The introduction: the importance of diversity in the workplace
First of all, I would like to point out that diversity is considered to be a business reality. Various corporations and government agencies tend to improve their competitive advantage as there is a need to comprehend the importance of management strategies to manage diversity in the workplace.
The idea to create inclusive corporations, governmental agencies, etc. is to be based on the contributions every person of the organization makes. For this reason, the growth of corporation’s business strategies as well as their impact on future success of the organization totally depends upon diversity training. Diversity initiatives are considered to be the steps a corporation is to follow to generate increased productivity.
The thesis statement
To manage diversity in the workplace, there is a need to rely on cross-cultural competency, conflict theory, identification of the values, communication abilities and some other important points.
The body: the meaning of diversity training, mutual respect and workplaces development
The members of Anti-Defamation League (2012) say:
The implementation of a diversity management-training program incorporates
these skills and an educational component that allows participants to address
issues of prejudice, discrimination and biased behaviors that could impact
employee and client relations. (p. 1)
Diversity training can be implemented if a corporation understands and can analyze the importance of demographics of a client base, the languages clients speak, the countries a corporation operates in, the quantity of employees a corporation includes, expenses a corporation spends every year on recruitment, the inter-group conflicts, a level of turnover, the attractiveness of policies and benefits a corporation includes. Finally, the employees are to feel that they are valued.
Another important point I want to highlight is that the employees are to exchange ideas, form interpersonal relations, communicate, and conduct debates with each other that can cause mutual respect. In other words, diversity protection is one of the most important issues; so, there is a need to foster an atmosphere where mutual respect is inherent.
The practical ways to develop workplaces undivided by gender and race-ethnicity should be based on non-discrimination compliance programs. Thus, it is rather important to develop organizational culture. It is necessary to establish workplace environments. In other words, employees are to understand the importance and meaning of diverse perspectives.
Managing diversity requires assimilation and pluralism exclusion, as the elements are important for racial and ethnic oppression. It is extremely important to understand the structure of a corporation in order to maintain its work. So, it is rather important to understand that all employees are recognized to be integral parts of the organization.
Of course, a conflict is an integral part of any corporation, organization, etc. Thus, management strategies should include the ways to reduce intergroup conflict. The authors of popular education website Umd.edu (1999) state:
Gregory Northcraft, Jeffrey Polzer, Margaret Neale, and Rod Kramer (in press)
pointed out that problems arise because team members often assume that
differences are conflicting. In reality, many desires of different group members
are not as opposing as they might initially appear. (p. 1)
For this reason, conflicting differences can be turned into win-win strategies. It is possible due to the strategies of negotiation. In other words, the power of languages is the main instrument.
The conclusion: the importance of interactionism
Interactionism is an integral part of diversity in the workplace. The reflexive origin of a person’s action is the key point of the interpersonal relations. Visagie, Linde and Havenga (2011) are of the opinion that:
Interactionist theory focuses on interactions and individuals’ personalities. It is
a subject-orientated approach that emphasises the subjective intentions and
orientations of individuals in relation to their wishes, motivations, wants and
situations, in addition to their interpretation and understanding of symbols.
Diversity can be defined as the presence of differences. It is prominent in all fields: in society, the community, and the workplace (Wylie 6). The main benefit that can be accrued due to having diversity is bringing out uniqueness and innovation. People from different backgrounds have a variety of values in them. It is from these different cultures that we select the best qualities and harmonize them with our behavior.
Resourcefulness and creativity are a benefit within the uniqueness of having diversity in place. In a scenario of a working environment, people from different cultures may provide remarkable success in the organization due to their deep differences in various areas (Parvis 74).
Many views may come about in an organization due to diversity, assuming we have an organization the has people from one culture and another one with about 40 ethnic groups represented and at least six more members of the leadership team are representing different cultures. The latter built up will be more innovative than the former due to the different backgrounds and exposures of this person (Parvis 75).
The main challenge of diversity
The greatest challenge of diversity is to have discrimination. This happens through avenues like racism, sexism, ageism, classism, ableism, and, homophobia, to name just a few. Through a high level of prejudice and biases, some people discriminate against other people who possess different characteristics. It happens when the majority group confronts the representatives of the minority group. For example, dominance in men compared to women. In a multiracial society like America, the biggest norm is the “ism” such as racism, ableism, classism, and many more are challenges of diversity that can destroy any society (Parvis, 61).
Promoting diversity
As a leader, the best way to be sure that the benefit of having diversity and overcoming the challenges is by promoting synergy. Synergy can be defined as a combined, cooperative action of independent or separate action of independent or separate parts as a result of the greater whole (Parvis, 77). In a multi-racial society, synergy plays an important role in bringing creativity and visual change for success and development.
Synergy can be achieved through, creating a shared understanding of the existing issues and concerns of a workgroup about the task, at hand. It can also be created through a process in which people are free to communicate where everyone can be heard, understood, and recognized.
Through this, they can be able to share experiences and perspectives with no reservations. Finally, synergy can be used to teach essential competencies that can be achieved through establishing boundaries, rules, and the context in any situations and interactions. Through all these, synergy begins to generate an environment with spiritual, psychological, and personal achievements are the tools of success for a positive and energetic relationship (Parvis, 78).
Conclusion
Diversity is a complex phenomenon with various features. Many benefits and challenges are notable. The only way to enjoy the benefits of diversity is ensuring that every one of us in the society can be incorporated in all sectors. There are so many things to learn from people of different cultures that may be beneficial to us. Taking me, for example, my parents were born in Iran and, I am a first-generation American-born student in my family. There is so much I can learn and offer to the American society that may be of great benefit.
Works cited
Parvis, Leo. Understanding Cultural Diversity in Today’s Complex World. Minneapolis: Lulu, 2006. Print.
Wylie, Kimberly. The Benefits of Diversity. Norderstedt, Germany: GRIN Verlag, 2009. Print.
Workplace diversity is a critical provision in numerous organizations. Notably, bountiful firms have implemented varying strategies to efficiently tackle the challenges and prospects of this phenomenon. While referring to the best practices (used by Emirates Airlines as the case company), numerous strategies emerge. The first strategy is to recognize and appreciate all forms of distinctiveness within the workforce (Morgan & Vardy, 2006).
