Diversity (business) - Challenges

Challenges

One of the greatest challenges an organization has when trying to adopt a more inclusive environment is assimilation for any member outside of the dominant group. A number of scholars have studied the interplay between power, ideology, and discursive acts which serve to reinforce the hegemonic structure of organizations. Everything from organizational symbols, rituals, and stories serve to maintain the position of power held by the dominant group. Extending this concept to diversity inclusion where organizations seek to hire or promote individuals that are not part of this dominant group into management positions, a difficult tension develops between the socially constructed organizational norm and acceptance of cultural diversity. Often these individuals are mentored and coached to adopt the necessary traits for inclusion into the privileged group as opposed to being embraced for their differences. According to the journal article "Cultural Diversity in the Workplace: The State of the Field", Marlene G. Fine explains that "those who assimilate are denied the ability to express their genuine selves in the workplace; they are forced to repress significant parts of their lives within a social context that frames a large part of their daily encounters with other people". Fine goes on to mention that "People who spend significant amounts of energy coping with an alien environment have less energy left to do their jobs. Assimilation does not just create a situation in which people who are different are likely to fail, it also decreases the productivity of organizations".

Another challenge faced by organizations striving to foster a more diverse workforce is the management of a diverse population. Managing diversity is more than simply acknowledging differences in people. A number of organizational theorists have suggested that work-teams which are highly diverse can be difficult to motivate and manage for a variety of reasons. A major challenge is miscommunication within an organization. There are competencies, however, which help to develop effective communication in diverse organizational environments. These skills include self-monitoring, empathy, and strategic decision-making. Self-monitoring refers to a communicator's awareness of how his/her behavior affects another person along with his/her willingness to modify this behavior based on knowledge of its impact. Empathy enables the receiver to go beyond the literal meaning of a message and consider the communicator's feelings, values, assumptions, and needs. Strategic decision-making implies that the communication sources and channels used to reach organization members, as well as the substance of the messages conveyed, are mindfully selected.In her article entitled "Developing Receiver-Centered Communication in Diverse Organizations", Judi Brownell explains that a message meaning can never be completely shared because no two individuals experience events in exactly the same way. Even when native and non-native speakers are exposed to the same messages, they may interpret the information differently. Each interprets messages and discerns meanings based on their unique standpoint, and without a willingness to accept differing standpoints, an environment is created where the marginalized groups have no voice.

This is an additional challenge that diverse organizations face, maintaining a culture which supports the idea of employee voice especially for marginalized group members. When the organizational environment is not supportive of dissenting viewpoints, employees may choose to remain silent for fear of repercussions, or they may seek alternative safe avenues to express their concerns and frustrations such as on-line forums and affinity group meetings. By finding opportunities such as these to express dissent, individuals can begin to gather collective support and generate collective sense-making which creates a voice for the marginalized members so they can have a collective voice to trigger change.