Diversity in the Workplace

Understanding and managing diversity is a complex and demanding task to say the least. It is a territory which, in the South African and global economy, is simply unavoidable. In the face of the diversity challenge, employers must be cautious to the temptation to look for a simplistic formula. As will be shown later in this module, the change effort required for diversity is much more intense and demanding than for other more practical and short-term organizational changes.
Dealing with diversity is not optional. The reality globally is that over 50% of employees in the global economy do not work in the country they were born in. This means that the global workforce becomes increasingly diverse. In South Africa the socio-political developments as well as legal imperatives makes it unavoidable for employers not to create a diverse workforce. Accepting the reality is the first step in the journey to understanding and leading diversity.

Diversity will challenge the lenses through which you view the world. As you saw in module 1, all of us have varying degrees of stereotypes, prejudice and cultural bias which influence the way we behave towards other people, and by implication our employees. Understanding ‘who I am’ is the only way to know the starting point towards personal growth. Having our lenses challenged can be uncomfortable and painful but is the only way to authentic self-development.

Diversity is the ‘yellow brick road’ to innovation. The ability to truly innovate, is dependent on the ability to harness and leverage diversity. Although uncomfortable to many old school managers who thrived on heterogenic teams, the willingness to embrace diversity will inevitably lead to a new way to do things. If your process in highly diverse teams does not produce highly innovative ideas, review your process!

There is no ABC manual for managing diversity but starting with the following will make a start to cooking up a storm: optimistic leadership, genuine challenge, an emphasis on learning, affirming a sense of belonging and an appreciation for different values and perspectives…

So … no longer does the old dance work … a new dance is required.

Managing diversity is more than our previous simplistic definition of diversity (a collective mixture of differences and similarities). Managing diversity is a process of acknowledging differences through action by welcoming heterogeneity at organizational, management and interpersonal level.

Click here to view a video on the diversity in the workplace: THE ZOO vs THE ECOSYSTEM