The Impact of Diversity towards Employee’s Behaviour in an Organization

Introduction

Diversity is an important contributor to the development of employees’ behavior in an organization. The changing global marketplace is increasingly diversifying the workforce in firms owing to the factor of globalization. The market demands diversity and inclusion for any company to do well.  Similarly, employees need a good work environment for them to do well in any of their activities. Diversity is one of the features of a firm that shape the conduct of workers and determine the fate of the business. It has both positive and negative effects on the behavior of employees.  Analysis of the impacts of diversity explains the several ways in which it impacts the behavior of employees in an organization.

Importance of diversity on organizational behavior

The behavior of employees is largely impacted by the presence or absence of diversity in the firm. One of the most important effects of diversity on the behavior of employees is promoting individuality (Kumar & Suresh 50). Diversity acknowledges that every person has a different contribution from other peoples’ ideas. Individual skills and experiences are, in this way, identified and recognized as unique and helpful to the welfare of the business. People feel appreciated and useful to the organization when their ideas are recognized as important to the company.  On the contrary, businesses that have a singular culture tend to have a monotony of ideas. People from the same culture tend to contribute the same ideas owing to the similarity in experiences. In such organizations, some people may not feel appreciated since they contribute the same ideas as everyone else. It makes them feel unproductive and unworthy of the perks gained from the company.

Feeling appreciated in the organization positively affects the morale of employees. Positive feedback from the management or team members tends to magnify the positive aspect of a person. It motivates them to contribute better ideas in the future (Jayawardana & Priyashantha 435). By so doing, it increases their productivity. Organizations that incorporate different cultures gain from the willingness of the employees to deliver good results in all their job activities. Recognition through promotion or salary increment without discrimination motivates workers to deliver better results. Diversity does not only mean the inclusion of people from diverse cultures and identities.  It also means appreciating all people as equal through tangible actions, such as offering equal promotion chances. By so doing, employees feel that their hard work is appreciated and that there is room for growth if they put more effort. Competition is better amongst people who are diverse than those who are similar in many aspects. It is through the competition for better salaries and promotion that employees do better at their work.

Exposure to diversity improves the connection abilities of employees. People who work in firms that appreciate diversity are exposed to multiple ideas and diverse ways of handling issues.  They are also exposed to different personalities and cultural orientations (Jayawardana & Priyashantha 435). Their interaction with diverse people expands their scope of experiences.  They gain the ability to relate with other people of different orientations. It is in this expansion of abilities that they grow professionally owing to the ability to accommodate other people’s ideas and contributions better.  Organizations need people who can tolerate each other and develop ideas together for the benefit of the business.  Failure to do so would result in the slow growth of the company.  Businesses need diversity for the benefit of both the employees and the firm. All stakeholders depend on the welfare of the employees as well as the business.

Impact of diversity on the organization

Diversity enables comprehensive thinking. Organizations that choose to incorporate people from different cultures reap the benefit of diverse opinions in important matters of the firm.  People from different cultures have different ideas and methods of goal achievement (Haji 33).  Each person in an organization has a different way of thinking, owing to the difference in background and experiences. Incorporating different people into the organization enables it to gain from diverse thinking perspectives.  It is in this thinking diversity that the organization gains different ideas on how to handle the different issues affecting it as well as the perspectives needed to empower the growth of the company. Different ideas are needed for the wellbeing of the firm.  It is hard for the organization to advance with similar ideas. Lack of diversity in thinking patterns minimizes the skills and experiences needed for improvement.  On the contrary, a diversity of ideas ensures that the organization has enough psychological resources to advance to the subsequent upper levels.

Close to gaining new ideas is the improvement of the problem-solving ability of an organization. The dynamism of the world demands a change in thinking patterns. It creates new problems that can hardly be solved with old ideas. On the contrary, the incorporation of different ideas eases the problem-solving process. The ideas of each individual are an important addition to the process. They create an aura of creativity and broad-mindedness (Haji 79). If introduced as a new policy in the organization, diversity brings with it a new generation of ideas that match the needs of the organization. Injection of the new ideas enables the problem-solving team to make significant advancement towards finding the ultimate solution needed in the specific situation at hand.  The new ideas are needed to solve the new problems that keep arising. By so doing, the introduction of new ideas solves the problems that may arise in the numerous processes of the organization.

The presence of diversity in an organization also enables a paradigm shift. Employees in every organization need to keep changing in their thinking patterns (Kumar & Suresh 51). It is the only way in which they can maintain their ability to compete with other organizations in the industries in which they operate. It is also the easiest way of outdoing other firms. Companies grow through the creation of new ideas and the adoption of others that are better than what is already present in the organization. Creative thinking is the ultimate enabler of making the change needed for the improvement of a firm. The introduction of new ideas in the organization creates an environment in which people can learn from each other. It enables the employees to learn the thinking patterns of each other. By so doing, they adopt different strategies of solving problems and making the necessary adjustments. It is through creative thinking that companies accelerate towards achievement, solve conflicts with positive impacts, and create a permanent solution for problems, amongst other important additions.