This will help in addressing the challenges and opportunities of workplace diversity with effectiveness. Such distinctiveness can be harnessed to promote prosperity and expansion of the company. In this context, diversity acts as an opportunity, which an organization can utilize to prosper tremendously. Additionally, challenges faced in operations, market trends, business prosperity, and future growth can be handled effectively.
This is only possible when diverse, qualitative, and novel opinions among employees are utilized profitably. It is feasible to have numerous options for handling various challenges within an organization. Hence, a focused organization should appreciate and enhance diversity within its premises as evident in the Emirate Airlines’ case. This will help in handling challenges and opportunities within an organization.
Another evident strategy is the eradication of discriminative acts within an organization. Discrimination leads to demoralization of employees with a consequent reduction in productivity, job satisfaction, and organization’s output. Treating every employee fairly is important in enhancing efficiency and job commitment (Groschi, 2011).
Additionally, it is crucial to train employees on the importance of diversity within the workforce and how it can be harnessed for the betterment of the company. Evidently, employees need each other in order to grow, attain their objectives, and propel the company into prosperity. Training employees to realize this provision is an important phenomenon. It makes them think differently and start valuing each other for mutual benefits.
Concurrently, prosperous organizations have employed equality and fair remuneration in their operations in order to enhance impartiality and eliminate prejudicial acts within the company.
Providing employees with equal treatments regardless of their racial, cultural, age, religious, and sexual orientations is critical and considerable (Shakhray, 2009). Paying equal salaries to employees in similar portfolios regardless of their distinctiveness has been important in various contexts. Previously, women were paid less than men even if their job specifications were similar.
This is no longer the case in companies, which embrace diversity. This has helped in motivating employees hence using this provision as an opportunity to prosper. Motivated employees are quite productive as indicated earlier. It is important to pay employees based on their qualifications, job specifications, and roles assumed rather their cultures, races, sexes, and other prejudicial provisions. This has helped in addressing the challenges and opportunities of workplace diversity with value.
Another evident strategy is the fair recruitment and staffing of employees. This helps in getting the best and qualified staff regardless of their discriminative status. Most local and globalized organizations execute their recruitments and staffing activities transparently to avoid mishaps and undue favors (Groschi, 2011).
This has allowed potential women to attain lucrative jobs and positions in numerous organizations based on their merits, capabilities, and qualifications. This occurs regardless of age, race, and physical disabilities. Additionally, promotions are also handled fairly and only deserving candidates are promoted.
References
Groschi, S. (2011). Diversity in the workplace: Multi-disciplinary and international perspectives. Farnham: Gower.
Morgan, J. & Vardy, F. (2006). Diversity in the Workplace. Washington, DC: International monetary fund.
Shakhray, I. (2009). Managing Diversity in the Workplace. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH.
The world is changing very first in various fronts due to the changes brought about by advancement of technology. Technological advancements have made work easier, communication faster, and movement more convenient. Industries and organizations have been heavily impacted upon by this technological improvement. According to Gröschl (2011), organizations have transformed over the years due to the changes brought about by the advancing technology.
As this scholar notes, organizations have been forced to adjust their structure to reflect these changes in the external environment. This scholar emphasizes the fact that failure of an organization to implement changes may lead to serious negative consequences, including being forced out of the market. It is due to this that the services offered by organization psychologists have become very vital for the modern organizations.
The workplace has completely been transformed from what it used to be traditionally. Business environment has become increasingly competitive. More firms are getting into the market with products that already exist. This has created a very competitive environment where various firms are fighting for a few customers.
Given this fact, firms are determined to make their operation as effective and efficient as possible. As Griffin (2012) observes, one of the ways that firms currently use to improve their efficiency is to cut down costs of operation. One of
the ways of cutting down cost of operation is to downsize the workforce. Firms are under constant pressure to have a thinner workforce. Improved technology has made work easier. A task that required ten individuals to perform can now be done by a single person operating a machine.
This changing nature of work is coming as a surprise to some individuals and firms. These are individuals who have spent several years working in normal brick and moter offices where they report to work every morning and go back home in the evening. Telling such an individual to work from a remote place, and with the advanced telecommuting services, coordinate with other workers may become a difficult task. However, this is a change whose time has come, and can no longer be ignored.
The current workplace has embraced team work. Individuals must work as a team, with each team member having a specific role to play within the organization. According to Griffin (2012), the team members must not necessarily work under the same roof. With virtualization being developed, the need for a physical office is becoming less relevant.
These team members can work from different locations, but with the help of telecommunication, they can easily coordinate, and report their findings to the other team members in real time. Cases that require face to face communication can be facilitated without the need to meet physically. This can be done with the help of video-conferencing machines. These machines can help ensure that these individuals can hold a face to face conference to address issues that may be of concern.
Increasing Diversity of the Workforce
This changing nature of the workplace is bringing new complexities both to firms and to the employees. According to Gröschl (2011), various organizations are headed by individuals who have advanced ages. They have conformed to the traditional way of life, and therefore are rigid to some of the changes that take place in the external environment.
However, the workforce is constantly changing. Griffin (2012 ) says that new employees who entered into the business within the last five years exhibit different adaptive features from those who have stayed within the job market for over ten years. These employees come to the job market with fresh ideas. They have skills in telecommunication and are very flexible to changes in the environment.
This scholar notes that industrial and organizational psychologists have a huge task of trying to reconcile these two contrasting personalities. While the older generation prefer status quo, and resent radical changes that may radically redefine their roles within the organization, the younger generation are vibrant are always trying new things that will make their tasks less repetitive. They are against status quo, and as Riggio, R. (2007) describes, this group are restless and very ambitious.
The two divides must be brought together to ensure that there is cohesion within an organization. The aging populace may not be able to understand these changes taking place within the workplace. The younger population may not understand the reason why the aging population prefers to maintain status quo. This may lead to serious disharmony within the firm, which can cause serious challenge to the objectives of the firm.
Diversity at workplace did not occur overnight. It is a systematic change that takes place gradually and over a long period of time. It starts with development of a special need. When there is a necessity that is not meet by the current forces within the firm, the need to create a new approach will always develop. Once one need has been met, new needs will always arise, leading to further need to develop more changes within the firm.
This is a continuous process that will ensure that change is constant. Understanding the increasing diversity in the workplace is very important. Organizational psychology is therefore, very important both to the older and the new employees within an organization. It will help in defining some of the factors that cannot be avoided within an organization. Different variables contribute differently to the evolutions of the trends in the market. Some of the variables that contribute to this evolution are as follows.
