Cultural diversity is a modern management requirement that organizations have to work on to increase workplace effectiveness and productivity. As the quest for a globalized workplace and the needs for organizations to expand their business environment increases, there is the need for management to address the topic of diversity within their organizations. This means that diversity is a modern management requirement that organizations must address to ensure that their workplace reflects the current trends in management (Yeganeh & Su, 2006). This is seen as an element where organizations hire employees from different cultural backgrounds to increase business competitiveness. This is because there are intangible and material benefits of having a diverse workforce within the organization since it reduces workforce challenges and issues that affect the organization.
This study presents the strategies that organizations can use to counter cultural diversity issues within the organization. This is through addressing the importance of having a variety of cultural groups in the drawn from ethnicity, gender, demography, and even age groups. The modern Australian work environment is diverse due to the advancements in education and law that have allowed the country to make strides in achieving the diversity issues in the work environment (Jose Chiappetta Jabbour, Gordono, Caldeira de Oliveira Martinz & Battistelle, 2011). Today, even the indigenous groups are slowly advancing in education which makes the workplace of today full of people of different ages and cultural groups. In the work environment of today, different generational groups have converged thus allowing almost all the generations to work together. This means that diversity issues exist in the organization and management has to deal with them. The IT sector is one of the essential departments in any organization that has been attributed to the modern workplace. This study will explore the element of cultural diversity in the workplace, its importance and at the same time suggest recommendations that can be put in place to address the issue of diversity in the workplace.
According to Kearney, Gebert & Voelpel (2009) cultural diversity entails having people from a diverse background in the organization. This is a characteristic of an open system which recognizes the importance of both the external and internal environment in achieving business competitiveness. One major importance of having culturally diverse backgrounds is innovation, which means that diversity builds on the individualities of people to reap the benefits of having a diverse workforce. This is because diversity leads to diverse ideas that come from different people within the organization. For example having both males and females, older and young and even people from different racial or ethnic groups creates a working environment that approaches organizational issues from different perspectives. By harnessing the diverse ideas from different team members organizations can develop better innovation that reflects the nature of the team. Further, Hofhuis, Pernill, Van-Der & Vlug (2016) argue that this is because diverse teams draw their innovative information from large pools that increase innovation. This better as compared to having a team from the same background can lead to the development of the same idea since such people have the same life experiences which limit their open mind.
Diversity has also been regarded as leading to increased productivity since it allows having people from different cultural backgrounds thus utilizing the different ideas that they have. Thus diversity increases trust between teams which creates better teamwork advantages that in turn lead to creativity. Diverse backgrounds harness the abilities of different employees and at the same time create trust in teams due to the ideas that employee’s exchange (Zijlstra, Van Ruitenbeek, Mulders, & Van Lierop 2017). The IT department requires people to work together and corporate with each other to solve organizational problems to the issues that affect the organization. This is through a diverse climate created by having different groups at work which leads to outcomes like employee retention, and customer satisfaction.
Further, the importance of diversity in organizations can be seen in reduced employee turnover since it creates an environment that recognizes the needs of each employee in the organization. When employees are hired, they come to the organization as individuals but in turn, expect to work as teams and thus employees expect that they will receive the highest level of cooperation in the organization when they work with others (Miller, Ngujiri & LoRussi 2017). Since IT departments are sensitive to employee issues, it is important to ensure that employees recognize the benefits that they will derive by working in teams. This will increase employee cooperation and at the same time reduce turnover issues in the organization. This means that organizations that have understood the importance of diversity focus on meeting the needs of the organization through increased trust in teams that creates a work environment that meets the needs of the organization.
Cultural diversity is seen as a representation of different group affiliation in an organization. This is because culturally homogenous groups have a tendency to easily communicate with each other in a variety of ways that leads to shared perceptions. Since organizations operate as teams, then shared perceptions create the ability of members to perform better and extend the benefits of diversity (Gibbs, Sivunen & Boyraz 2017). Diversity works of literature have suggested that the biggest advantage is attraction and retention of the best talent in the organization. The IT department relies so much on talent and innovation as a way of developing business solutions for the organization. This leads to increased business processes and competitiveness since it allows different teams to work together. From the systems theory, diversity allows different cultural systems to work together which lead to increased competitiveness. According to Liao (2017) the role of diversity is to create diverse teams that recognize the cultural differences that exist in the organization. Other studies of hi-tech industries have revealed that diversity is an important element in innovation since multicultural groups are suited to meet the needs of diverse clients that is global. This is because diversity creates team profiles that understand varying social, cultural, legal and even economic needs of customers. For example, when developing solutions to existing problems, diversity ensures that the solutions developed reflect the diverse nature of the issue that they are resolving.
