Diversity, as defined by Katz et al., (1994) means having distinct or unlike elements. In the workplace, diversity means employing people who may be different from each other and who do not all come from the same background. The differences may be those of national origin, physical appearance, religion, education, age, gender, or sexual orientation.
With the ever-changing business environment, business owners are adopting diversity policies and strategies that appeal to their employees, clients, vendors and suppliers. Diversity in the workplace brings with it a host of potential benefits, as well as potential conflicts for business owners to manage.
From this definition, one can conclude that workplace diversity means creating an inclusive environment that accepts each individual's differences, embraces their strengths and provides opportunities for all staff to achieve their full potential.
The Anti Discrimination Commission Queensland (2013) argues that valuing differences allows each person to contribute their unique experiences to the workplace and can impact positively on not only internal activities and relationships, but the experiences of customers and other stakeholders as well.
WAYS TO INCORPORATE DIVERSITY
According to Brooklins (2019), businesses find ways to incorporate diversity into their workplaces without causing major changes to the way their companies operate. Incorporating diversity practices in a workplace can include recruiting from diverse talent pools to make the company open to employees from various backgrounds. Diversity may be infused into advertising practices to ensure products and services are targeted to all consumers who represent the target market, whether through print, online, television or radio.
In South Africa, the Employment Equity Act, No. 55 of 1998 was designed to achieve equity in the workplace by promoting equal opportunity and fair treatment in employment through elimination of unfair discrimination and implementing affirmative action measures to redress the disadvantages in employment experienced by designated groups, to ensure equitable representation in all occupational categories and levels in the workforce.
SIGNIFICANCE
As workplaces embrace the idea of diversity, they often realize benefits that help improve their companies, from new ideas to increased international opportunities. Diversity can add varied ideas and perspectives to the workplace. Research compiled by the Journal of Small Business Management suggests that employers who recruit diverse workforces open their businesses to a wide range of ideas. Businesses compile these varied opinions and ideas as they make decisions about how to start, run and finance their operations and market their products or services.
BENEFITS
Companies that set out to recruit a diverse workforce, rather than settling for a homogeneous environment, open their businesses to a larger pool of applicants. As a result, they increase their ability to access candidates who are most qualified for the positions they're looking to fill. Dr John Sullivan, a consultant and educator on ere.net, a recruitment website, notes businesses that opt not to recruit from diverse pools of talent may not only miss talent but also be forced to increase recruiting costs.
While diverse workforces aren't limited to employees from different countries who speak more than one language or have varying ethnic backgrounds, employees with these characteristics are beneficial to companies looking to expand or improve existing operations in national, regional or local markets. The belief is that expansion will drive profits for companies, though Sullivan, 1986:49 cautions that profitability as a result of a diverse workplace depends on location and target market.
EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITIES
Providing a workplace free from discrimination and harassment is one of the basic responsibilities of an employer. A workplace with a variety of individuals needs to be managed in a manner that accommodates all individuals and does not infringe on any right that they may have, be it belief, tradition or freedom of identification. Having worked at Old Mutual as a Personal Financial Adviser, I have had first-hand experience of a diverse working environment where the one binding objective between staff is the objectives of the company. Old Mutual, being a corporate, has a culture of embracing diversity and this has worked its favour. Potentials investors are often also attracted by the pool of diversity in the workplace. Ensuring that there is diversity in the workplace all depends on the employer.
As already said above, the major threats to diversity in the workplace are discrimination and harassment. Although sexual harassment has received most of the public attention, harassment can take many forms. As employers add staff from a variety of ethnic, religious, age, and cultural groups, maintaining a harmonious workplace is critical. Given our increasingly litigious society, it is inevitable that court decisions related to other forms of harassment will increase.
Examples of harassment include epithets, slurs, negative stereotyping, or threatening acts toward an identified person or group. Other examples include written or graphic material placed on walls, bulletin boards, or elsewhere on the employer's premises that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group. Included in this definition are acts that purport to be pranks but, are hostile or demeaning.
Brooklins (2019) further argues that a major challenge for all employers is to assimilate a variety of employees into the mainstream of corporate life. Women and minorities are sometimes excluded from social activities or left out of informal communications networks. The result appears to be a sense of isolation, lower organizational commitment, and ultimately a decision to seek employment in a more welcoming environment. For example, a woman feeling left out may think that too much emphasis is placed on getting along with others in senior management: "As a woman, I do not fit into the group of males who go to lunch together and play golf together. These are the guys who get the promotions."
