The Lack Of Training By Organisations

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Diversity is ever present in today’s society. While it is commonly connected in variances of sex, race and age, education itself can be a facet of diversity. Workers may have extensive degrees and qualifications that come from prestigious institutions, while others may have similar qualifications from schools that are not so highly acclaimed. This in itself is a fact of diversity. While some organisations may choose only to hire from prestigious universities, as commonly seen in the United States of America where Ivy League colleges reign as far superior to the others, companies could actually be making a mistake in this practise. Stevens & Ogunji (2010) say that "By hiring and making employees from diverse cultures a part of the decision making process, new ideas and recommendation will not be stunted or withheld" (p. 79). A diverse workforce of people with differing information knowledge can assist companies in achieving a broad perspective on the issue. If all employees were to a certain degree the same, the understanding they can provide to an issue has to ability to be related. Having a diverse workforce that can equally participate in discussion allows the use of various sources of knowledge and information that can complement each other (Lauring & Selmer, 2012). In this new era resources a company possesses now includes the knowledge of its worker or "intellectual capital" (Schermerhorn et al., 2011). With a diverse workforce the amount of intellectual capital the company has would expand as each member from a diverse group would contain ideas and information that may not necessarily be identical to other workers in the firm. This reinforces the idea that in today’s information age constructing a diverse workforce has the ability for organisation to broaden their knowledge and perspectives, thus creating a competitive advantage.

Although having a diverse workforce can help build a company’s intellectual capital, this alone will not is not enough. Workers need to be in a situation where they are able to express their ideas away and have equal opportunity away from prejudice and discrimination from those that represent the majority in organisations. In order for the varying diverse groups to have their say in a workforce affirmative action is needed. Affirmative action is "increase[ing] the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education and business from which they have been historically excluded" (Fullinwider, 2009, as cited in Stevens & Ogunji, 2010, p.74). Having affirmative action raises the minority percentage in a workforce and creates a more diverse workforce. However affirmative action is not the whole solution but a step in the process. Affirmative action alone can create reverse discrimination in the fact that the majority feel like they will be overlooked in promotions in order to attain more of the minority (Von Bergen, Soper & Foster, 2002). To follow with affirmative action, workers awareness to diversity needs to be monitored. Kormanik (2009) found that certain aspects of diversity in terms of sexuality including sexual orientation as well as gender identity had a lack of awareness compared to the other facets. In the case of the United States Government research agency being researched by Kormanik (2009), lack of awareness lead to the incorrect handling of the employee’s decision to undergo a gender reassignment surgery. Employees need to be aware of other workers’ differences and be able to cope with dissimilarities they may not be used to. This strategic management creates a fair working environment and therefore generates an advantage in the cooperation.

Most companies these days have diversity in their staff, however when it comes to top management this diversity seems to diminish. According to (Schermerhorn et al., 2011) this is described as the glass ceiling effect, a barrier that limits and restricts minority groups from rising in an organisation. Although an organisation may have a vast amount of diversity in their bottom line, by preventing minorities to rise in the ladder, ideas and perspectives can’t be expressed. Women in managerial positions for example, in their requirements to have flexible work practises they had to accept that they will not be moving up the ladder, the organisation prevented women with certain differences to be allowed to same opportunity full time workers had (Johnston & Teicher, 2010). On the whole, even with a diverse staff, organisations need to be able to allow these groups the opportunity to have a say and express their ideas, by monitoring the awareness level and avoiding glass ceilings organisations can fully utilise their employees’ ideas and attain a benefit. Thus again the correct management of the workforce is required.

In these tough times, not only are employees struggling, employers are struggling to maintain an efficient system with high worker performance in order to keep profits up and expenses low. To get the best performance organisations should accommodate for their staff differently but fair. Diverse workers being hired from affirmative action have a high possibility of feeling devalued. They could feel like "token appointments" (Von Bergen et al., 2002, p. 242), and as a results decrease in performance. This can also be a result of workers needs not being accommodated for. Currently managers are told to "consider workforce as a generic and homogenous category, and do not take into account cultural differences among employees" (Alcázar, Romero & Gardey, 2013, p. 39), this leads back to common idea of treating everyone equally. However treating everyone equally does not necessarily mean the same. Requiring all workers in a company to take the stairs at an entrance for example, this seems equal as all workers are treated the same however for an employee with a disability or impairment the task becomes difficult and strenuous (Schermerhorn et al., 2011). Rather than the notion of treating everyone equal, this should be changed to accommodate everyone’s differences in a way that they are equally treated. In a homogenous workplace, all diverse employees, are expected to fit in to the environment in order to maintain the homogeneity, this can create problems, discomfort and confusions in the way they work. Women in male dominated workplaces will only succeed "when they work ‘like men’ " (Cockburn, 1991, as cited in Johnston & Teicher, 2010, p. 35) and also even with such an increase in migration, "immigrants should assimilate into the culture of their new home country, and leave their own culture and heritage behind" (Stevens & Ogunji, 2010, p.73). These are seen as the only way in which diverse employees will be able to succeed in a homogenous workforce. In order to create a more flexible and accommodating environment, the workplace should become a heterogeneous environment, where workers don’t need to conform or hide their differences and are free to express themselves.

