In contemporary society, with the continuing development of human society, managing diversity is fast becoming the corporation in work place. This essay will discuss that the dismissing ‘underachievers’ promotes a culture of fear, not improved performance. This discussion focuses on the performance of under-achievements in the diversity work place. Bolman and Deal (1984) believe that people are the most important resource in an organization and managing diversity includes every employee. Also, in an era of increasing globalization cultural diversity is brought into the growing number of organization. For example, by the end of the 1990s, African Americans made up 12 percent of the labor force, 10 percent of Hispanics and 4 percent from Asia, Pacific Islands and America. More than 25 percent of the workforce be comprised of the Third World people (Hudson Institute, 2000).

As organizations are face with increasing competition, it is obviously that the company’s human resources should be treated as the source of competitive advantage. Lawler (1996) considered that “approaches to effective management in origination repeatedly change and develop and new management issues and approaches to organizational success appear with increasing frequency. One of the human resource management issues which is being to receive more attention is that of managing diversity.” As an effectively manage diversity, managers should be aware of the values, motivations communication styles, attitudes and needs of the employees (Foxman and Polsky, 1989).

On the one hand, in the diversity work place, organizations become internationalization and globalization; employees may know several different culture in their work environment. There are several major forces for change within organizations, highlight the area of managing diversity as an important issue for consideration, which Lawler believes that the challenges of diversity in work place can improve employee’s performance.

Firstly, Lawler (1996) indicated that “internationalization of the firm and the development of global markets”. According to the development of global markets, most contemporary managers recognize that culture differences can have a profound impact on job attitudes and work motivation. Organizations may now have bases in various countries, each with their own national culture. The employees and workers may have every different work practices and experiences about organization. It becomes more difficult and complicated because of the different culture. Therefore, this challenge may cause management complicated and tricky.

The second challenge is “promoting the effective working of disparate work groups” (Lawler, 1996). Related to the internationalization of companies and the globalization of markets, it becomes common that work environment made up of people with very different cultural and work background. There are many barriers to effective communication and cooperation which may result from this and which stand in the way of effective organizational operation unless they are managed effectively. Handy (1991) pointed out that organizations still struggle to notice the full potential of the people they employ. Therefore, organizations and employers have to concentrate on the development of employee’s skills, knowledge and experiences that the organizations can value and maximize the benefits of them. Furthermore, employees will not afraid of the internationalization in their companies and achieve their goals completely.#p#分頁標題#e#

The next challenge is “customer pressure” (Lawler, 1996). Dwyer (1994) said that “organizations are increasingly predicting, or already responding to, the rise in pressure from customers for those organizations which provide them with goods or services, to have a workforce with represents to customer profile.” He also believed that organizations will make the customer pressure increasingly difficult to predict future demand. Companies and firms will concentrate on the changing demographics and their possible implications. Consequently, customer pressure can help organizations improve the benefits and employees can promote their performance at workplace.

Finally, the last challenge of diversity is “increased awareness of difference”. With the continuing development of human society, being able to manage the increasingly diverse workforce is one of the most important challenges on organizations. Stone (2008) indicated that “diversity at work is not just about corporate involvement in the economic and industrial activities of another country, for example, a business being involved in erecting and managing a factory in another part of the world. It also includes interacting on a global scale with people from a variety of cultures in the normal course of one’s job, for example, buying imported parts, exporting, being part of a foreign subsidiary or just competing with foreign imports.” Culture presents very different perspectives of the organizational environment and employee behavior. Being aware of the different culture in the work place can effectively promote the employee’s participation and decrease their fear of different culture.

However, Handy (1991) thinks that organizations need to develop employee’s engagement at work and employers need to acknowledge the whole of the individual life interests, demands and experience, rather than consider them only on the basis of the role they occupy within the organization at the time. Furthermore, employers should consider not only employee’s current skills, knowledge and abilities; also employers need to develop people for their future career, but also the interests and identities employees have and the ways in which these can be incorporated in to an effective management approach, which increases individual commitment at work place.

On the other hand, in the diversity work place, employees should promote their performance that they can achieve their goals; try to talk to their employers when they have problems. But in the real work place, many employees do not tell what is actually troubling them until they are contain a manager or a supervisor is really going to listen to them (Henderson, 1994). This phenomenon is often indicative that the employees do not trust their employers and supervisors, or they do not understand or acknowledge the real issues. This situation will decrease the performance and enthusiasm that employees should have when they are in the work place, thus they cannot complete their jobs and underachieved.#p#分頁標題#e#

Furthermore, Henderson also believed that employers should not minimize the fact that many employees do not say conflicts out because they fear “such disclosure will cost them their jobs.” Therefore, the troubled employee is being offered assistance by his or her supervisor may encourage other employees to come forth. Developing a proactive policy towards managing diversity in the workplace can have significant benefits for the employers, the employees and their customers.

