Introduction
Diversity management is a crucial human resource management practice that encourages mutual productivity and a socially interactive working environment for workers and managers within an organisation. The purpose of managing diversity is to optimise the work environment by acquainting employees with essential trainings that address knowledge-sharing, values, and experiences that relate to the nature of the opportunity at their disposal. People understand diversity management differently in diversified work contexts.
In an industrial concept, managing diversity is an active process that should entail the management and utilisation of multifarious organisational resources in a manner that creates effective processes. In the contemporary world, these organisational resources involve the integration of sophisticated technology in management systems.
Socially, managing diversity involves integrating people of manifold ethnic societies, religions, parental status, and age groups with the aim of developing a unified and prolific unit. In the light of diversity management, this essay explores the trends and significance of integrating African-Americans in the American workforce with a view of developing reciprocally prolific and socially interactive teams in working environments.
Preconception prior to the Research
This paper bases its arguments on a preconception that the maintenance of cohesive and productive teams is vital for any successful organisational process. The existence of healthy working relationships amongst employees has relevance in terms of the accomplishment of individual and organisational goals. Therefore, managing diversity plays an important role to unite people of different ethnicities, races, and religious backgrounds in an attempt to develop a unified working environment (Bacharach, Bamberger, and Vashdi 619).
The American society is a blend of multicultural groups, which comprises the majority of whites and minority groups, which include the African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and the Asian-Americans among other minorities. Sticking to the concept of this essay paper, research has proved that there is an eminent need to support and empower African-American workforce within the American society. Nielsen and Nielsen suggest a continued need for development of organisational strategies that embrace diversity management to create productive and interactive workforce within the American workplaces (374).
The authors disclose statistics from the United States Department of Labour that revealed the dominance of white employees over other ethnic groupings. In a separate research conducted by Cole and Salimath, the authors reveal that the Whites hold a staggering 89 percent of the total share of management positions in the United States labour market relative to other racial groups that occupy the remaining 11 percent of the work positions (152).
Specifically, the research reveals that African-Americans hold about 6 percent of the overall managerial positions in the United States. Such employment trends imply disproportionate allocation of managerial duties due to racial disparities that exist between the Whites and the Blacks (Bacharach, Bamberger, and Vashdi 622). As a result, human resource management strategies should aim at closing the disproportionate gap by adopting sound diversity management strategies that create equitable opportunities for all American workers.
Change of Views during the Course of Research
Although most scholars attribute the disproportionate nature of employment patterns in the United States to cultural bias, the vast numbers of the American Whites relative to the numbers of the minority groups also affect the multicultural work balance (Cole and Salimath, 156). In this respect, the authors identify a twin issue pertaining to the existence of comparatively lower numbers of the African-Americans relative to those of white Americans. First, a misconception is evident that the assimilation and interchange of information between the Whites and the African-Americans relate to the nature of work.
However, the level of motivation of culturally diverse employees determines the effectiveness of information exchange that creates a totality in the mobilisation of organisational resources. In the second issue, the authors identify that multiculturalism is the major cause of biased working relationships within most organisations. Bacharach, Bamberger, and Vashdi attest that unified teams do not only create objective working relations but also develop a sense of self-revealing and free expression of ideas within an organisation (627).
Therefore, human resource managers should ensure supportive interpersonal relations between the Whites and the Blacks to enhance oneness and generation of significant performance based on meaningful interwork relations. Nevertheless, the authors claim that the interdependence of supportive working teams and effective performance remains indistinct in many organisations. Employees from diverse cultures exhibit varied behavioural patterns that affect the workability of teams. Diversity predisposes working teams to social struggles. Hence, diversity management should focus on creating intergroup balance to nurture and maintain even-handed employees (Nielsen and Nielsen 378).
Revelations of the Research
The research reveals an irresistible need for continuous generation of loyal and interdependent working relationships between the White and the African-American community with an aim to manage the underlying social forces in the workplace. There is a need to manage disparate working mates in a manner that reduces fretfulness and discomposure during task performance.