Technology is one of the leading factors that have contributed to the evolution of the workforce. Technology has redefined various roles within an organization. Communication has been improved, and with invention of sophisticated machines, it is now possible for a firm to downsize its workforce and replace it with machines. This forces the workforce to redefine their role within an organization. They have to avoid cases where their tasks can be performed by machines. Technology has also improved flexibility of the workforce. Those who have the capacity to understand the advanced technology can easily change from one task to another.
Increasing demand for skilled workers is another variable. The world population is constantly on the rise. However, this increasing population does not have a proportionate increase in the number of skilled labor that is available in the job market. According to Riggio (2007), despite the higher population in various countries around the world, firms have limited skilled labor to undertake various duties. As such, the markets for these employees have become tighter as firms struggle to recruit and retain the best workforce in the market.
The social media effect is another variable that has impacted heavily on the increasing diversity of the workforce in the current market. When it started, Gröschl (2011) says that social media was considered a tool for communication for the youths. However, this has changed over the years. Social media is currently considered one of the most important tools in managing the workforce. Through social media, people are able to share their experience and this has encouraged many individuals to improve their skills.
The changing social structure of various societies. Women are finding their way into the corporate world. This is another variable because it has direct effect on the output of the workforce. Various non-governmental organizations and human rights groups have come out strongly to fight for the rights of women at the workplace. Employers are forced to ensure that a given percentage of their employees must be of the other gender. This has seen scenario where firms are forced to develop delicate balance between genders to ensure that they work within the limits of the law. To make them more appealing to employers, women have gotten into professions that were originally thought to be a preserve for men. There are women who are engineers, architectures and doctors. This may change the working environment as some stakeholders may take time to understand and appreciate this change.
Some of the changes taking place within the workplace may not easily be understandable to some stakeholders. However, they may need to understand these changes in order to work with them easily. Griffin (2012) says that change is one of the most constant factors. I/O psychology may be important in improving this understanding to various stakeholders.
The easiest ways of increasing employee efficiency
According to Riggio (2007), one of the easiest ways of increasing employee efficiency and performance is to come up with a working program that will be able to integrate all the employees. The program must be feasible and must be in line with the changes taking place within the industry. In order to ensure that this program works efficiently, the following factors should be taken into serious consideration by the concerned individuals and authorities.
Group Processes
The program should clearly state different groups that are involved in performance of various tasks. These groups should be defined by their capacity, age, role within the firm, and various other factors that make them distinct. Each group should have its own objectives that should be realized within a stipulated time. Groups will be assigned tasks depending on the skills, experience and interest in the task at hand.
Research Methods
Research is very important in managing human resource. More often, employers find themselves in very awkward position when they cannot understand needs and changes taking place among their employees. This makes it difficult to manage employees appropriately. The management should therefore, develop a clear research method that will help it understand employees within the organization. The method can take two approaches.
The first approach will be where an employee will know that a research is being conducted on him or her. The second approach will be where the research is conducted without letting the researched know that a research is being conducted on them. Whichever approach is taken, the most important factor to be considered is to ensure that the management has full information about their employees to ease the process of managing them.
Evaluating Employee Performance
Evaluation of the performance of the employees is one of the vital tasks that human resource management should conduct regularly. An organization always has its own expectations of what each individual employee should deliver to the firm within a set timeline. When this expectation is not met, it is a clear indication that the employee is not working within expectations.
Such an employee may be considered redundant, and the best cause of action may be to eliminate him or her from the firm. To determine the performance of an employee, an evaluation should be done on them regularly. This will help in determining those who shall qualify for promotions, and those who whose contract may be terminated due to poor performance.
Employee Training and Development
Employee training and development should always be conducted regularly. The word is changing, and employees need to adapt to these changes in order to be relevant in the current world market. Conducting employee training at regular intervals equips employees with technical skills that will enable them meet market demands. Employee training should be conducted regularly, especially when there is a new trend in the market brought about by technology or other variables.
Job Satisfaction and Worker Stress
Job satisfaction among employees is always a core factor in making employees more productive. There are a number of factors that may make employee feel satisfied. When an employee feels that he or she has successfully completed his or her tasks brings satisfaction. Good remuneration and support from the management also brings satisfaction. Worker stress would arise when there is lack of satisfaction at work. This may be due to wrong assignment of tasks, poor remuneration, and harassments from relevant authorities.
References
Griffin, R. (2012). Organizational behavior: Managing people and organizations. Mason: Cengage Learning.
Gröschl, S. (2011). Diversity in the workplace: Multi-disciplinary and international perspectives. Farnhamrey: Gower.
Riggio, R. (2007). Introduction to Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.
This week’s article analysis focuses on the effects of diversity of workforce at the workplace. Contemporary companies normally strive to establish a diversified workforce. Employee diversity has numerous benefits (Hr.com. 2005). However, diversity poses challenges and obstacles at workplace.
Nevertheless, organizations that effectively manage diversity may have an advantage over those that embrace workforce homogeneity (Hr.com. 2005). Workplace diversity entails establishing a culture where people from diverse backgrounds can work together effectively in harmony.
People from diverse backgrounds normally have differing approaches towards tasks. In contrast, a homogenous workforce may be resentful towards change limiting innovation potential of the organization (Hr.com. 2005).
Diversity can be used to stimulate creativity in a workplace. Workforce from diverse background may have differing views that may lead to a vivacious debate, which frequently spurs innovation (Joseph, 2012). In the contrary, a homogenous team may be resentful to differing opinions: in fact, dissenting opinions are often unwelcome and unexpected.
In contrast, conflicts spurred by diversity can create strain at workplace. This could ultimately affect productivity if not managed appropriately (Joseph, 2012). Such conflicts may undermine collaboration due to intense individuality at the workplace; tension generates conflicts which stalls the operations of an organization.
Consequently, set targets may not be achieved as desired. Normally, if an organization is shifting from a homogenous culture to a diverse one, members of the former may dislike the change (Joseph, 2012). This may affect teamwork within the organization.
Effective management of diversity can fend off potentially destructive conflicts by emphasizing collective targets and ideals in the diversification process (Joseph, 2012).
In the process of implementing a diverse workplace, an organization may need to restructure its hiring policies. The organization may also need to ensure their employment policies do not violate anti-discriminatory laws pertaining aspects such as, ethnicity, sex, nationality, faith and disability (Joseph, 2012).
