Research and Analyze a Real Life Conflict Essay

The problems arising from today’s workforce diversity are caused not by the changing composition of the work force itself but by the inability of work organizations to truly integrate and use a heterogeneous work force at all levels of the organization (Ibarra, 2003). Granted, some corporations are including diversity goals in their strategic planning and are changing organizationwide policies, but even those changes are focused mainly on internal processes of the organization. This article’s main argument is that organizations need to expand their notion of diversity to include not only the organization itself, but also the larger systems that constitute its environment. Organizational policies and actions that are inclusive can benefit all system levels from the individual worker through the work organization to the wider community. The concept of â€Å"the inclusive workplace,† introduced here, refers to a work organization that is not only accepting and using the diversity of its own work force, but also is active in the community, participates in state and federal programs to include working poor people, and collaborates across cultural and national boundaries with a focus on global mutual interests. The inclusive workplace is defined as one that values and uses individual and intergroup differences within its work force cooperates with and contributes to its surrounding community alleviates the needs of disadvantaged groups in its wider environment collaborates with individuals, groups, and organizations across national and cultural boundaries. The social work profession can play a key role in the conceptualization and implementation of such a model for the workplace. The value system reflected in this model is congruent with basic social work principles, and the skills needed to implement programs to increase workplace inclusion are consistent with professional social work skills and competences. The issue of diversity and inclusion takes on special urgency in human services organizations. Women and racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately represented among the clients of human services agencies as well as in their staff (Henderson, 2004). The extent to which workers from diverse backgrounds feel included in the organization may have a direct bearing on their job satisfaction and commitment and influences the quality of services provided as well as the workers’ own health, mental health, and social functioning. This article presents a conceptual framework relevant to social work practice on the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. The question addressed by this article is not whether diversity is good for the organization, but how to manage it effectively. Viewed from an ecosystems perspective, the notion of organizational inclusion–exclusion is used as a focal point to examine two models–value-based and practice-based–for understanding and managing workplace diversity. The recent emphasis on the diversity of the work force in human resource management is based on historical developments. Civil rights legislation from the 1960s on had outlawed discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, pregnancy, national origin, age, and disability, excluding these factors from employment decisions (the Civil Rights Act of 1964 [P.L. 88-352], Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 [P.L. 95-555], Age Discrimination Act of 1978, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 [P.L. 101-336], Equal Pay Act of 1963 [P.L. 88-38], and Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 [P.L. 93-508]). Triggered by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s plea that people should be judged by their character, not by the color of their skin, the intent of these laws was to provide equal opportunity to all. In 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive Order 11246 requiring â€Å"employers doing business with the federal government to develop affirmative action plans to assure equal employment opportunities in their employment practices.† The main rational for affirmative action programs was to compensate for past discrimination and to correct current discrimination. However, with the recent backlash against affirmative action programs (for example, California Governor Wilson’s [R] initiatives in roiling back affirmative action programs), companies may no longer be proactive in recruiting and retaining women and ethnic minority workers, unless they realize that such policies work to their benefit. Forecasts about the future predict an aging work force in which increasing numbers of women and members of racial and ethnic minority groups will participate. By 2020 white non-Hispanic people will represent 67 percent of the work force (down from the current 76 percent), Hispanic presence will be 14 percent (up from its current 9 percent), Asians will represent 6 percent (up from today’s 4 percent), and African Americans’ share of the work force will remain 11 percent (Ibarra, 2003). These work force demographic changes will mirror population demographic trends and will vary by region and state. The western states are rapidly becoming more diverse as Hispanic and Asian populations grow. The human services work force also is becoming more diverse with particularly high representation for women at more than 65 percent. These changes suggest not onl y a more diverse workplace, but also a more varied client pool in human services organizations, and they underscore the need for social work to develop practice paradigms for more inclusive work environments. The nature of opportunities for female, ethnic minority, and older workers has implications for the lives of these workers and their families, for organizational effectiveness, and for society as a whole. As a result of civil rights legislation, affirmative action programs, and workplace policies to promote diversity, acquiring a â€Å"boarding pass† to corporate America has become less of a problem for women and ethnic minority workers than being included in the corporate culture and power structure (Ibarra, 2003). Exclusion from organizational information and decision-making networks has been identified as one of the most significant problems facing today’s diverse work force. The inclusion–exclusion experience is one that has deep social–psychological roots for human beings, given their dependence on others for the provision of even the basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing (Henderson, 2004). Mor-Barak and Cherin (1998) conceptualized inclusion–exclusion as a continuum of the degree to which individu als feel a part of critical organizational processes such as access to information, connectedness to coworkers, and