diverse, but it is much more difficult to actually find the right people for the job. With diversity becoming more important, it is almost if companies are just trying to make their workplace have a mixture of different races, ages, and genders. When a business does this, it is disregarding skill and just trying to get by. This is putting individuals who are highly skilled at the position out of jobs and having to settle for a lower position. Diversity needs to be implemented correctly so that the right people are hired for the job and the company can gain the advantages that it provides. With many challenges coming along with diversity in the workplace, having a healthy amount of different genders, races, and ages will prove to be beneficial.
Gender discrimination has been around for a long time and is still around today. Even though it is still common to see, it is not nearly found as much as it used to be. It is clear that in today’s business there are many more women working in a position that was traditionally dominated by men. This is a very good trend that is happening because it is important to get different genders into different positions in the workplace. Having both men and women in the workplace can be very beneficial because it will bring different backgrounds to the table. When males controlled the business world companies would lack the female perspective that could bring in more creativity and other beneficial attributes. It would be the same situation if females completely controlled the business world. It is important to bring both of these genders together to maximize the company’s power to be successful in its industry.
One specific industry that is lacking the female presence is the accounting industry. There are many women who are accountants, but most of them do not have their CPA. “The main gender differences were related to perception; women felt that the exam was too difficult and too expensive” (Gabre, Flesher, & Ross, pg. 35, 2015). As more and more women find jobs that usually would not happen, they become more confident and will be willing to take risks. The ones who deemed becoming a CPA too difficult will now find themselves taking that chance. There needs to be a more diverse gender in the workplace because productivity will rise and that will lead to a healthier workplace.
Racial diversity in the workplace is one of the most known issues that is happening today in business. Many people forget about gender and age discrimination but racial is well known across the country. Involving different races into a company can be very beneficial because international business is becoming a must for some. Having different races included in the company will provide great information when dealing with international business. Also, when different individuals with different backgrounds come together there is much more experience that is brought with them. Living in a different culture for an entire life will provide great experience and it is important that it is captured.
Diversity in the workplace is very difficult because the races that traditionally were not able to get a certain job are still not confident enough to work there. “The problem isn’t HR, the hiring manager or the company per se. The problem is strewn throughout our culture” (Cannon, para. 3, 2016). It is the people who make up this culture who are to blame for companies not having a more diverse workplace. It starts with people who judge others by the color of their skin rather than actually knowing how they work. We need to be more willing to work with others instead of just not giving them a chance. According to Cannon (2016), the way we go about hiring needs to be changed. The hiring process needs to be revised to be just as important as other business strategies.
Age discrimination is one that does not seem to be talked about very much. The reason why some individuals are not getting a job because of their age is because the world around us is changing vastly. Technology is advancing at an alarming rate and some people are having a hard time keeping up. The younger generation has an advantage over the older generation because the younger was able to grow up with technology. They have a much bigger head start at fully understand how to use the technology and it is putting the older individuals out of a job. There are still many benefits that come with having a variety of ages in the workplace.
Having many different ages at work can be beneficial for the same reasons as having multiple races and genders. Productivity will be higher and the experience from each different age group will prove to be very crucial. As stated in earlier, technology is always changing and the younger generation has an advantage over the older generation. It might be easy to come to the conclusion that hiring younger individuals is the correct move, right? While the younger generation may be better with technology, the older individuals are going to provide many other benefits that younger individuals are not capable of. “Just as younger generations are credited with having good working knowledge of business technology, more mature members of a workforce have the advantage of traditional business skills” (McQuerrey, para. 4, 2016).
Diversity is a very challenging topic and should not be overlooked. Some people might think that the whole idea of forcing diversity into the workplace is just wrong and why not just hire the right people for the job. According to Burrell (2016), it is very hard to change people and how they think about a topic. If a business owner does not want to change how they do business, it might be very hard for someone to push this topic onto them. Even if some people do not want to change, diversity provides many benefits that could eventually help business grow to a whole new level.
Gender, race, and age are all very important when companies are going through the hiring phase. Implementing a diverse workplace will prove to have many advantages that will help business in the long run. While having more diversity is important and does not seem very difficult, it will prove to bring along challenges that will need to be overcome. The hiring process will need to be revised to that the correct people are hired for the job. It is important for companies to let diversity come to them and not force it. Trying to make a company more diverse by just hiring different races and genders will end up costing the company large amounts of money. With diversity being a main focus in today’s business, it is important to analyze the proper way of including it into the company to maximize its abilities.
References
Burrell, L. (2016). We Just Can’t Handle Diversity. (cover story). Harvard Business Review, 94(7/8), 70-74
Cannon, M. (2016, May 4). Racial Diversity in the Workplace: Who Cares? Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marshall-cannon/racial-diversity-in-the-w_b_7192414.html
Dias, L. (2011). Human resource management. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing edition. Minneapolis, MN
Gabre, H., Flesher, D. L., & Ross, F. (2015). Addressing the Challenges of Diversity in the Profession. CPA Journal, 85(12), 30-37
McQuerrey, L. (2016). The Advantages of Diverse Ages in the Workplace. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-diverse-ages-workplace-17928.html