Successful establishment of a diverse workplace requires prior rigorous planning. In addition to changing hiring policies, planning and executing diversity education are necessary to prepare the organization for changing workforce (Joseph, 2012).
This facilitates a successful assimilation process. In this regard, the company should establish a policy to tackle issues arising from diversity, such as measures for resolving disagreements.
Workforce diversity eliminates the need for a central office (Vaux, 2012), replacing it with strategic hubs globally or regionally that communicates online through electronic and other efficient communication forms. As a result, a network of interconnected virtual offices serves the office instead (Vaux, 2012).
Diversification of the workforce also affects communication routine. Employees from different cultural backgrounds may communicate differently (Vaux, 2012). This may result in to confusion and disappointment at workplace.
Miscommunication may also lead to stereotyping at workplace, further aggravating strain, which may leave the organization vulnerable to legal action (Vaux, 2012). Suitable implementation of diversity in an organization generates more income from greater sales and productivity.
A diverse workforce provides additional probable solutions to challenges and a supple work environment (Vaux, 2012). Workers reflecting a broad array of experiences are likely to offer a better diversity of options, options that may never be reflected on in a less diverse work environment, and can have additional know-how in applying such options.
Diversity also offers flexibility. Flexibility, in turn, provides the company with the capacity to face problematic situations enthusiastically and, thus, react to adjustments in the general business environment (Vaux, 2012).
Diversity management is an organizational program developed and designed voluntarily. It ensures that there is more inclusion of all individuals into both the formal and informal organizational programs.
Kellogg Company
The age, gender, race, and ethnicity, and language of employees is pre-determined, the organization can have no control over these criteria. This company has found the need to transform the human resource system due to the dynamic labor force.
At the same time, this company is undergoing major changes in the nature of employment relationships. The management of this organization has realized the importance of increasing diversity in the workforce.
This company has moved away from the traditional human resource systems that were largely designed for a harmonized workforce.
The organization is undergoing challenges regarding the integration and design of some specific human resource policies such as selection and compensation, in support of the implementation of a diversity management strategy in the workplace.
Experts from diverse policy areas have come together to develop views on the significance of diversity in the workplace. This company and some other companies have been trying to improve the inclusiveness of minority employees in the workplace.
This has been achieved through positive efforts by the organizational management to improve the diversity of employees in the organization.
Diversity is also crucial in the top management team. This will determine the extent to which top management is heterogeneous with respect to the employees.
According to research, there is a significant distinction among the different kinds of diversity. Qualitative data from four different organizations indicate that the understanding of diversity is based on how the socio-demographic differences of employees affect the performance of the company.
The socio-demographic can either contribute to or hamper the performance of the organization. These understandings of diversity shape the companies approach to diversity management.
Schneider Electric in Paris
According to Schneider Electric in Paris, diversity management is the range of managerial practices that promote the career development of the minority groups. Many companies including Schneider Electric in Paris run diversity programs for minority groups.
These programs are aimed at improving recruitment, employment, retention and promotion of employees from the minority groups. These companies have also changed the ethos of the organization in relation to the diversity of the workforce.
This organization faces a paradoxical situation. If the company shuns diversity, it risk losing it competitive advantage; on the other hand, if they embrace diversity, they may experience work place conflicts. This calls for the company to weigh keenly the advantages and disadvantages of diversity.
This organization has experienced diversity as a source of innovation and creativity. Diversity has provided a basis for competitive advantage. Diversity has also been a cause of suspicion, conflict, and misunderstanding.
This has a hampering effect on the general performance of the organization. This is because the employees experience low morale and thus there are many cases of absenteeism, and poor work quality. This leads to a loss of company competitiveness.
These organizations have achieved positive results as a result of the diversity management. Diversity management in these organizations has increased the problem solving capabilities of these organizations.
As a result, diversity management has helped to increase the range of diverse customer base in the organization. This has played a significant role in improving the creativity of the workforce.
The process of globalisation has significantly affected the modern world over the last several decades. The borders between the countries and cultures gradually start to fade away. As a result, the contemporary society stops being homogeneous and begins to include more and more different people. Today, diversity has penetrated all aspects of people’s lives.
Diversity at the workplace stands for the variety of different people in the business organisations (Greendberg 2009). Addressing the issues of the diversity at the workplace and maintaining comfortable and harmonious working process for the employees of all kinds is one of the highest and most important priorities for the managers these days.
Workplace diversity includes cultural and religious differences, people’s gender, age, health and mental abilities, sexual orientation (Managing Diversity in the Workplace 2014). Diversity in the workplace is a broad subject and it directly affects the performance of the whole company, its reputation, its success on the business arena, motivation and efficient work of the employees.
The modern experts are working on creating new strategies of managing workplace diversity because they are aware that if a company fails to support its diverse workers it may start moving towards an inevitable downfall. Unresolved diversity issues at the workplace very soon become visible and start to influence the public opinion about the while company.
The contemporary world has heard multiple stories about various discrimination and ignorance issues in the biggest corporations. Every time such information appears the companies and their partners start having serious problems with the organisation and its reputation among the customers.
Failing the management of workplace diversity can create negative experience for the whole company. At the same time, the support and nurturing of diversity within the business organisation can impact the company’s performance in a very good way. One of the benefits of the properly managed workplace diversity is better performance of the employees motivated and respected by the company and happy to work with it.
Basically, the management of the workplace diversity is the proper treatment of the employees’ weaknesses and nurturing attitude towards their strengths (Ingram 2014). Another serious benefit of the workplace diversity is the increasing human capital, which brings more opportunities to the companies and allows them employ more creative projects designed for various talents (Kerby, Burns 2012).
Modern diversity in the workplace represents the ways organisations use to treat their workers (Llopis 2011). The promotion and support of the workplace diversity is highly important for the companies that base on the territories with the diverse societies. It creates plenty of benefits for the company if its workplaces resemble the communities that surround it (How to Increase Workplace Diversity 2014).
The proper management of the workplace diversity is a highly important aspect of the working process in the modern companies.
The leaders of global corporations spend a lot of effort trying to have the best human resources managers working for them in order to be able to address all of the various issues appearing at the diverse workplace and preventing the companies’ employees from being motivated and inspired during the work.
