Managing Workforce Diversity Essay example -- Workplace Diversity

Introduction Without a doubt, the greatest asset an organization can have is its human resource. Therefore, issues affecting the staff have increasingly become popular among business managers, scholars, policy makers and other stake holders. One of the issues that have particularly generated sufficient interest is managing workforce diversity. O’leary & Weathington (2006) defines diversity simply as way of differentiating one person from another. Diversity is about recognizing and appreciating the uniqueness of each person. People can be different in terms of race, sexual orientation, age, gender and physical abilities just to mention a few (Burke 2007). As a result, workforce diversity has become a major business concern. Managing it should not be merely motivated by the potential of increasing the profit margin, but also should be to ensure the working environment is conducive, safe and nurturing (O’leary & Weathington 2006). Any business that manages its workforce effectively is bound to enjoy a number of benefits. Advantages of Workforce diversity It would be hypocritical not to acknowledge the fact that most business primarily exist with an intention of profit maximization. As result most of the organization activities will be geared towards achieving this goal. Efficient management of the workforce diversity can accelerate the process by increasing the company’s competitive edge (Ongori & Agolla 2007). O’leary & Weathington (2006) pointed out that are diversified staff is likely to be more creative, innovative and generally possess a relatively high ability of coming up with quality work. As oppose to a homogeneous group, when a diverse group get acquainted to each other, their job performance becomes superior due to an ... ...orkforce, they have been reaping the sumptuous benefits. Works Cited BMO Financial Group c 2010, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion [Online] available from [17th Dec 2010]. Browder, LM & Miller 2009, Workforce Diversity: The Big Blue Case, McGraw-Hill, New Delhi. Burke, LM 2007, Managing the Diverse Workforce Effectively, Rutledge, London. IBM c 2007, Global workforce diversity [online] available from [17th Dec 2010] O’Leary, BJ & Weathington, BL 2006, ‘Beyond the Business Case for Diversity in Organisations’, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, Dec, vol 18, issue 4, pp1-10. Ongori, H & Agolla, JE 2007, ‘Critical Review of Literature on Workforce Diversity’, Africa Journal of Business Management, pp 72-76.