The decision-making process of the organization is more productive when there is diversity.  A significant number of organizations around the world rely on the power of synergy in the decision-making process (Jayawardana & Priyashantha 443).  They arrange decision-making groups and mandate them to formulate solutions that can change the course of the organization towards improvement. The duty is, however, harder for the boards that are composed of similar cultures. Such like-minded persons find it harder to make decisions that are informed owing to the singularity of thinking patterns. They need in-depth researches into a wide range of issues, an activity that demands time and resources. On the contrary, a board of decision-makers that has a wide range of thinking patterns from which they can draw ideas has a better chance of achieving the set threshold.  They make informed and impactful decisions owing to the diversity in skills and experiences. It is by incorporating a wide range of persons in the decision-making processes of every department that an organization gains the necessary drift towards success.

Firms that incorporate diverse cultures easily overcome cultural shocks. Businesses need to cushion themselves from the possibility of being negatively impacted by differences in cultures upon expansion (Kumar & Suresh 49). Usually, the expansion brings a multiplicity of challenges, owing to the difference in patterns of handling issues between different cultures. The language barrier, for example, makes it hard for the company to make any significant steps towards improving the communication between a firm and its customers as well as other stakeholders.  The presence of persons who can speak similar languages with the local people of a new environment improves the welfare of a company. One of the most important aspects in which it helps the company is by enabling proper communication.  Communication is a key aspect of the welfare of a business. More importantly, it creates a positive image of the organization. Employees are better able to relate with the local population if a business has established a good rapport with the customers as opposed to when there is a sense of difference in their relationship.

A diverse composition of employees also informs the organization of the risks of expansion. The expansion of business demands a careful evaluation of the places to which the firm will cover (Jayawardana & Priyashantha 443). Prior experience of living in the new regions or relating to the residents is an added advantage to the organization.  It ensures that the decisions made in the expansion process are informed and capable of helping the business to overcome a majority of the potential challenges. Employees with previous experience in such areas are, for this reason, a major asset in the business.  They ensure that the business makes the right decisions and implements them in the most appropriate ways. Adding a diverse population to the business is, for this reason, an important aspect of the success of the business. On the contrary, reliance on researched information may create setbacks in the organization. It may cause a wide range of challenges to the business owing to the novelty in the culture and business landscape of new areas of operation.

Employers in a diverse working environment also help in reducing the costs of expansion. Firms need to reduce the costs of expansion.  One of the most important issues in the expansion activity is familiarising the workers with the dynamics of the new area of operation (Kumar & Suresh 48). They need to learn the new environment for them to easily relate with the customers and other stakeholders from the new culture. Doing so demands time and financial resources. Also, the employees need time for them to learn the new culture and internalize it as they did in the other cultures in which they were previously dealing. Curbing these internally-generated issues demands the involvement of people who are familiar with new environments and cultures.  It is only by so doing that the firm can minimize the time taken to instill useful knowledge of the employees into the new cultures as well as the resources needed to do so.  Knowledgeable employees assist the others in their activities to ensure that they are well incorporated into the new cultures.

Cultural diversity is equally important in the offline to online activities of a business. The contemporary age of widespread use of technology demands a shift from the brick-and-mortar way of operation to online selling or a combination of both (Ghazzawi 63).  A large number of consumers are taking advantage of the ease of use of the internet in purchasing from the comfort of their usual environment. Similarly, a large number of organizations are fast evolving from the traditional way of operation to the online marketplace owing to its ability to deliver to customers the convenience that they need. A diverse workforce is an important asset to the company in such times.  It gives the organization to have a multiplicity of strategies, perspectives and approaches in launching the new marketplace.  It is through the knowledge and contribution of the employees that the organization succeeds in the new online environment.

Employees from different cultures assist in ensuring success in diverse cultures. They are important enablers of the processes of pricing, marketing, and other activities that need to be diverse for the company to succeed in several diverse cultures (Kumar & Suresh 48). It is hard for a company to succeed in several cultures without involving diverse ideas in such matters.  The knowledge and expertise enable more effective idea creation processes, formulation of marketing plans, and assessment of emerging. It also ensures that the design of operation in the new places is effective in all important aspects.  The diverse workforce assists the firm to dominate in the different cultures through avoidance, compromise, accommodation, and synergy. The synergy developed for online activities is especially of great significance to the organization. Employees gain the value needed to place the firm in the place of excellence without losing individual cultures.