ability to participate in and influence the decision-making process. Research on social demography in the workplace indicates that women and members of racial and ethnic minority groups commonly find themselves excluded from networks of information and opportunity. Similar trends are evident in human services organizations where women and ethnic minority groups, particularly African American women, are more likely than other employees to occupy the lowest-ranking positions. These experiences, in turn, are linked to limited job opportunities, delays in career advancement, and higher rates of turnover (Giagalone & Beard, 2004). Clearly in democratic countries, where equal opportunity is an important national value, promoting fairness and economic opportunities to underachieving members of society is the right and ethical thing to do. Exclusionary organizational practices are destructive for individuals who suffer from their economic, emotional, and social consequences as well as for organizations. Work organizations, therefore, need to create and sustain a culture that accepts individual differences and encourages differential contributions to the work environment. In other words, they need to strive to become inclusive organizations. The welfare-to-work reform efforts can be conceptualized as an opportunity to make the work place more inclusive with respect to socioeconomic status. Welfare reform, enacted by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193), ended 60 years of public assistance programs in which the sole criteria for continued aid was dependency, poverty, age, or disability. A key component of the act is the termination of welfare benefits after a maximum of 60 months, with the expectation that benefit recipients will find jobs by that time. Because of welfare reform, more and more welfare recipients will enter the labor force. Traditionally, employers have had limited involvement or interest in welfare reform and have not viewed working poor people as an element in organizational life worth substantial investment. An inclusive workplace sponsors and supports projects to help former welfare recipients overcome barriers to employment. The programs focus on overcoming barriers to employment faced by mothers with young children, who make up the majority of AFDC recipients and poor families (Giagalone & Beard, 2004), and assists former welfare recipients with child care, transportation, housing, and health care expenses, which are the main barriers to employment faced by this group (Ibarra, 2003). The programs also provide on-the-job training to allow welfare recipients to improve their job skills and increase their wages and benefits. The economic benefits include improved wages for this segment of the population that increases the pool of consumers with discretionary income. Also, better treatment of low-wage employees who are often frontline workers improves the company’s customer relationships. In addition, value-based organizational practices are often attractive to customers. Companies gain a more loyal work force (given that it is treated well) that is committed to the organization and has lower turnover rates as a result (Giagalone & Beard, 2004). With the expanding economy and the current and anticipated labor shortages, employers may need to expand their employee pools by taping into the potential resource of former welfare recipients. A strong corporate commitment to hiring and retaining former welfare recipients that includes help with employment barriers can facilitate the difficult transition and increase the chances of long-term employment. In addition, opening up advancement opportunities for this population may increase their chances of obtaining higher-paying jobs with better benefits that will release them from the vicious cycle of low-paying jobs that do not leave much income above the job-related expenses such as child care and transportation. The main obstacle here is a limited corporate vision. Companies often focus only on the immediate needs and objectives of the company rather than considering the bigger picture that includes moral and ethical values as well as labor-force trends and the larger organizational environment. The other obstacles are stereotypes held by management and workers against welfare recipients and against people of color. The latter is based on a common misconception that the majority of welfare recipients are people of color when, in fact, the majority are white (Giagalone & Beard, 2004). Social workers can help organizations overcome the â€Å"one-size-fits-all† approach that has been wide spread in the area of diversity training. The risk of this approach is that although these interventions may be effective in sensitizing workers to people who are different from themselves, they do not deal with organizational structures and policies that may foster wrong treatment of people from diverse backgrounds. In the context of human services organizations, the need to understand exclusionary practices is particularly important in light of the disproportional representation of women and ethnic minority individuals in their staff (Ibarra, 2003). With their knowledge of human behavior, discrimination, empowerment, and group dynamics, social workers can initiate focused interventions such as diversity training, work groups with women and ethnic minority constituencies, and mentorship programs to facilitate the inclusion of women and ethnic minority workers in management and supervis ory positions. Using an ecosystems approach, the model outlines four systems levels, from the micro to the macro, that are relevant to understanding and implementing the model. Although this approach is well embedded in social work values and principles, one must remember that the workplace is a host environment that is often not open to social work intervention. To propose such innovative programs to businesses, social workers need to be entrepreneurial in their approach and be able to translate their ideas into â€Å"business language.† For this reason, this article provides research-based data that demonstrates the benefits of inclusive organizational policies for the company’s economic well-being. The use of such data is essential when approaching management with an innovative idea for a program to help, for example, former welfa re recipients, or for a community-based shelter for the homeless. References Giagalone, R. A., & Beard, J. W. (2004). Impression management, diversity, and international management. American Behavioral Scientist, 37. Henderson, G. (2004). Cultural diversity in the workplace. Westport, CT: Quorum Books. Ibarra, H. (2003). Personal networks of women and minorities in management: A conceptual framework. Academy of Management Review, 18.