Further, Gillian (2014) argues that culturally diverse organizations have been regarded as having higher problem-solving abilities. This is because diverse teams have the ability to develop expanded meanings from problems that organizations try to solve thus providing solutions that reflect the needs of the organization. For example, having male and female teams increases the nature of problem-solving since it focusses on meeting the gender needs of clients by incorporating all the factors that fall within the needs of clients. According to Batarseh, Usher & Daspit (2017) one element of problem-solving is creativity where the system environment allows employees to develop creative ideas that solve the challenges that exist in the organization. This is seen in the increased ability to gather and process information which increases diversity within the organization. Diverse workplaces provide better organizational opportunities that increase creativity and innovation since the ideas that teams generate reflect the diverse nature of the workplace. Problem-solving requires an iterative and diverse approach to the issues in the organization as a way of meeting organizational needs. This means that the dynamic nature of the workforce allows employees to explore different avenues for solving the problems that exist in the organization.
However, Mazur (2010) suggests that sometimes diversity can lead to challenges like dysfunctional conflicts during uncertainty and complex situations thus creating confusion and frustration. This is because it can be challenging to arrive at decisions due to dynamics and cultural clashes that can create disadvantages for different groups in the organization. For example, cultural differences can erupt between minority and majority groups in the organization where in most cases the resolution favors majority. This means that there are significant barriers as seen in Tsui, Egan and O’Reilly study of diversity where it was reported that it detracts employees from performing thus the reason why some homogenous groups have performed better than diverse groups (Agolla & Ongori 2007). This is because it leads to lower organizational commitment which affects productivity and in turn creating rifts between employees. Thus when employees feel threatened by the majority pressures in the organization, creativity and problem solving is reduced thus creating an environment that threatens productivity and effectiveness whose outcome is reduced productivity due to diversity challenges.
The diversity environment can be characterized by openness and appreciation of cultural differences that exist within the organization. Studies have reported that promoting organizational diversity reduces negative outcomes that affect organizational productivity. Groggins & Ryan (2013) study suggests that diversity can be translated into organizational attitudes like continuous learning and structural inclusiveness which creates productive competencies that lead to increased effectiveness in the organization. This study reveals that such organizations have norms of accommodation that allow diverse employees to work together thus realizing the benefits of diversity. By being accommodating, the business environment allows organizational employees to relate and work well with others through understanding their needs. Workplaces are built on social exchanges between people within the organization. This means that the accommodation norm creates an environment where employees thrive well in the organization by understanding their needs and the same time allowing them to accommodate their peers. This means that the attributes of diversity within the workplace can be applied in the IT sector to reduce cultural rifts by creating a culture of openness and appreciation. This is because there is increased accommodation of different employee needs in the organization which reduces differences that can arise within the organization as employees engage each other in the business environment.
Another relevance that cultural diversity has in the organization is reducing organization structure from brick-and-mortar to inclusive structure that leads to the development of better products for the marketplace. Innovative organizations have the best culturally diverse perspectives that seek to ensure that organizations are both creative and innovative at the same time. This is because diversity assists the organization through reducing cultural dominance thus minimizing the ability of minority groups in the organization to participate in business processes. This means that the organization fails to create an environment that allows different groups to prosper if it lacks cultural diversity (Bia?ostocka 2010). By being culturally diverse, rifts that exist between cultures are reduced thus increase creativity and innovation. Thus this approach reduces cultural dominance which acts as a barrier to organizational creativity and innovation. This approach seeks to promote increased benefits of diversity seen in the way organizations reap from the benefits of having diverse thinking approaches.
Further, cultural value systems influence the way people behave and act in group situations through defining different goals and expectations about their work. This means that the value system and beliefs that people hold influence the kind of choices and decisions that they make in the organization. Culture defines the way people relate and mingle at the workplace. This is because it is a way of life and shapes the opinions that people have and the choices that they make in situations. Thus when cultural rifts arise in the organization the value systems of employees are threatened and when the organization fails to address them than work effectiveness is affected (Dobusch 2017). Addressing diversity issues in the organization ensures that organizations put proper strategies in place to address the needs that affect them. This means that the organization has to focus on creating a value system that acknowledges the differences in employee groups to reap from the benefits of diversity.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, this study suggests that openness and trust are the most important elements that mediate the relationship between diversity and cultural rifts in the organization. The role of cultural diversity is to address minority and majority differences that exist between employees in the IT sector. This implies that firms need to put structures in place that can address the cultural differences that exist in the organization. Thus businesses can benefit from cultural diversity if proper mechanisms are put in place to address the challenges of diversity. Organizations are unique and thus each one has to address diversity issues differently. In most cases, management must understand the issues of diversity that affect the department and find ways of addressing them.