To sum up, the importance of the workplace diversity management is based on multiple benefits it brings to the companies that distribute it properly and on the number of serious threats, which await the organisations that fail to provide appropriate support to their diverse employees.
References
Greenberg, J. 2009, Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges and Solutions. Web.
Although most organisations have done a lot to ensure that they have achieved diversity at the workplace, many complaints are still being made by individuals who have been discriminated at the workplace on the basis of their religion, sex, age, and ethnic background.
However, managing workforce diversity is a real challenge to any manager because employees are from different generations and each generation has its own unique attitudes. Like other organisations, Warburtons Company has also embraced the concept of workplace diversity, and this has had both positive and negative impacts on the organisation.
To start with, implementation of workforce diversity has helped the company to reduce absenteeism cases. The company has also not incurred litigation cost associated with a violation of laws regarding workplace diversity. Customer satisfaction has also increased owing to enhanced morale among the employees. On the other hand, the implementation of workforce diversity has led to cultural resistance and language barriers.
To better management workforce diversity, the management has employed a few strategies including diversity training programs, and mentoring sessions. There is need for the management to create culturally diverse teams in order to overcome negative consequences of a diverse workforce. Senior employees should also be trained on diversity management as a way of reducing costs incurred while hiring diversity professionals.
Introduction
Diversity at the workplace refers to a situation whereby employees from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds are able to co-exist in harmony. Diversity involves such cultural elements as gender, race, color, ethnicity, age, and physical ability, among others.
In order for the workplace to be regarded as diverse, the organizational culture must enable all employees to pursue their individual career goals devoid of any race, gender, religion, nationality, or other factors that can affect their performance (Epstein 2008).
Globalization has seen the concept of diversity gain even more attention. This is because an increasingly larger number of organizations are going global in search of raw materials, affordable labor, and new markets. The following report wishes to explore the issue of workplace diversity with the Warburtons Company as a reference point. To start with, the report shall explore the literature of past studies on workplace diversity.
The various types of diversity will also be examined, such as age, ethnic/racial, sex/gender, and religious diversity. Next, both the positive and negative impacts of workplace diversity will be assessed, along with the strategies needed for managing workforce diversity. Finally, the report shall provide recommendations for dealing with the issue of workforce diversity.
Literature Review
Many organisations have achieved a lot in terms of ensuring diversity at the workplace. However, there still complaints regarding violations of equality at the workplace and as such, organisations are called upon implement policies and procedures that will enabled them achieve total equality. For this reason, there is need for organisations value diversity (Cox 2001).
To do so, organisations are called upon to ensure that they cerate awareness of the need for diversity at the workplace to their employees. This can be achieved through the adoption of educational programs. In addition, the management needs to guide their workforce in acknowledging and appreciating diversity among employees (Ollapally & Bhatnagar 2009, p. 457).
Many companies are now emphasizing on the need to embrace teamwork or group work in a bid to benefit from the competitive advantage that comes with a diverse workforce.
Some scholars have even suggested that companies should place emphasis on the recruitment exercise as the starting point for their diversity campaign. In this case, the management should endevour to recruit those employees who would be more open to diversity at the workplace.
In order for an organisation to manage diversity, managers should allow their diverse workforce to realize their full potential in undertaking the allocated responsibilities (Konrad, Prasad & Pringle 2006). Because an equitable work environment exists in a diverse organization, it also means that no employee can claim to have an advantage more than another employee.
Still, managing workforce diversity remains one of the most challenging responsibilities of a manager (Cox 2001). This is because the employees in the organisation have different demographic differences such as age, and sex, not to mention that their cultural and racial background may be very different.
In such a case, it is the responsibility of the manager to ensure that these differences do not bring divisions in the workforce (Pless & Maak 2004, p. 136). As such, managers in private and public organisations are called upon to ensure that they predict, understand and manage diversity at the workplace. It is important to note that differences in the workplace may end up complicating workplace relationships if not checked.
Kossek, Markel and McHugh (2003, p. 331) contend that the modern day workplace is made up of a workforce from different generations, each with its own unique attitudes. In addition, these generations shall also be motivated by different incentives. When a manager is handling issues of workplace diversity he/she should endeavor to acknowledge these differences in the workforce.
Most organisations are already aware that embracing diversity will go a long way towards influencing their bottom line positively. An organisation that has embraced diversity also tends to have more satisfied employees who in turn help the organisation to satisfy the needs of the customers (O’Leary & Weathington 2006, p. 4). As a result, the organization benefits from increased productivity.
Workplace diversity is beyond the issue of equity. It helps to create a workplace environment that values the differences among the various employees of an organization. In addition, such an environment also enables employees to maximize their potential (O’Leary & Weathington 2006, p. 5).
Consequently, this stimulates employees’ innovativeness and creativity and they are thus motivated to achieve their personal career goals and in the process, help the organisation to achieve its goals as well.
Managing diversity involves getting employees to deliver to their maximum potential because there is already an ideal working environment in place. It involves changing the infrastructure and culture of an organization to enable employee to deliver high levels of productivity.
If at all managers are to successfully manage workplace diversity, it is important that they replace an ethnocentric view with a culturally relative view (Cox 2001). There is need therefore to ensure that a manager takes into account such a shift in philosophy in planning and controlling the resources of the organization.
One of the best practices that a human resource manager can embrace in order to ensure that he/she is able to manage workplace diversity is motivational approaches (U. S. Department of Commerce 2000). Workplace motivation comes about when the individual needs of an employee have been fulfilled by the organization. This helps the workforce to complete organisational activities in an efficient and effective manner.
Because these needs differ from one individual to another, it is important for the human resource manager to encourage his/her workforce using different motivational tools. This helps to enhance the productivity of an organization.
Different employees come from different cultural backgrounds and as such, they come to the organisation with different values, expectations, and communication styles (Epstein 2008). It is the duty of the human resource manager to understand these employees and to ensure that they are fully integrated into the organizational culture. This helps to create an ideal working environment.
Although employees from diverse backgrounds may be characterized by the same organisational motivations, it is important for employers to appreciate the fact that there are also challenges that may accompany a diverse workforce. Diversity is crucial to organisations since with a diverse environment, employees are able to learn and benefit from the ideas of group members (Ragins 2002).
In addition, managers are slowly realizing that acknowledging differences amongst employees is also crucial in helping the company to achieve continuous improvement, high performance, improving creativity and effectiveness of the organisation (Mas & Moretti 2009, p. 114). This may call for the adoption of the right strategies to facilitate the achievement of diversity.