Creating an open diverse setting, allows organisations to benefit as there will be less conflicts and a more trusting relationship between employees (Lauring & Selmer, 2012). In a more open diversity climate members are able to witness and understand the similarities and differences with their fellow employees. The positive encouragement by the organisation to be open to diversity allows employees to feel more important and valuable rather than being viewed as a generic employee (Lauring & Selmer, 2012). By accommodating and being open to employee’s differences, workers are able to feel more comfortable in the workplace; this has the ability to increase commitment and performance. Organisations can also be able "to attract and retain skilled and talented employees" by being the "employers of choice" (Foster & Harris, 2005, as cited in Johnston & Teicher, 2010, p.35). With strategic analysis, organisations can change the work setting which allows them to utilise their diverse workforce for a competitive advantage.

A common reaction by businesses due to the influx of diversity in the workforce is to obtain training experts. Businesses were hoping to receive a far simpler solution to managing diversity and save costs at the same time. However each organisation is different and they all have specific organisational cultures and sub-cultures (Schermerhorn et al., 2011). Hiring trainers with no specific qualification or regulation has the ability to cause more harm than good (Von Bergen et al., 2002), reverse discrimination is a clear consequence; the majority in the workforce are usually targeted and they become fearful of their promotions. Affirmative action is also pushed by these trainers devaluing the minorities and making staff question their achievements (Von Bergen et al., 2002). Kormanik (2009) suggests that relatively simply practises could be put into place to control diversity problems. Organisations could make changes only when needed in a way to minimize undesirable side effects. This implies that organisations necessarily don’t need external trainers. Planning and strategic management has the ability to create a positive outcome from diversity. Alcázar et al. (2013) also adds that diversity management is not a separate entity, it should connect with the companies culture and be "directly linked to [the] firm’s strategy" (Alcázar et al., 2013, p.41) in order to obtain a competitive advantage. The business should consider workers as one of their own resources and a reflection of the company. The treatment of the staff and the management of their varied differences are essential to contain a successful team. Incorporating the management of diversity into the organisational culture allows better control of all members of staff. Strategic planning again is needed in order to control diversity rather contracting diversity training to external sources to save cost. In doing so companies have a competitive advantage to gain, by correctly understanding the culture of their organisation they are able to properly manage the situation where as most competitors using training service will cease to have this benefit.

As Globalisation also increases in society, a business’s customer base can rapidly spread worldwide. The diverse workforce can be utilised here to help gain competitive advantage over competitors. Going global requires firms to not only work with diverse groups of people but have a diverse customer base. "As the world becomes globalized organisations able to utilise and connect with varying and diverse cultures both locally and globally will have a huge competitive advantage over rivals" (Selko, 2008, as cited in Stevens & Ogunji, 2010, p.79). Employing a diverse range of employees has the ability to create connections with the clients that previously ceased to exist. The type of customers the business attracts could be expanded from the knowledge each diverse group of worker may have. A competitive advantage could be created by having insight into customers that cease to exist for companies that do not embrace diversity. The better the relationship an organisation has with its customers allows for more security in the business (Schermerhorn et al., 2011). Customers are a vital part of any company, without customers a business would fail to exist. Maintaining a positive relationship with customers allows a business to keep that customer for a long time. Upholding a well-managed diverse workforce has the ability to be utilised to attract customers when globalisation occurs. The knowledge base of the varying employees has the potential to create a stronger customer relationships resulting in a competitive advantage for the business.

Today’s workforce requires many changes to classical procedures, no longer are there borders on how far cooperation’s can reach worldwide. As a result the influx of diversity has becomes a key issue, the majority of white males slowly diminish as more and more diversity overcomes to the workplace. Companies who embrace this diverse workforce need to be able to manage the differences staff possess in order to maintain a successful organisation. There are countless benefits present of maintaining a diverse workforce. Cooperation’s will be able to expand their customer base and attract new types of customers previously unattainable. The positive relationships created also have the ability to retain these customers for periods of time and become a regular client. Diverse workforces also have the ability to create better dynamic and strategic capabilities. With new ranges of ideas and perspectives organisations have the ability to combine the array of information and have a strong intellectual capital. Although diversity has the potential for these benefits, it is evident that management of diversity is just as vital as diversity itself. Creating strategic models where both the minority and majority are equally treated while at the same time the differences each group have should be accommodated for. Equal representation of all levels of the minority needs to be present in order to not only contain a diverse workforce but extract the ideas and perspectives these groups may have. Incorporating diversity into a business’s culture and organisation plan, allows the business to truly include its workforce as part of itself. As a result openness to diversity among workers is able to be present and a comforting situation can be created for all staff. Minorities no longer should have to adapt to fit the homogenous structure of the workforce. The heterogeneous company allows freedom where workers are able to express themselves and their ideas. In the future companies should no longer have a majority present, each employee should be able to fit in to the work environment without social pressures of change to fit the environment they are in. A combination of all the procedures allows not only the employee to get the best out of the workplace but the workplace to get the most out of the employee. In times of diversity organisations most certainly need to strategically manage their diverse workforce in order to get a competitive advantage.