This study thus proposes several recommendations that can be applied in the IT sector to achieve the benefits of cultural diversity. The first recommendation that this study proposes to achieve the intended benefits of diversity is that organizations need to embrace different strategies that can be used to increase the outcomes of diversity. The first thing is having a norm of diversity accommodation that creates attitudes of openness to diversity thus helping organizations realize the benefits of diversity. Norms are patterns of behavior that define the way people conduct themselves in different situations (Stevens & Ogunji 2011). This means that having organizational norms promotes a positive diversity climate that leads to the development of appropriate structural inclusiveness. Organizations need to establish an environment that allows employees to respect the individual differences that exist in people thus allowing employees to use their own cultural ability in their work. This, in turn, leads to aligning cultural diversity issues to organizational activities.
Rai (2013) suggests that diversity issues in the organization have also been used to increase performance within teams which leads to a reduced turnover in the organization. This increases minority acceptance in the organization since majority groups in the organization create a better environment for both groups to work. When different groups work together in an organization, the IT department can benefit from having employees from different groups working together to reap the benefits of diversity. This means that different employees will see the organization as being fair to them and meeting their needs. This process allows majority and minority employees to converge together and meet the needs of the organization. This is seen in team performance since it allows employees to work together and meet the needs of the organization. When employees of the IT department are satisfied and feel accommodated in the organization, then the challenges of lack of diversity like turnover are reduced.
Another way that cultural rifts in the organization can be reduced is through aligning diversity programs with the strategic plans of the organization. This means that management needs to develop strategic goals that are aligned to strategic needs of the organization with proper timelines. Once diversity goals have been developed, it becomes easy for the organization to achieve such goals since it ensures that employees work along diversity lines to meet the needs of the organization (Mateescu 2017). By aligning diversity to management, it becomes easy to address the cultural rifts in the organization since they make diversity part of the organizational process.
To apply the issue of diversity well in organizations, there is a need for organizations to empower management teams in the IT sector through cross-cultural training to reduce the cultural differences that exist (Batarseh, et al. 2017). Management has to ensure that those implementing cultural diversity understand the requirements and how they can put the strategies in place to meet the needs of the IT department. This entails the need to address the cultural barriers that have seen men as thriving better in problem-solving related professions while at the same time failing to acknowledge cultural differences that exist in Australia. The role of training is to ensure that cultural barriers in the organization are addressed to reduce the challenges that organizations face.
References:
Agolla, J., & Ongori, H. (2007). Critical review of literature on workforce diversi. African journal of business management, 12(4), 72-76.
Batarseh, F., Usher, J., & Daspit, J. J. (2017). Collaboration capability in virtual teams: examining the influence on diversity and innovation. International Journal of Innovation Management, 21(4).
Bia?ostocka, P. (2010). Cultural Diversity in Organisational Theory and Practice. Journal of Intercultural Management., 2(2), 5-15.
Dobusch, L. (2017). Diversity discourses and the articulation of discrimination: the case of public organisations. Journal of Ethnic and Migrations Studies, 43(10), 1644-1661.
Gibbs, J., Sivunen, A., & Boyraz, M. (2017). (2017). Investigating the impacts of team type and design on virtual team processes. Human Resource Management Revie, 27(4), 590-603.
Gillian, C. M. (2014). The Effects Of Cultural Diversity In The Workplace. Journal of Diversity Management, 9(2), 89-92.
Groggins, A., & Ryan, A. M. (2013). Embracing uniqueness: The underpinnings of a positive climate for diversity. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 86(2), 264-282.
Hofhuis, J., Van-der Rijt, P. G., & Vlug, M. (2016). Diversity climate enhances work outcomes through trust and openness in workgroup communication. SpringerPlus, 5(714).
Jose Chiappetta Jabbour, C. S., Caldeira, H., Martinez, C., & Battistelle, A. (2011). Diversity management: Challenges, benefits, and the role of human resource management in Brazilian organizations. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal , 30(1), 58-74.
Kearney, E., Gebert, D., & Voelpel, S. (2009). When and how diversity benefits teams: the importance of team members, need of cognition. Academy of Management Journal, 52(3), 581-598.
Liao, C. (2017). Leadership in virtual teams: A multilevel perspective. Human Resource Management Review, 27(4), 648-659.
Mateescu, V. M. (2017). CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE DISCOURSE AND PERSPECTIVES. On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe, 10(24), 23-36.
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Miller, D. W., Ngunjiri, F. W., & LoRusso, J. D. (2017). Human resources perceptions of corporate chaplains: enhancing positive organizational culture. Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion, 14(3), 196-215.
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