The aspects ,which we are still being overlooked, while pursuing diversity in organizations , is a matter of great concern in modern day world.
The diversity is proving to be a major tool in providing a competitive edge to successful organizations around the globe.
In spite of big talk about diversity and its dire need, there are many aspects, which the leaders are still overlooking . We have made an attempt in this blog, to list out such aspects . We are furnishing these aspects in the description below.
We must note that millenials are becoming the major workforce. They may take leadership roles also very soon.
However, not many companies have built policies and practices around millennials. We need to find ways to address the challenge of generational diversity. While preparing millennials for future roles, we should also ensure that there is complete coherency among Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z millenials. They should also integrate well with baby boomers.
We may achieve this by
– Formulating clear cut policies and practices in the organizations for motivating and taking care of millenials.
– Making attempts to have a comprehensive understanding of emotional and social needs of millenials.
On the other hand , millenials should also try to shed impatience on their part and learn to stick to their work for a longer duration.
In this context, the author suggests that readers may go through the following blog , which Ripples has published earlier. This may help them in formulating policies and practices for millenials in their organizations.
How Should Organizations Deal with Young Millenials ?
Age is no bar for excelling in life and also for doing anything innovative and extra ordinary at work place.
We must not forget that Harland David Sanders started KFC at the ripe age of 65. However, he turned it into a global brand very soon.
Ray Kroc helped making Mc Donalds ,a reputed fast food global brand, just before he was contemplating to retire.
However, the real situation in organizations around the world is that we judge a particular employee on the basis of his or her age.
The best thing to happen should be to foster a culture, where employees of different age groups and generations work together , learn from each other and innovate.
We should also make efforts to bridge the generation gap.
Let us first understand ,what do we mean by “ holistic”. Holistic is defined as a whole thing , rather than it being considered in parts.
On the other hand, “holistic approach” means to think about the big picture, rather than some narrow aspect of it only, being taken into account.
A holistic approach to diversity encompasses all essential elements like gender, age, religion , belief, sexual orientation, physical ability and ethnicity.
However, the author is of distinct opinion that organizations are trying to tackle one or two aspects only, rather than adopting a holistic approach towards diversity.
Biases are natural traits of human behaviour. The age, gender, identity, physical abilities, religion, weight and many other characteristics are subject to biases.
These biases are acquired by us, sub consciously, and depend upon our upbringing, social environment and many other aspects.
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) studied around 16500 employees across the globe. They found that 50% of the employees thought that bias of one kind or the other was there in diversity programs, which their organizations have launched.
Thus , conscious and un conscious biases are one of the greatest challenges ,in taking full benefits of diversity in organizations.
Sometimes, it happens that managers and or senior managers do many things unconsciously ,which leads to biases. The strangest part is that they are themselves not aware of it. We may include hiring bias or recruiting bias in this category.
We may minimize biases by the following.
– Establishing a fair selection hiringrecruitment evaluation process
– Having clear cut definition of review parameters for evaluation of performance, growth and further development of employees.
Many employees are not even aware of the diversity programs , which their organizations are pursuing. The net result is that these programs do not yield the desired results, owing to non involvement of employees.
We may define the cognitive diversity ,as inclusion of people, who have different ways of thinking, different viewpoints, and different skill sets in a team or organization.
The general trend in almost all the organizations around the world is that cognitive diversity is brushed aside. This is because we feel more comfortable in working with people, who think the same way, as we do.
The world is steadily moving towards more mobility and dynamicity, with a mix of different cultures and backgrounds.
Organizations need to provide a space, which allows the following
– To practise one’s faith,
– Respect the faiths of others or of those, who don’t have any faith.
As per the latest research, employees from the socially disadvantaged or economically backward class, have been found to be having better talent than those from the elite class.
However , as per the latest survey, 97% of the socially backward employees reported that people from elite class , get preference over them.
This is an alarming and undesirable situation and we must address them adequately and expeditiously
Lack of board room diversity may be one of the reasons for diversity programs not being so successful. in organizations , across the globe.
It is incorrect to think , that competent board members always come from among the most qualified candidates or from the same background or the similar demography or similar type of educational institutes. They may come from any strata of society or industry or institute.
The experts are of the opinion that we have already ignored , since very long , a burning issue like board room diversity .
It is common observation that inclusivity is sometimes missing in diversity road map of organizations. It leads to lot of disenchantment among employees.
We will discuss it in our next blog.
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