To be successful, organizations need the commitment of their employees. Wright (1996) considered that there are two kinds of commitment are important. One is a commitment to the achievement of the goals of the organization. The other one is particularly important in the case of employees who are making a significant contribution towards these goals, is a commitment to remaining a member of the organization, rather than taking valuable skills, knowledge and experience.

Employee motivation has become so important in every organization.
Wright (1996) discussed that employees feel safe in organizations or culture where they are not the dominant group. Most employees know that they are not the power wielders, also they may feel fear when they being evaluated by people who are in power. “Employees may see the evaluation itself as a formalized reprimand, a wrist slapping for past mistakes, and hence they may be reluctant to participate.” (Wright, 1996)

In an organization, employers have to understand what employee drives and needs, and how these concepts relate to individual goals and behavior. McShane, Olekalns and Travaglione (2010) considered that employee engagement encompasses the employee’s beliefs about and emotional responses to these conditions, as well as the employee’s perceived alignment with the organization’s values. Furthermore, “employee engagement includes a high level of absorption in the work — the experience of getting carried away while working”. (McShane, Olekalns and Travaglione, 2010)

Additionally, motivation consists of the forces within a person that affect his or her direction, intensity and persistence of voluntary behavior in the work place. Organizations and employers always want their employees have high performance at work, therefore, employers need to improve the engagement and motivation of employees at work place. They need to give employees clear feedback about what they are doing well and where they need to improve. Thus, employees can help themselves in their own career growth, giving themselves professional goal planning (Wright, 1996).

Overall, according to all the research, dismissing underachievers promotes a culture of fear, not improves performance. Organizations are looking for new ways of responding to diversity and using it to advantage. Managing diversity should best be seen as integral to other human resources management processes and not as an optional extra. If employers want to improve the benefits to the organization, they should not try to dismiss those employees who did not achieve their goals, they need to get them involved, to promote their motivation in work place, so they might have high performance at work.#p#分頁標題#e#

Contemporary organizations are promoted to embrace the potential benefits of diversity. “The success of managing diversity largely depends on how strongly current legislation is enforced and how dedicated and consistent government, social institutions and organizations are in their efforts to end discrimination and inequalities” (Henderson, 1994).  An intercultural workplace is the one where the employers and organizations take account of diversity and plan for the increased global markets and cultural and internationalization that arises from the employment of migrant and minority ethnic workers.

The development of an intercultural workplace policy should be seen as something that is integral to meeting the wider goals of the organization and not as “an add-on or an afterthought”.

Respecting individual differences will benefit the workplace by creating a competitive advantages and increasing work productivity. Diversity management benefits associates by creating a fair and safe environment where everyone has access to opportunities and challenges. Management tools in a diverse workforce should be used to educate everyone about diversity and its issues, including laws and regulations. Most workplaces are made up of diverse cultures, so organizations need to learn how to adapt to be successful.

 
Reference List

Bolman, L.G, & Deal, T.E, 1984, Modern Approaches to Understanding and Managing Organizations, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass
Dwyer, J.F, 1994, Customer Diversity and the Future Demand for Outdoor Recreation, United States Department of Agriculture
Foxman, L.D & Polsky, W.L, 1989, Cross-cultural Understanding, Personal Journal
Handy, C, 1991, The Age of Unreason, 2nd Edition, London Business Books
Henderson, G, 1994, Cultural Diversity in the Workplace, Praeger Publishers, Westport
Hudson Institute, 2000, Workforce, Indianapolis, IN:Author
Lawler, J, 1996, Managing Diversity at Work, Human Resources at Work, Studentlitteratur, Lund, Sweden
McShane, S, Olekalns, M & Travaglione, T, 2010, Organizational Behavior, on the Pacific Rim, 3rd Edition, McGraw-Hill Australia Publisher, Sydney
Porter, L, Bigley, G & Streers, R, 2003, Motivation and Work Behavior, 7th Edition, McGraw-Hill Publisher, New York
Stone, R.J, 2008, Managing Human Resources, 3rd Edition, John Wiley & Sons Australia Publisher, Sydney
Wright, P, 1996, Motivating People, Human Resources at Work, Studentlitteratur, Lund, Sweden