Many experts consider diversity programs as sound investment decisions. This has convinced an increasingly larger number of firms to adopt the concept of diversity, in a bid to acquire the associated benefits.
Types of diversity
My choice of a private organisation as a case study is Warburtons, a baking company with various branches across the UK. The following are the types of workforce diversity available at Warburtons:
Age diversity
At Warburtons, there are currently three generations of employees. These are the baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964), generations X (those born between 1965 and 1980, and generation Y (those born between 1981 and 2000). All of these employees have brought with them different worldviews, strengths, and differences to the workplace. Their workplace characteristics are also very different.
For example, with regard to the issue of work ethic and value, the baby boomers work efficiently, not to mention that most of them are workaholics. They also tend to question the authority, and have a desire for quality work (Kossek et al 2003). They are also good team players who like to communicate in person. They feel most motivated by such messages from managers as “you are needed” or “you are valued”.
On the other hand, members of generation X follow a work ethic and value whose mission is to eliminate the task at hand. They are also characterized by an entrepreneurial interactive style (Mas & Moretti 2009, p. 119). They like to receive feedback about their job and to them, the best reward is freedom.
The message from managers that seems to motivate them the most is “forget the rules” and “do it your way”. In contrast, members of generation Y are characterized by a multitasking work ethic (Ollapally & Bhatnagar 2009, p. 460). They tend to be entrepreneurial, goal oriented, and tolerant. For them, work is a fulfillment.
Ethnic/racial diversity
At Warburtons, we have employees from diverse ethnic/racial settings. The management does not discriminate on account of one’s racial or ethnic background. Consequently, we have Britons, Asians, people of and African descent working at the different branches of Warburtons.
Religious diversity
Our company believes in religious diversity. People of different faith have been employed by the company. Usually, this is not a very big issue considering that Warburton is not a fait-based company. As such, it does not seek employees who subscribe to certain religious or ideological values. I have worked with some workmates who are Catholics by faith, while others are Protestants, Muslims, and even non-believers.
Sex/Gender diversity
Warburtons is an equal opportunity employer. Males work alongside their female counterparts. The most important thing is to possess the skill, experience, and passion that are normally required by the management to undertake a given task at hand. The company treats each employee as a unique individual.
This makes employees to feel appreciated. As a result, the company has benefited from creating a gender balance at the workplace as evidenced by enhanced employee morale and team performance, higher employee retention rates, reduced cases of sexual harassment, and enhanced diversity recruitment.
Impact of workforce diversity
Embracing workforce diversity has had its positive and negative impacts on Warburtons
Positive impacts
Implementation of workforce diversity has helped Warburtons to avoid some of the litigation costs associated with discrimination on the basis of sex, age, religion, and disability, among other forms of discrimination.
In addition, workforce diversity has also enabled Warburtons to enhance access to newer segments of the market. This is because the firm has come to be associated as a diverse workplace and as such, customers readily accept it and would want to be associated with a firm that values diversity amongst the workforce.
The company has also benefited from reduced absenteeism rates, because employees feel appreciates and hence, they are motivated to report to work every day. Labour turnover at Warburtons has also reduced markedly, and this has enabled the company to rise above labour shortages.
Workforce diversity has also allowed Warburtons to realize improved customer satisfactions and service levels. In addition, there has also been enhanced creativity and innovations amongst the employees because the management recognizes their differences and allows them to do their job the best way they know how.
This has enabled the company to not only attract, but also retain talented individuals. The company’s corporate reputation has also improved, in effect strengthening its cultural values as well.
Negative impacts
Since the workforce at Warburtons is made up of employees from different countries and cultures, this has led to an increase in language barriers and communication filters. Consequently, this has affected both the internal as well as the external communication processes in the organisation. Another limitation of embracing workforce diversity at Warburtons is that issue of cultural resistance.
This creates poor workplace morale and affects working relationships negatively. In addition, the company has over the years spent a lot of money to f hire outside professionals and consultants in a bid to integrate diversity at the workplace. Other costs that the company has incurred include money spent to train employees on diversity management.
Strategies for managing workforce diversity
In a bid to manage workforce diversity at Warburtons, the management has employed a number of strategies to facilitate the success of this mission. One such strategy is diversity training program aimed at changing the behaviour and attitude of the employees. The intention is to minimise subtle types of exclusion and discrimination that may stand in the way of effective working relationships.
Ford and Fisher (1996) recognise three forms of diversity training objectives. One objective involves programs that enhance assimilation by providing education to minority cultures on the goals and norms to minority cultures that characterises dominant cultures.
The other form of diversity training stresses on multiculturalism. In this case, people of different cultural backgrounds are allowed to retain fundamental components of their culture. The third form of training involves topics that include prejudice, stereotyping, attitudes and communication styles.
The management at Warburtons has recognized the need to combine a number of diversity initiatives in order to achieve the most effective training requirements.
It is important to ensure that diversity training is not used as a standalone strategy; rather it ought to be part of a firm’s comprehensive diversity strategy (Jayne & Dipboye 2004, p. 411). However, when used as part of an organisation’s comprehensive strategy, diversity training has the potential to move the organisation forward.
Another strategy of managing workforce diversity that the management at Warburtons has adopted is mentoring. In this case, the aim is to bring change at the individual level.
The management matches senior employees (in this case, the mentor) with junior employees. The aim is to ensure that the under-represented demographic groups are able to break through the ‘glass ceiling’ at the organization (European Commission 2003).
On the other hand, formal mentoring programs involve the establishment of a structure that allows for pairing of individuals. In their study that involved carrying out of a mail survey to determine mentoring, Ragins, Cotton and Miller (2000) revealed that when employees are satisfied with a mentoring program, this has a strong influence on some of their career attitudes, including job satisfaction, commitment, perception of organisational justice, as well as intention to turnover.
On the other hand, Ragins (2002) has noted that individuals belonging to the conventional out-groups may not benefit much form formal human resource diversity strategies. For this reason, it is important for organisations to recognise those mentoring programs that will enable employees deal with their jobs and their lives as well.
The company also considers education as a vital tool in providing employees with the necessary skills to deal with the issue of workplace diversity. In addition, educating employees on the need to embrace cultural diversity also helps them to fully understand the nature of the cultural mix at the workplace (Kreitz 2008, p. 104).
