Cultural Diversity Management In Organizations

Torsten M. Kühlmann and Ramona Heinz developed this guideline in reference to a European project designed to analyze the overall situation of skilled immigrants. They show that the management of a workforce which is comprised of people from diverse cultural backgrounds is a challenge for small and medium-sized companies. In particular, the challenge is not only to find but also to integrate and retain immigrant workers and to use their potential to a full extent. This guideline has been developed in order to meet these challenges. It has a special focus on small to medium-sized organizations and sets out to give an introduction to the topic of “managing cultural diversity” and “integrating highly skilled immigrants.”

As the war for talent rages on, organizations are seeking proven methods for leveraging diversity as a resource. Creating the Multicultural Organization challenges today's organizations to stop "counting heads for the government" and begin creating effective strategies for a more positive approach to managing diversity. Using a model outlined in his earlie rworks, Taylor Cox Jr.--an associate professor at the University of Michigan Business School and president of his own consulting firm--shows readers the many practical and innovative ways that top organizations such as Alcoa effectively address diversity issues to secure and develop the talent that they need in order to succeed. A University of Michigan Business School Series Book

Inhaltsangabe:Introduction: Diversity represents the multitude of individual differences and similarities that exist between people (Treven & Treven, 2007, p.29). It came into play as an organizational concept three decades ago, in the 1980s in the US as an initiative to create a more positive business perspective and provide equal employment opportunities for various minority groups. The initiative that started as a mere political correctness and legal compliance issue later on evolved into a complex business-orientated strategy in the area of human resource management and development, organizational culture and leadership, named by Gilbert, Stead, and Ivancevich (1999) the new organizational paradigm. Changing demographics and recent societal changes like extensive immigration and consequent increase in international workforce alongside with current economic metatrends such as internationalisation and globalisation are causing more exposure to Diversity, both in daily and in business life. Managing Diversity is becoming a strategic focus area of management in organizations and a resource, which enables companies gain competitive advantage on the modern market through company s most important asset - its people (Richard, 2000). Literature reviews (Cox & Blake, 1991) and numerous surveys (e.g. The Second European Diversity Survey, 2004; Survey on Diversity in Corporate Annual Reports of Stoxx 50 Companies, 2009) show that the topic of Diversity and, eminently, the issues of cultural diversity and ethnicity are currently gaining prominence amongst human resource (HR) professionals. Consequently, cultural diversity trainings (CDTs) are becoming salient, e.g. researchers report (Sweeney, 2002 as cited in Jackson, Joshi & Erhardt, 2003) that 67% of employers carry out ethnicity-related diversity trainings (DT). However, scholars (King, Dawson, Kravitz, & Gulick, 2010, p.1) point out that prevalence of DT has not been matched by empirical research on its effectiveness . The trend toward diversity trainings in organizations poses the question of their efficiency (Pendry, Driscoll, & Field, 2007; Roberson, Kulik, & Pepper, 2001), which can be operationalized as organizational business and individual-level outcomes, i.e. in form of psychological variables, relevant in that regard for both parties - employees and organizations. On the structural level of organizations Diversity is viewed as an organizational human resource development tool Diversity [...]

This book critically examines current workplace diversity management practices and explores a nuanced framework for undertaking, supporting, and implementing policies that equally favor all people. It presents critical perspectives that not only elevate respect for differences but also provide insights into the nature and dynamics of differences in view of an inclusive and truly participative organizational environment. The book first presents a brief overview of the connotations associated with workplace diversity and its effective management. Next, it focuses on the organizational appropriation of differences through the formation and mediation of various diversity discourses. It demonstrates the particular articulations of these discourses with inequality and oppressive structures that perpetuate structural disadvantage due to existing power disparity between dominant and unprivileged group members. The book then goes on to underscore the need of constructing relational and context-sensitive diversity management frameworks. Overall, the book outlines that current business cases for diversity focus solely on instrumental goals and tangible outcomes and, as a result, fail to fully capture the complexity as well as the particularity of the diversity phenomenon. The book underlines the necessity for a more inclusive paradigm, implying a progressive problem-shift in the dominant diversity research agenda from a market-driven business-oriented diversity management to one highly valuing, affirming, and respecting otherness.

'Managing Cultural Diversity in Technical Professions' provides managers of technical professionals with clear and tested strategies to improve communication and increase productivity among culturally diverse technical professionals, teams, and departments. Dr. Laroche outlines the differences in education and training, career expectations, communication styles, and management expectations in countries around the world. He explains cross-cultural concepts and presents his case for the importance of cross-cultural competence supported by hard data, including charts, tables, and readily accessible schematics. You'll benefit from the author's experience and expertise as a manager and consultant in this area, illustrated by numerous anecdotes, critical incidents, and mini case studies, centered around two central themes: * Most technical professionals do not recognize the impact of cultural differences in their work * Cross-cultural issues lead to a significant under-utilization of talent and affect productivity negatively 'Managing Cultural Diversity in Technical Professions' offers proven tactics for improving your personal effectiveness and the efficiency of your multicultural teams, breaking the communication barrier in the multicultural workplace.

Description of the foundations of organizing and managing diversities, and multidisciplinary, intersectional and critical analyses on key issues.

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,8, University of Applied Sciences Bremen (Fakultät1 - Wirtschaftswissenschaften), course: Human Resources, language: English, abstract: As business has become exclusively internationalized and globalized over the past years, the issue of workforce diversity has also gained more popularity. The complex and dynamic business environment requires interaction among people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Competitive corporations cannot allow themselves losing talented and skillful employees due to discriminatory preferences or practices. The customer base has become more diverse as well and as service industries, tourism and hospitality are exposed even to a greater extent to the challenges of the heterogeneous labor market of the 21st century. In tourism industry the contact with the customers is vital, so corporations need to recruit employees who are able to understand and relate to the customers’ needs. The main purpose of managing diversity in business is to bring out the best of employees, in a non discriminatory, fair and just environment, for the benefit of the individuals as well as the prosperity of the whole company. The futurist Jamais Cascio gives the main reasons why workforce diversity has become so important. These are the shift from manufacturing to a service economy, the globalization as well as the innovative business strategies and the increasing demand on teamwork. In addition there are the mergers and alliances acting on a high international level and of course the changing labor market conditions.

This edited collection of case studies from around the globe, seeks to shed light on existing practicesdisseminating the value of diversity, whilst opening the road toward a wider perspective on its definitions. The contributors provide a critical reflection of the current discourse on different types of diversity around the world.