Managing Diversity in South Africa
1. Introduction
In the workplace, diversity in terms of ethnicity, locality, education and skills, age, and gender exist. Managers or employers therefore require innovative ideas to successfully manage employees in the workplace. Diversity management is a relatively new field in the South African business environment. Managing employees and the work environment involves different aspects and is influenced by the internal environment such as in the mission, vision and goals of the organisation as well as the external environment. These aspects include areas where diversity management is important. Managers have various roles to carry out in an organisation in order to provide effective management and deal with the ethical issues. Factors such as changing structures and polices, providing diversity skills training, creating cross functional teams and employee network groups, building relationships, and providing complete managerial support are all factors that contribute towards effective diversity management. A successful diversity management approach must be more accommodating and more capable of promoting the diversity within an organization to bring everyone together and generate effective participation. This means that employees should be regarded as an organized whole that brings meaningful contributions from their social, political, economic, and geographical experiences.
2. Diversity
Diversity can be defined as all the ways people differ, that is the different influences to approaching the workplace, communication between employees, satisfaction achieved from performance and identification in the workplace (Daft, Kendrick, & Vershinina, 2010). It is a commitment to distinguishing and appreciating the range of characteristics that make individuals unique in an atmosphere that supports and celebrates individual and collective achievement (Tennessee, 2003). Diversity “represents the multitude of individual differences and similarities that exist among
In the workplace, diversity in terms of ethnicity, locality, education and skills, age, and gender exist. Managers or employers therefore require innovative ideas to successfully manage employees in the workplace. Diversity management is a relatively new field in the South African business environment. Managing employees and the work environment involves different aspects and is influenced by the internal environment such as in the mission, vision and goals of the organisation as well as the external environment. These aspects include areas where diversity management is important. Managers have various roles to carry out in an organisation in order to provide effective management and deal with the ethical issues. Factors such as changing structures and polices, providing diversity skills training, creating cross functional teams and employee network groups, building relationships, and providing complete managerial support are all factors that contribute towards effective diversity management. A successful diversity management approach must be more accommodating and more capable of promoting the diversity within an organization to bring everyone together and generate effective participation. This means that employees should be regarded as an organized whole that brings meaningful contributions from their social, political, economic, and geographical experiences.
2. Diversity
Diversity can be defined as all the ways people differ, that is the different influences to approaching the workplace, communication between employees, satisfaction achieved from performance and identification in the workplace (Daft, Kendrick, & Vershinina, 2010). It is a commitment to distinguishing and appreciating the range of characteristics that make individuals unique in an atmosphere that supports and celebrates individual and collective achievement (Tennessee, 2003). Diversity “represents the multitude of individual differences and similarities that exist among
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