In addition, educating employees on the need to embrace diversity at the workplace enables employees integrate well with other employees within the company. This creates an ideal working environment whereby employees are able to accomplish their jobs effectively, not to mention that they also have a chance to advance in their careers.
There is need for organisations to ensure that their employees are able to access the most significant skills that will enable them to work well in a multicultural environment (Epstein 2008). This is important, so that employees can fully understand and appreciate the values, cultures, attitudes, beliefs, strengths, weaknesses, and behaviours of their fellow employees.
The management at Warburtons also developed a number of organisational policies that ensures that all employees are treated with fairness and equality. Diversity experts concur that there is need for an organisation to keep on revising its organisational procedures and policies in order to accommodate the diverse needs of their diverse workforce (Kossek 2003, p. 335).
They include changing recruitment policies to allow the organisation undertake the recruitment exercise while fully conscious of the need to have a diverse workforce.
Whereas the issue of diversity with regard to recruitment has not really been a big issue at Warburtons, nonetheless, the organisation has deemed it necessary to make a number of policy changes in order sustain diversity amongst its workforce. Some of these changes have to do with implementation of flexible working hours, as well as ensuring that all the workers have access to pay equity.
Conclusion
Managers are always concerned with the issue of ensuring diversity at the workplace. To do so, managers must ensure that the workforce is motivated enough to work in a diverse environment characterised by individuals from different cultural, racial/ethnic, and religious backgrounds. The various types of workplace diversity available at Warburtons have been explored.
The company has a workforce from diverse age, gender/sex, religious and ethnic backgrounds. In order to sustain diversity at the workplace, some of the strategies that the company has adopted include employee training programs on diversity, mentoring programs, and the adoption of organisational policies that ensures that all employees are treated with fairness and equality.
Recommendations
Although the company has endeavoured to enhance workplace diversity by adopting appropriate strategies, there are certain areas that need to be addressed.
In order to overcome the challenges of cultural resistance that is still present among the company’s workforce, the management at Warburtons should consider creating teams made up of employees from diverse cultural backgrounds. This will help them to gel and appreciate their differences.
The company should also train some of the senior employees on diversity management so that they can in turn train other employees in future. This will help the organisations to cut down on the cost of having to hire diversity management professions and consultants every year.
Reference List
Cox, T 2001, Creating the multicultural organization: A strategy for capturing the power of diversity, Jossey Bass, San Francisco.
Epstein, MJ 2008, Making Sustainability Work: Best Practices in Managing and Measuring Corporate Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts, Berrett-Koehler Publishers. San Francisco, California.
European Commission 2003. The costs and benefits of diversity. Web.
Ford, J & Fisher, S 1996, The role of training in a changing workplace and workforce: New perspectives and approaches. In E. Kossek & S. Lobel (Eds), Managing diversity: Human resource strategies for transforming the workplace, Blackwell, Oxford.
Jayne, EA & Dipboye, RL 2004, ‘Leveraging diversity to improve business performance: research findings & recommendations for organisations’, Human Resource Management, Winter, vol 43, no. 4, pp 409-424.
Konrad, AM, Prasad, P & Pringle, JK 2006, Handbook of Workplace Diversity Sage, London.
Kossek, E, Markel, K, & McHugh, P 2003,’ Increasing diversity as an HRM change Strategy’, Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 16, pp. 328–52.
Kreitz, PA 2008,’ Best Practices for Managing Organizational Diversity’, The Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 101-120.
Mas, A & Moretti, E 2009,’Peers at work’, American Economic Review, vol. 99, pp. 112- 145.
Ollapally, A & Bhatnagar J 2009, ‘The Holistic Approach to Diversity Management: HR Implications, The Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, January, vol 44, no. 3, pp 454 472.
O’Leary, BJ & Weathington, BL 2006, ‘Beyond the Business Case for Diversity in Organisations’, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, vol 18, issue 4, pp 1-10.
Pless, NM & Maak, T 2004, ‘Building an Inclusive Diversity Culture: Principles, Process, and Practice’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol 54, no. 2, pp 129-147.
Ragins, B 2002, Understanding diversified mentoring relationships: Definitions, strategies, and challenges. In D. Clutterbuck & B. Ragins (Eds), Mentoring and diversity: An international perspective, Butterworth–Heinnman, Oxford.
Ragins, B, Cotton, J & Miller, J 2000,’ Marginal mentoring: The effects of type of mentor, quality or relationship and program design on work and career attitudes’, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 43, pp. 1177–94.
Based on the content presented in the articles Rethinking Diversity in Public Organizations for the 21st Century: Moving Toward a Multicultural Model and The Ideal of Diversity in Organizations, I have stood a chance to identify two outstanding democratic principles: transparency and team spirit. The paper discusses about the two in relation to workplace diversity.
Transparency refers to the openness of an organizational culture. When the executives in an organization are free with critical information concerning the organization’s daily running of affairs, then the organization is transparent. It is being aware of the “everyone ultimately discovers everything” theory, and therefore engaging a book communication policy (Carr-Ruffino, 1996, p. 56).
This brings in a situation whereby information such as interviewing procedure, promotion criteria, and other career information is freely shared with the workers so that they feel included in the running of the organization. Team spirit, as a democratic principle too simply refers to the establishment of a collective intelligence pool.
This happens when different people come together to contribute and/or participate in the sharing of ideas for decision-making (Hellriegel, & Slocum, 2007, p. 89). At this stage, differences such as educational level, work and life experiences, marital status, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic backgrounds and even personalities are exploited to solve the problem at hand.
People nurture unity despite the differences actually using the differences as a means to a common end. A case when those with a wealthy work experience in a certain field provide mentorship for the less seasoned members of staff provides a good illustration of team spirit.
In a further analysis of the aforementioned principles, one should note how instrumental diversity is, in the workplace, based on the application of the two democratic processes. It is also important to state here that diversity in itself does, not only promote the principles, but also provides an ambient environment for their manifestation in a workplace scenario (Denhardt, Vinzant, & Aristigueta, 2002, p. 98).
It stands out as the fabric where optimal profitability is woven, using the democratic principles as the weaving tool. Diversity demands the provision of an equal consideration as well as opportunities during employment processes for women and other minority groups including different races and people with disabilities.
