- Dias, L. (2011). Human resource management. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing edition. Minneapolis, MN
Chapter 3 of our text discusses the importance and legalities involved with diversity in the workplace. Diversity is defined as the differences between people, and can include race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, background, socioeconomic status, and many more things. Enforcement of policies in this area is overseen by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Often times although it may be invisible, many classes may be looked at as having privilege based on certain properties. Having a diverse workplace is important not only from the legal standpoint, but for profitability as well, as people of different cultures and such can bring different ideas and other things to the table.
The author of this text holds a master of business administration degree and has a great deal of personal experience in the HRM field. She teaches many classes at a number of colleges across the country. Her personal experiences help to validate the information that she has to offer to her readers. - Isaac, M. (2016, January 6). Pinterest Hires Its First Head of Diversity. Retrieved from The New York Times: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/pinterest-hires-its-first-head-of-diversity/
Social media is becoming a very large part of everybody's life whether we like it or not. Pinterest, an online scrap booking site, has realized the importance of diversity and has created a position to ensure that diversity is happening. Candice Morgan has been hired as Head of Diversity for Pinterest. Morgan announced that she will launch two specific initiatives to introduce more engineers from underrepresented backgrounds into the field of technology. Candice Morgan joined Pinterest after spending nearly a decade at Catalyst where she focused on expanding opportunities for women in the workplace, a highly sensitive topic in today's economy.
This article shows how diversity is a major part of what is going on in our world today. Most everybody is involved in social media at a personal level, and it is also becoming more and more of a "norm" for business to be involved in social media as well. - Clough, R. (2016, November 11). Companies Grapple With Diversity Questions After U.S. Election. Retrieved from Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-11/from-immelt-to-cook-fresh-pledges-for-diversity-in-trump-era
Workplace diversity and diversity in general is a very hot topic right now in the world of politics because of comments that were made by the presidential candidates during their recent campaigns. Chief Executive Officers of many large companies are reassuring their employees that they are major supporters of workplace diversity trying to ease any anxieties that have stemmed from the recent presidential election. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said that Apple will welcome everyone, "regardless of what they look like, where they come from, how they worship, and who they love". This reassurance comes at a good time as newly elected president announces that he will name a new Head of the EEOC.
The recent election has caused many to panic about diversity, and this article discusses what many large employers in the United States are doing to help ease any tension and fears that current and future employees may have. It also shows how CEO's understand that diversity is important in their business. - Rezvani, S. (2016, February 3). Five Trends Driving Workplace Diversity In 2015. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2015/02/03/20768/#4c34901734c9
This article discusses five major things that are playing a major role in workplace diversity in our economy today. The thing that I'd like to note the most is trend number four, "It's Less About Being a Good Corporate Citizen". This section discusses basic economy theory and how consumers will correct for a company's lack of diversity by simply not spending money there. This will make "slow-to-change" organizations or organizations that are reluctant to change go extinct over time. On the other hand, many employees may choose not to work for a company that they know is not diverse. This could cause issues when it comes to recruiting employees as it will make it much harder to recruit quality employees.
This article shows issues that we face today and what some possible solutions to the problems may be. - Ingram, D. (n.d.). Advantages and Disadvantages of Diversity in Workplace. Retrieved from Chron Small Business: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-diversity-workplace-3041.html
Diversity allows the pooling of ideas from different cultural backgrounds and unique experiences and perceptions. Each employee in a diverse workplace possesses unique strengths and weaknesses, but when harnessed all together, the strengths are much more helpful than the weaknesses are a hindrance. The biggest issue in the diverse workplace is the communication barrier. Spending time together in a diverse workplace can help to overcome these issues as people learn to communicate better with each other. Social integration can also become a problem because it can only be influenced by the employer by a small degree. The formation of "cliques" and social groups can be impossible to control, and can cause divisions between staff. This can cause a hindrance on the effectiveness of sharing knowledge, skills, and experience between staff.
This article examines the other side of things, the problems often being observed in a diverse workplace. By knowing what to look for, employers may be able to prevent or reduce the occurrence of these things. The author of this article is a small business owner so he is able to bring his personal experiences to the table. He possesses a Bachelor of Arts in management from Walsh University. - United States Department of Labor. (2016, September 15). Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Retrieved from Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/cps/demographics.htm
This site shows different statistics on the workforce based on things such as age, gender, race, nationality, etc. Data ranges from year 2011 to year 2015 and can be used to show trends about whether our workforce is becoming more or less diverse.
This information is very important to identify trends and to show current workforce diversity. - Joseph, C. (2016). Recommendations on Improving Diversity in the Workplace. Retrieved from Chron Small Buisiness: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/recommendations-improving-diversity-workplace-1810.html
One way to increase workplace diversity is by widening your recruiting base to a larger area. Restricting to your immediate geographic area may cause you to miss an opportunity to develop a diverse workforce. Something else you could do is offer language training to employees, as communication barriers are a common problem when integrating in the workplace. A standardized evaluation form should be used when evaluating new candidates to help prevent discrimination when hiring. Using current staff to recruit could be beneficial as well, especially if you are looking to hire more people belonging to a minority group. You could let current minority employees know you are looking for new employees to see if they know others who may be interested.
Knowing what you can do to expand diversity is very important. This website lists several different possibilities and recommendations to help expand diversity. The author writes many articles covering business and technology, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from York College of Pennsylvania.