In addition to the provision of fair working conditions and development of typologies for equal occupational opportunities, Carr-Ruffino affirms that the human resource practices have widened the scope to facilitate diversity management through rigorous training and enhancement of information exchange between the African-Americans and other cultural groups in the American organisations (237).
An empirical research carried out by Bacharach, Bamberger, and Vashdi to investigate the effects of adopting diversity practices on performance teams in hundred organisations revealed that employee training, motivation, involvement in decision-making, and information awareness pertaining to workforce diversity improved interwork relations between employees (629).
Therefore, leaders should shape institutional cultures to assume diversity practices that accommodate all workers. The authors unveil that discrimination and unfavourable wages challenge employment for many African-Americans. Due to dissimilar races, prejudiced alignment to cultural affiliations affects the performance of goals and objectives (Carr-Ruffino 242).
The best human resource diversity practices have shown an improvement in the overall organisational performance in the United States (Cole and Salimath 159). In fact, the authors note that the most successful organisations have a higher percentage of the African-Americans as compared to the lesser competitors. The fair trend of proper integration of interracial groups in work and information exchange improves their competitive advantage over other organisations that practice the contrary.
To foster successful organisational performance, leaders have to appreciate the value of diverse practices. Cole and Salimath identify some bureaucratic practices that organisations have adopted to ensure effective diversity management in the American institutions (160). Organisations’ leaders should identify key business issues and relate them to employee professionalism without discrimination against race. According to the authors, leaders should study employee personality, abilities, and individual level differences that may affect the workability of teams.
To sustain competitiveness, the fight for identity in a multicultural society remains inevitable for organisations (Carr-Ruffino 231). Other organisations have embraced all-inclusive and harmonious communication techniques to enhance the interwork relations between African-Americans, the Whites, and other minority groups.
Lastly, the authors reveal that some organisations have built multifarious champion teams to foster mutually productive and socially collaborative working climates for workers and managers within an organisation. According to Carr-Ruffino, there is a need for organisational leaders to mobilise human resources into resolute teams that work for common organisational goals (234).
Conclusion
The elevating number of employees from diverse societies is a significant issue that demands the attention of every human resource manager. The fate of having diverse groups in contemporary organisations across the globe has posed eminent challenges that need a wide continuum of dependable human resource diversity practices.
In spite of the availability of legal mandates in the American institutions, many researchers prove that the discrimination cases still exist at all work levels in the United States. Specifically, the African-American minorities face discrimination in workplaces. The context of rising inequality in the United States is a puzzle to many organisations that fight for public recognition and reputation. However, the American society has to appreciate the presence of diversity in workplaces.
Researchers have evidenced that diversity provides a miscellany of skills and experiences in an organisation. Nevertheless, harnessing such skills and experiences for sound organisational performance requires the efforts of human resource managers to act as role models. In an attempt to have effective diversity management strategies, organisation leaders have to provide vivid guidelines, empowerment, and inspiration that create unified performance teams. Development of sound diversity management practices remains a worthwhile undertaking in any organisational set up that aims at accomplishing its goals and objectives.
Works Cited
Bacharach, Samuel, Peter Bamberger, and Dana Vashdi. “Diversity and Homophily At Work: Supportive Relations among White and African-American Peers.” Academy of Management Journal 48.4(2005): 619-644. Print.
Carr-Ruffino, Norma. Managing Diversity. 9th ed. San Francisco, San Francisco State University, 2012. Print.
Cole, Brooklyn, and Manjula Salimath. “Diversity Identity Management: An Organizational Perspective.” Journal of Business Ethics 116.1 (2013):151-161. Print.
Nielsen, Bob, and Sabina Nielsen. “Top management team nationality diversity and firm performance: A multilevel Study.” Strategic Management Journal 34.3(2013): 373-382. Print.