It also requires an organization to provide equal opportunities for its entire staff to climb the corporate ladder in direct proportion to their efforts (Denhardt, Vinzant, & Aristigueta, 2002, p. 109). When an organization acquires diversity, there is enough variety among its staff to constitute comprehensive teams.
Such a case will equip all the people with all types of information, ideas, practices and other insightful aspects necessary for the smooth running of work. Diversity also implies a less room for employees to form counterproductive ‘cliques’ among themselves, as all admitting the joy behind diversity thereby creating a need to befriend somebody new at work (Carr-Ruffino, 1996, p. 67).
Concerning openness, a diversified workplace consists of very different individuals who freely share ideas and insights freely presenting their perspectives on various agendas. When this is the case, one will expect executives to be forthright with information. They stand a chance to give comprehensive information on various business deals, recruitment outcomes, and career-oriented data.
This is only possible if there are people who can courageously request such information. However, one cannot expect such from ‘allied associates’ who have similar interests with the bosses. Diversity counters this situation by destroying the ‘comfort zone’ many executives tend to develop when they surround themselves with familiar friendly faces. Overall transparency is therefore demanded, and maintained when a workplace is diversified.
In conclusion, based on this analysis, diversity is important in any workplace if one or a society wishes to manifest results, in terms of profitability, and loyalty of employees. In its presence, the democratic principles mentioned above will flourish in an organization.
When transparency prevails, employees trust the decisions and strategies made by the management. thereby boosting their willingness to comply with the rules and regulations (Hellriegel, & Slocum, 2007, p. 99).
This follows because these employees remain involved in decision-making processes where they scoop a chance to claim ownership of the outcomes. Delegation of authority is also common in such an organization. It results to an optimum production of programs, services, and quality products with minimalist management.
References
Carr-Ruffino, N. (1996). Managing diversity: people skills for a multicultural workplace. Cincinnati, Ohio: Thomson Executive Press.
Denhardt, B., Vinzant, J., & Aristigueta, M. (2002). Managing human behavior in public & nonprofit organizations. Chicago: SAGE.
Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, W. (2007). Organizational behavior. New York: Cengage Learning.
A summary of the paper shows that the debate focuses on the impact of implementing a diversity training program to fight workplace discrimination.
Organisations implement diversity training programs as an afterthought when they have lost cases of employee discrimination. The paper discusses the advantages, disadvantages, and the practical implications of the diversity training program using different and practical examples.
The advantages of workplace diversity programs include the ability to transform individuals to enrich their knowledge, respond to social needs, improve intra-group and interpersonal relationships, address personal prejudice, avoid impulse management, practice personal accountability, improve problem solving abilities, become a better workforce, plan well, and attain greater levels of complexity for the organisation to achieve competitive advantage in its operations (Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter & Ng 2001).
According to DeFour, David, Diaz and Thompkins (2003, p.34), the disadvantages of the diversity training program include the people’s poor perspectives on culture and diversity, which increases stereotyping and fosters feelings of racism among employees.
According to Zeidner, Matthews and Roberts (2004, p.45), the academic perspective of the debate from the side of employee is based on the heterogeneity and identity of a diverse workforce, which from a practical perspective is influenced by the behavior and interactions among organisational employees.
The underpinning factors include leadership, comparative values, demographics, organisational culture, comparative attitudes, conflicts, individual psychology, and social psychology and their impact on workplace discrimination.
Adopting the diversity training program could have an effect on the approach organisations use to retain a pool of talented employees, their recruitment and retention capabilities and the effect on innovation, strategy accomplishment, and individual complexity.
Here, the manager’s perspective is based on the views by Salin (2003, p.1213), Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee and Podsakoff (2003, p. 900), and Mavin and Girling (2000, p.430) who argue that the role of the manager is to implement programs to empower people with the right attitudes and knowledge at organisational, group, and individual levels to fight and overcome workplace discrimination.
According to Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter and Ng (2001, p. 435), the next perspective is anchored on the organisational response to the impact of the legal and political environment, which introduce diversity training programs when they have lost cases against discrimination.
Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter and Ng (2001, p. 435) argue that managers focus on the diversity training programs as the most reliable diversity management tool. Organisations focus on organisational function, gender, cognitive style, and personality to improve the perceptions and behavior of employee towards each other and to make them cope with workplace diversity.
However, Chiaburu and Harrison (2008, p.1090) support opponents to both perspectives by arguing that diversity training might not be very useful, but are gateways of increasing discrimination at the workplace.
Chiaburu and Harrison (2008, p.1091) support the position with practical examples by affirming that when such a program was introduced in one organisation, the number of white women promoted increased and that of black women demoted increased.
In another organisation, students showed more bias towards older people, which made more people to develop ill feelings towards their colleagues and an increase in cultural diversity and stereotyping was noted.
From the debate, it is recommended that organisations can implement workplace diversity programs as the best approach to overcome stereotyping by strategically integrating the program into the culture of the organisation.
References
Chiaburu, DS & Harrison, DA 2008, ‘Do peers make the place? Conceptual synthesis and meta-analysis of coworker effects on perceptions, attitudes, OCBs, and performance’. Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 5, no. 93, pp. 1082-1098.
Colquitt, JA, Conlon, D E, Wesson, MJ, Porter, CO & Ng, KY 2001, ‘Justice at the millennium: a meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research’, Journal of applied psychology, vol. 3, no. 86, pp. 425-450
DeFour, DC, David, G, Diaz, FJ & Thompkins, S 2003, ‘The interface of race, sex, sexual orientation, and ethnicity in understanding sexual harassment’, Academic and workplace sexual harassment: A handbook of cultural, social science, management, and legal perspectives, vol. 1, no.1, pp. 31-45.
Mavin, S & Girling, G 2000, ‘What is managing diversity and why does it matter?’, Human Resource Development International, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 419-433.
Podsakoff, PM, MacKenzie, SB, Lee, JY & Podsakoff, NP 2003, ‘Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies’, Journal of applied psychology, vol. 5, no. 88, pp. 879-900
Salin, D 2003, Ways of explaining workplace bullying: A review of enabling, motivating and precipitating structures and processes in the work environment. Human relations, vol. 10, no. 56, pp. 1213-1232.
Zeidner, M, Matthews, G & Roberts, RD 2004, ‘Emotional intelligence in the workplace: A critical review’, Applied Psychology, vol. 3, no. 53, pp. 371-399.