Diversity in the organization also ensures the success of the firm through the formulation of an integrative culture. Different cultures have, unlike strengths and weaknesses.  They have the potential to create one strong culture through the combination of the strengths and the correction of the negative aspects of the same (Ghazzawi 25). These activities are possible through the engagement of employees with each other. On the contrary, it is impossible for them to do the same if they are from the same culture. It is difficult to formulate an integrative culture for both the internal operations of the organization and in relating with different customers. Organizations that seek strength through integration are, in most cases, better than those that seek expertise from a single culture in the aspects of communication within the firm and in outbound communications owing to the ability of employees to tolerate differences.

Employees are unlikely to leave for other companies when they are in an inclusive firm. Workers feel accepted and valued in an organization that values diverse views (Kumar & Suresh 50).  People are different in personality, similar to how they are different in paradigms if they are from different cultures.  They seek comfort in being appreciated and accepted into a culture that is conscious of the differences. Failure to realize the differences has a negative impact on them and usually results in dissatisfaction. Dissatisfied employees tend to leave any time, an issue that negatively affects the organization. On the contrary, satisfaction achieved through appeal to the diverse personalities and paradigms has the potential to keep the employees in-tacked without much struggle. It is through the happiness achieved by appreciating people’s diverse orientations that the company reduces the rate of employee turnover. It is an important engagement for the firm to ensure that the employees remain in the firm for long.

A similar issue to job satisfaction is the willingness to work in firms that have a positive reputation. Companies that appreciate diversity gain a positive reputation that attracts top talent. The reputation of a company precedes it when seeking employees (Ghazzawi 51).  People are unwilling to work in places that they feel may negatively impact their emotions when doing their jobs. Discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation, race, or any other identities spells doom for people who are seeking growth in career or job satisfaction. On the contrary, companies with a reputation of integrating different identities into the culture attract people with useful skills and experiences who are seeking growth while offering value to the company. Such companies seem humane and socially responsible.  They also seem interesting to work for and relate within various aspects of the brand. It is for this reason that they achieve effectiveness more easily than companies that do not incorporate different identities and cultures owing to the willingness of people to apply and work with appreciation.

A negative impact of diversity on employee behavior is the development of interpersonal conflicts. Cultures are different in the ways that they handle activities. People from diverse cultures are, for this reason, differently oriented in thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and customs (Haji 4).  The diverse dimensions of the employees are usually manifest in identities, such as race, sex, and ethnicity, amongst others. It is, in most cases, a difficult activity to change the individual orientation of employees. The socially constructed ideas regarding other people of different cultures are ingrained in the majority of people. They are hard to eliminate for employees to see each other as equals regardless of their identities. They need to unlearn and learn new ideas regarding each other’s identity. The difficulty in relating to each other has the potential to cause interpersonal conflicts.

It is also difficult to develop a unity of purpose amongst employees of diverse thinking patterns. Differences in political ideologies and religion, amongst other issues, are negatively manifest in pastime activities as well as active engagement in the normal activities of the organization (Ghazzawi 3). They create rifts and unhealthy boundaries amongst employees. The dissimilarities in cultural orientation reduce cohesion. On the contrary, similarity in the same increase cohesion. It is upon the leadership of the organization to choose the lesser evil since similarity also has its negative effects on the firm in its entirety.  Choosing diversity is, in most cases, more productive than similarity.  In doing so, however, the administration must be ready to face the negative issue of constant conflicts even in matters that may be considered trivial. Failure to address the issue may lead to the inability of the workers to deliver accordingly, owing to the lack of cohesion in seeking goal achievement.

Diversity also creates bureaucracy. The ability of people to contribute divergent ideas develops confusion. The ideas need careful evaluation to find out the best choice with minimal negative effects and the highest positive effects (Kumar & Suresh 51). Doing so takes time and demands the use of several resources.  It creates long processes in making decisions and leads to the delay of action. On the contrary, organizations that are not diverse and inclusive take less time to raise ideas, make decisions, and implement them. The ideas raised by one person are easily agreeable amongst the other people. The decision-making process is, for this reason, easy and fast.  People are also satisfied with the decisions since they are of the same opinion.  Taking into consideration the additional ideas of other people to the main idea may be a good way of making strong decisions.  The decisions are, however, likely to be less effective than those raised by a diverse team. The diverse team chooses the best idea out of several other good ideas and concentrate on making it stronger.

Conclusion

Creating a diverse team of employees impacts their behavior in several ways.  Among the most noticeable impacts on employees is gaining morale, exposure to new ideas and thinking patterns, and improvement in productivity. It also improves their creativity, enables them to raise impactful ideas, and make decisions that are informed. It is through diversity that firms succeed in new markets that are different in cultural orientation, including the trending online marketplace. Diversity is, however, a cause of conflicts amongst the workers, a source of disunity in achieving the set goals, and a magnifier of bureaucracy. It is, however, an important ingredient in shaping the behavior of employees for the welfare of both the workforce and the company.