Understanding Workforce Diversity Through Human Resource Management Business Essay

 Workforce diversity leads to the diversification of business management. Managing and taking advantage of diversity has been recognized as an important factor in organizational enhancement (Brian, O’Leary, & Weathington, 2006, p.297). HRM includes the understanding of cultural diversity and makes full use of these diverse cultures to find new approach. The present challenges and opportunities organizations facing is how to correctly handle diversity. Motorola was chosen as the case in the part. As a multinational company, Motorola attaches great importance to HRM. The biggest challenge of HRM is diversity management. Some diversity procedures are designed to avoid litigation, while others focus on employee training for developing awareness of and sensitivity to discriminatory and prejudicial behaviors (Carolyn, Chavez and Judith, 2008, p.333). Managing diversity includes human resource planning, recruitment, training, employee relations, compensation and benefits, and career planning (in table 1). They are analyzed as following.

Human resources strategic planning

The appropriate employees Motorola need would significant change when business strategy changed, such as Motorola changed phones from analog to digital. Human resources departments should adjust the demand coping with this change and make new planning.

Recruitment

In recruitment, human resources department has a special sub-division. Some people take responsibly to search talents from various sources, some are responsible for recruiting on campus and some are focus on “balance” of staff, such as the balance of the male and the female in China. The ratio of the male and the female is almost equal in Motorola. There are 664 managers, and manageress is 23% of the total. The ratio plans to be rise to 40%.

Training

Specialized training institutions are provided by Motorola– University. The training is not only to internal staff, but also to customers. Motorola put a lot of manpower, material and financial resources for Staff training every year and provides each employee 40 hours at least to accept work-related learning. Learning content includes job training, corporate culture training, professional skills training, management skills training, language training and overseas training. In training, there are also management and technical courses. Secondary school graduates could be managers. That means technical staff can engage in management as well as management staff being technology.

Compensation & Benefits

Motorola has a very comprehensive welfare system, including fixed salary, variable salary, bonuses, insurance, and welfare. HR department make a competitive compensation and benefits system every year according to market research. The key for employers is to make diversity an asset within the organization. (Neil & Reichenberg, 2001, p.8).

Career planning

Motorola provide development opportunities for staff, such as training, job planning. So staffs enable to constantly adapt the transformations in the new organizational structure. Staff development plans were formulated and implemented according to business development. Organizational structure is redesigned if the agency is reorganized, so are staff development plans.

Others

Motorola is focused on others of staff management. The information systems department is the special one to put human resources-related information online so that staff can search human resources policies, and personal information. HR department has their publication. Management staff meetings are organized every season and so on. All these promote corporate culture, and communication between staff.

Advantages and disadvantages

As a global enterprise, diversity management is reflected in the long-term planning and development as well as in ways adapting to the market, and reducing management cost. The advantages and disadvantages of diversity management in Motorola are as following:

Advantages

HR is not a “control department”, but a service one which meet the need of employees and operations in Motorola. All functions of human resources department are to satisfy two requirements: business needs and employee needs. Motorola has also emphasis on the partnership between employees and executives. The change is not change of concept, but a deeper innovation. This approach gives staff greater autonomy and democracy. On the other hand, it is the liberation of the managers’ thoughts. The relationship between employees and supervisors will be more harmonious with this concept. They are more mutual assistance and progress, which is the work and tasks diversity management commit to do.

Attach importance to staff personal development

HR departments often communicate with a staff to help him design career and life and establish the performance evaluation system with it. U.S. managers perceive diversity management as a means to better use talent and to increase creativity within organizations (Gilbert & Ivancevich, 2000, p. 98). HR is no longer a harsh supervision, but a service and support department to meet their needs. Staff’s initiative, enthusiasm and creativity are driven with Common interests and goals. Employee loyalty is greatly enhanced. Turnover rate is very low in Motorola.

Emphasis on the assessment of training

Training is important¼Œbut Motorola has also established post-training evaluation system: examining the response of employees¼Œexamining the mastery if contents, examining whether staff transfer the knowledge into corresponding ability and finally examining benefits that investment in training bring to the division and employees.

Disadvantages

Objective of diversity management is to improve social productivity and organizational efficiency. But cultural conflict could also be more and more evident with a higher level of diversity management. Managers from different cultural backgrounds could take different behaviors because of different values so that cultural conflict is there. In the internal management, different values, goals and norms of behavior lead to administrative costs increased and difficulty of coordination and even low efficiency of operation. In the external business, cultural conflict may be affect market competition. Tregaskis suggests that combining ideas must consider the conflict between the need both for conformity and for differentiation, and consider the diversity of institutional contexts influencing multinationals’ operations’. (Gunter, Stahl & Ingmar, 2006, p.19)

Conclusion

With the globalization, geographical mobility and changes in population structure, labor structure has great changes. A variety of labors result in managing diverse in organization and management. On the same time, diverse management also affects policy of human resource management, recruitment, education and training, welfare and compensation and performance evaluation and development. It will become a reality to strengthen workforce diversity management. Organizations should not only accommodate diversity, but also promote it, so as to develop competitive advantage. In the report, understanding and knowledge of managing diversity were stated. Advantages and disadvantages of diversity management in organization were discussed. Two big large organizations were chosen as the cases to analyze the steps of human resources management. The second organization was Motorola. Some aspects were discussed from human resource planning, recruitment, training, employee relations, compensation and benefits, and career planning. Finally advantages and disadvantages of Motorola were also analyzed. It is critical that g the multidimensionality of “diversity” was studied in organizations to build on diversity’s strengths and address its weaknesses (Brian, O’Leary, & Weathington, 2006, p.289). Diversity management of both organizations showed that managing diversity an organization could treat employees fairly, respect them for their full development and make good use of employees’ ability and potential. Managing diversity improve an organization’s profitability.