DISCRIMINATION
Making prejudgments is part of human nature because a person cannot anticipate every event freshly in its own right. Although prejudgments help gives an order to daily living, a person's mind has a habit of assimilating as much as it can into categories, which may result in irrational judgments. A person acts with prejudice because of his or her personality, which has been formed by family, school, the media and community environments.
Prejudice has been defined as an attitude based partly on observation and partly on ignorance, fear, and cultural patterns, none of which has a rational basis. A prejudiced person tends to think of all members of a group as being the same, giving little consideration to individual differences. This kind of thinking gives rise to stereotypes.
Stereotypes, like prejudices, are based partly on observation and partly on ignorance and tradition. For example, a person who assumes that all women are overly emotional is subscribing to a widely held but false stereotype.
Stereotypes are difficult to overcome because they usually develop over a long time. Some stereotypes are shared by many people, giving them an illusion of rationality. Many people, however, are trying to rid themselves of stereotyped thinking about others. This effort reflects a growing consciousness that people are individuals and can and should be treated as such.
The basis of prejudice toward a subgroup of society is often found in economic or psychological factors. Most free-market countries have a diversity of social groups. The social mobility concept postulates that as one sub-group moves up in economic terms, it is replaced by a less fortunate subgroup that is seeking a better way of life.
RACIAL PREJUDICE
Besides, the fact that diversity enables the company to prosper as people of various backgrounds are all contributing positively to the growth of the company to reaching its objectives. South Africa is a country fresh into a democracy with 24 years of exercising democratic power. The country is still facing a high racial tension among its citizens more especially with the ongoing Land Expropriation without compensation debate across the country. This is a threat as it opposes embracing diversity and because of this, the staff does not perform optimally as they would have if they were united, hence it is important to not only have policies that are anti-racial prejudice or discrimination but to also have a culture that seeks to oppose it by embracing diversity.
GENDER ISSUES
Many women have felt discriminated against in the workplace. Advancement into management positions for women has been difficult. Since the late 1990s, more and more women have not only entered the workforce but also have been promoted into management positions. Some would argue that men and women influence the workplace differently. Women are perceived as exercising leadership through strong interpersonal skills. Male leadership can be perceived as more direct, impersonal, and focused on results. A diverse team incorporating different styles of leadership will do more to help employers succeed in today's marketplace.
Traditionally, women have been discriminated against in terms of pay. The wage gap continues to narrow slowly. For various reasons, women's pay is gaining parity with men. For example, many high-paying manufacturing jobs have disappeared, forcing many men into jobs in lower-paying service industries.
The work culture is corporate continues to mature; an increasing number of minority youths are becoming part of the workforce; gay men and lesbians are becoming an important part of the workforce and marketplace; people with disabilities are also increasingly entering the labour force, and business is becoming more global. Organizations that continue to exclude some segments of the population from their workforce risk sending the less-than-subtle message that some employees and perhaps some customers are less valued, less important, and less welcome. This will have a negative effect on the bottom line.
CONCLUSION
Living in a fast-paced world that is ever-changing and more laws more liberal laws are being passed, it's important to create an environment where all staff feel valued and accepted and no group feels as the minority. Embracing diversity should not just be a word of mouth but should be a practised and policies that seek to impose on that should be removed from the memorandum of incorporation. Embracing diversity is a great step in fulfilling a company’s mandate. Be it a private, public, or even a government. The beauty of diversity is that all individuals are able to contribute positively to the objectives of the company and are able to reach a greater diverse audience as the company appeals to more persons.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
What are the benefits of diversity in the workplace. https://theundercoverrecruiter.com/benefits-diversity-workplace/
South Africa. Department of Labour. 1998. Employment Equity Act. Pretoria: Government Printer
Hymowitz, Carol (2005, October 24). "Too many women fall for stereotypes of selves, study says." The Wall Street Journal, p. B1.
Katz, Judith H., Miller, Frederick A., and Seashore, Edith W. (1994). The promise of diversity: Over 40 voices discuss strategies for eliminating discrimination in organizations. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin.
Rout, Lawrence (Ed.). (2005, November 14). Leadership [Special section]. The Wall Street Journal, section R.
Tatum, Beverly Daniel (2003). "Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?": And other conversations about race. New York: Basic.
Statistics South Africa. www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=3836
Diversity in the Workplace. https://www.adcq.qld.gov.au/resources/for-employers/diversity-in-the-workplace
Define Diversity in the Workplace. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/define-diversity-workplace-4926.html
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