of diversity are necessary to identify the areas that require improvement to manage
diversity effectively. Organizations can compare this data with benchmarking in an
industry or a region in order to rate and increase the representation of women and
minorities in the workforce or management. Our next sections focuses on the techniques
for improving HR diversity at the tactical level.
Recruitment and selection
Managing growth in workforce diversity and increasing the representation of women and
minorities is a critical HRM strategy of recruitment and selection for most organizations
(Thomas and Ely 1996). Human resource managers usually tend to bring people into the
organization and promote employees who fit or have values similar to the decision makers
or gatekeepers. Therefore, recruitment and selection should avoid what Schneider (1987)
called ‘the A-S-A (attraction-selection-attrition) cycle’ in order to develop multiple
cultures in the organization. Human resource professionals and line managers who recruit
and interview job seekers in a multicultural workforce need to be aware of the ways in
which the interviewers’ beliefs, attitudes, and stereotypes influence interview behaviour.
Training and development
High quality diversity awareness training is one HR function that enhances the effective
integration of diverse group members. Awareness training builds a common under-
standing of the value of diversity, assisting in building social cohesion so that it improves
individual and organizational outcomes. Rynes and Rosen (1995) found in their study that
75% of trainees who took diversity training, left the training with positive diversity
attitudes, while only 9% of trainees actually entered with favourable attitudes. Sixty eight
per cent of employees were sceptical prior to training, whereas only 7% reported
scepticism after training. Roberson, Kulik and Pepper (2003) recommended that
companies must clarify training objectives and systematically conduct a training needs
assessment. Participants should know whether the training programme seeks to raise
diversity awareness or develop multicultural skills. Social psychological research on
stereotyping and linkages to prejudice reduction must also be tightly incorporated into
training design. A top down training strategy may be valuable – providing awareness
training to senior managers first and team-building training last. Education and training
should be tailored to the specific needs of the organization, division, level, team or
individuals. Critical to the success of education and training is the important step of
linking training to the strategic objectives of the organization. Kossek et al. (2005)
suggested that external facilitators involved in diversity training may help to achieve
higher levels of productivity in a shorter time given work group diversity can lead to
increased conflict among members in the short-term.
Professional development and career planning is another area where discrimination is
visible and needs careful attention while designing diversity management policies. If the
HR practices concerning career progression do not effectively reflect diversity issues,
diverse employees would have negative perceptions of the whole process (Richard and
Kirby 1999). Organizations should ensure providing equal opportunities for promotion
and personal development to all employees. Minorities should be regularly included on
panels that evaluate, select and promote managers. The problem of assessing candidates
for promotion who are ‘different’ can be reduced if some of the decision makers are
non-traditional managers. Direct intervention by top-level executives in the promotion
process is sometimes necessary to ensure that diversity goals are not overlooked. The main
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