Emphasize the organization’s dedication to diversity management when posting job advertisements to attract more diverse applicants
Diversity in the workplace has many benefits. If employers seek to increase diversity in the workplace, emphasizing their dedication to diversity management can attract more white women and male minorities. In a cross sectional study conducted at a Southwestern Ontario mid-sized college, researchers investigated the characteristics of applicants for management positions who find employers with diversity management to be attractive, and consider diversity management to be important in their job choice decisions (Ng & Burke, 2005). One hundred thirteen MBA students with demographics not dissimilar to that of a major Canadian city voluntarily participated. Participants were to assume they were participating in a university recruitment campaign and were offered positions in their field from two different companies. The offers of employment were actual ‘offer of employment’ letters from two Canadian banks offering the same starting salaries and job titles. Although the actual names of the banks were changed, the only manipulation on behalf of the researchers was to add the following diversity message to one of the letters.
“First Canadian Bank is proud of its commitment to being an employer of choice for people of all backgrounds. We offer development opportunities, alternate work arrangements, and opportunities for career progression in a working environment that supports human rights and a workplace free of discrimination and harassment.”
Primacy and recency can distort a respondent’s perception when too much weight is given to the first ot the most recent information to be received and, therefore, was checked to ensure the manipulation had no effect. Before the ten question survey containing two questions regarding company’s dedication to diversity as a deciding factor of choosing the position diversity was administered to the participants, it had been previous test-piloted and minor modifications were made for clarity of certain items. The study concluded white women and minority men found diversity management to be important when making job-choice decisions. This finding is in line with Pfeffer and Sutton’s assertion there are other motivators job candidates look for in a company beyond financial incentives. Potential job candidates look for organizations whose values are close to their own (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2006).
An organization’s dedication to diversity management is beneficial to attract not only more diverse individuals, but qualified individuals as well. Although diversity is a significant issue for organizations today, there still exist misconceptions about the importance of diversity management. One of these misconceptions is that organizations do not necessarily need to place emphasis on diversity management. While some organizations may not see the importance, the study researched in “Person-Organization Fit and the Ware for Talent: Does Diversity Management Make a Difference?” shows that companies may be overlooking highly qualified and intelligent individuals because of their sex or race. Another common thought of companies is that they are already a diverse organization. Although they may already think they are a diverse organization, they may not be appealing to minorities while looking for new employees. It may not be enough to say that you are diverse, management should show that they are always open to hiring and promoting minorities. Promoting diversity may also be misconstrued as preferential treatment over qualifications of individuals. Diversity management allows for all qualified people to be considered for a position. This helps minorities have an opportunity at a position that they are qualified and capable of doing. Affirmative action can also be considered a misconception, however, most minorities also do not believe in affirmative actions because they want to be hired for their abilities and not their sex or race. Despite misconceptions concerning diversity management, many minorities have the intelligence and capability of performing jobs that they may be overlooked for because of their minority status. Diversity management helps this become less of a problem for these people. In return minorities tend to accept job offers from more diverse
driven organizations, as well as stay more loyal and committed to that organization.
The concepts of managing and maintaining proportional diversity and teams do not always go hand in hand with one another. The need for effective teamwork within organizations is critical and perceptions of others plays a large role in how well that team will function. There are a number of limitations that can prevent effective management and development with respect to diversifying teams. Sandy Petland (2012) points out that teams can improve from increased (albeit forced) interaction time, such as the same break times or longer tables in the lounge areas. While this is a great concept, it cannot be generalized. Most places operate with the need for constant employee presence and organizations such as health care and retail stores cannot have their entire staff taking a break at the same time. A limited number of people can take a break at one time or no one would be available to monitor patients or help customers. Another benefit of effective teams is strong communication. Diverse organizations can have difficulties with communicating between people who speak English as a first language and people who speak English as a second language (Johnson, 2014). The concept of status in diverse teams and management can also become a negative because people with higher perceived or actual status can have over-weighed opinions and suggestions while lower status is under weighed (Thomas-Hunt, 2013). Another component of diverse teams and management that can turn into a negative for some of the group is related to the amount of ‘air time’ an individual controls in a conversation (Thomas-Hunt, 2013). People who talk more have higher perceived influences. Women and minorities often have difficulties conveying strong influences unless they are solicited for ideas in teams and to management (Thomas-Hunt, 2013). Men often appreciate other men’s work, and certain attributes of women and other cultures are seen as non-managerial material (Ng & Burke, 2005). A limitation with respect to the development and nurturing of a diverse organization (both team and management) is the organization needs to promote diversity. If an organization does not educate its current employees on diversity and convey the importance of diversity to prospective employees, then diversity within the organization is either dead or dying.
Other issues with diversity and teamwork can be found here and they include communication, opposition to change, implementation, and managing diversity.
Resources
Debunking the 5 Most Common Myths About Diversity Initiatives. (2003, December 7). In HR.com. Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://www.hr.com/SITEFORUM?&t=/Default/gateway&i=1116423256281&application=story&active=no&ParentID=1119278050447&StoryID=1119652917609&xref=http%3A//www.google.com/url%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%26es
Johnson, R. (2014). Example of Diversity Problems in the Workplace. Chron. Retrieved from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-diversity-problems-workplace-19389.html.
Ng, E. W., & Burke, R. J. (2005). Person-organization fit and the war for talent: does diversity management make a difference?. International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 16(7), 1195-1210. doi:10.1080/09585190500144038
Pentland, A. (20120, April). The New Science of Building Great Teams. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from: http://hbr.org/2012/04/the-new-science-of-building-great-teams/ar/1.
Pfeffer, J. & Sutton, R. I. (2006). Hard facts, dangerous half-truths, and total nonsense: profiting from evidence-based management. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.
Thomas-Hunt, M. (2013). Team Dynamics [Video]. LeanIn.org. Retrieved from: http://leanin.org/education/team-dynamics/.
No comments:
Post a Comment