Abstract
Over the past few years, the issue of diversity has gained considerable significance. According to recent researches, workplace diversity contributes to the improvement of the relationships between the staff, knowledge management, and, therefore, the production process. In the late XX century, workplaces became rather diverse all over the country. However, because of the recent political and social changes, diversity in the workplace has once again shrunken. By adopting a more reasonable HRM policy and following strict moral principles, most companies can restore their workplace diversity and, thus, contribute to the introduction of social justice, as well as the company’s performance.
Articles Review
The issue of workplace diversity has been recently featured in several papers. Among the ones that make the greatest impression and seem the most topical, the works by Pekka Ilmakunnas and Seija Ilmakunnas (2011) and Anne M. McMahon (2010) must be mentioned. Displaying the current state of affairs regarding workplace diversity and showing what the situation should be like, the authors provide a peculiar social commentary on the tendencies in the business world of the XXI century (Coxon, Mosley, & McGlynn, 2010).
McMahon approaches the issue from the perspective of the company’s values and virtues, which is a rather reasonable approach. According to McMahon (2010), diversity is a crucial component for any company. What strikes immediately in McMahon’s research is the methodology chosen by the author. As McMahon explains from the very start, she uses surveys to prove her point concerning the necessity to introduce diversity in the workplace. As McMahon (2010) asserts, workplace diversity is a desirable, yet hardly attainable phenomenon.
Another article on the issue of diversity, written by Pekka Ilmakunnas and Seija Ilmakunnas, allows considering the phenomenon of diversity from a manager’s viewpoint. According to Ilmakunnas & Ilmakunnas (2011), employee diversity should be viewed not as a redundant element included because of the company’s policies, but as a powerful tool that can enhance the operation of the firm. As Ilmakunnas & Ilmakunnas (2011) specify, the positive effects of workplace diversity on the company’s productivity are doubtlessly true. After research conducted among several companies, Ilmakunnas and Ilmakunnas concluded that, for a successful operation of a company, having high rates of ethnic diversity is crucial, yet not sufficient enough. As their research shows, it is also necessary that the company should feature gender and age diversity. Thus, a company demonstrates its ability to think outside the box and respect people for their professional qualities, as well as the ability to approach human resource management in a very objective and efficient way. In addition, their research shows that age diversity can help reduce the number of workplace conflicts to a minimum (Ilmakunnas & Ilmakunnas, 2010).
Analysis of Workplace Diversity
The paper written by Ilmakunnas and Ilmakunnas has several good points. To start with, it ties in several aspects of workplace diversity, mentioning every single agent and assigning the latter with a corresponding role. The approach adopted by the authors presupposes a very clean, well-structured argument, which is one of the paper’s strongest sides. Another important issue concerning the paper is that it does not restrict itself to discussing only the ethnic issues in the workplace; instead, the authors take their time to talk about age and gender discrimination, which also occurs in the present-day world.
However, it is still worth mentioning that Ilmakunnas and Ilmakunnas’s paper has problems. One of the most evident concerns is the practical part of their research. Even though the authors have made it clear that the concept of workplace diversity is not restricted to one of the diversity aspects, i.e., either gender, or age, or ethnicity, they offer the results of research conducted on only one aspect of diversity, i.e., age. Even though the original hypothesis concerning the relationship between diversity and workplace efficiency has been proven, it would have been still much more preferable if the researchers had conducted their study on several aspects of diversity.
McMahon’s paper, on the other hand, offers a series of surveys to prove the point, which is the best part of the paper. By providing ample statistics on the issue of workplace diversity, the author shows how much information has been reviewed and how much effort has gone into the paper. It should also be mentioned that the research embraces nine years, from 2000 to 2009, which alone deserves appreciation.
However, the fact that McMahon attempts to drive too many parallels between different types of workplace diversity and different aspects of work, i.e., not only performance but also educational dispersion, earnings, etc. makes the paper less focused. While McMahon must be given credit for the huge work that she has carried out, the paper would be still much more impressive with a bit more focus.
Conclusion
Judging by the fact that most present-day companies lack diversity among their staff, as well as the fact that considerable economical and financial issues are faced by most major companies nowadays, it can be assumed that diversity has its effect not only on the relationships among the staff but also on the company’s performance. By using a unique strategy towards identifying and fighting inequality in the workplace, the company managers can put a stop to the discrimination and restore the firm’s traditional values.
Reference List
Coxon, V., Mosley, A., & McGlynn, M. (2010). A case study exploring the impact of managing workplace diversity on diversity awareness and employee satisfaction. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest.
Ilmakunnas, P. & Ilmakunnas, S. (2011). Diversity at the workplace: Whom does it benefit? De Economist, 159, 223–255.
McMahon, A. (2010). Does workplace diversity matter? A Survey of empirical studies on diversity and firm performance, 2000–2009. Journal of Diversity Management, 5(2), 37–48.