Workplace Diversity in Australian Organisations

Question: Discuss about theWorkplace Diversity in Australian Organisations. Answer: Introduction The intention of this essay is to highlight the workplace diversity within the Australian organisations. Globalization, immigration, technological development and establishment of multinational corporations have given rise to extended workplace diversity. Primarily in the organisations of Australia, there has been observed upsurge workplace diversity and its associated benefits and issues.[1] The first paragraph of the essay will highlight the workplace diversity through the gender inequality prevailing in leadership in the Australian organisations and will have its emphasis upon the issues raised because of cultural diversity at the organisational workplaces. The second paragraph will throw lights upon the reasons the arsons because of which there takes place gender diversity inequality within Australian organizations and the implication of this workplace diversity on the organisational behaviour of the employees. The third paragraph will provide information regarding the diversity inequality, positive and negative impact of lack of workplace diversity and the ways in which challenges of diversity can be managed. Examining Diversity within the Australian Workplace There are several kinds of workplace diversity present in the organisations which creates barricades for the continuous success and growth of an organisation. In the Australian organisations, there has been identified upsurge gender inequality in leadership. Gender inequality can be explained as preference of male employees to be positioned at the managerial and leadership positions in an organisation instead of female employees, irrespective of the knowledge, skills and competence possessed by the female workers.[2] As per the evaluation of the managerial and executive positions at various Australian organisations, it has been identified that, at maximum of the percentage there are male executive at higher authorities in comparison with the number of female directors in the organisations.[3] This shows that there is extended level of gender based diversity and inequality in Australian organisations. There has also been found presence of cultural diversity in the organisations.[4] Th e individuals of diverse cultural groups are deprived of growth opportunities at the workplaces. There is selection of the people of native culture for the managerial and leadership positions in the organisations. This creates a direct impact upon the other employee of diverse cultural groups. There are several negative implications imposed on the individuals because of cultural diversity such as de-motivated employees, decreased productivity and efficiency of the workers, declined organisational productivity, increase in the workplace conflicts, etc. For overcoming the issues of workplace diversity and cultural diversity, there is need of specific and potential tools such as there must be implementation and development of unbroken trainings and programs which helps in managing the workplace diversity. There must also be adequate policies and procedures based on equity so that each and every employee gets an equal opportunity to grow and have managerial authorities. The issue of gender diversity inequality is continuously rising in the Australian organisation. There are several reasons behind this upsurge rate of gender inequality. The primary reason is the culture of the society. There still prevails a man dominating societal culture at various regions of the country. This gives rise to increase number of the male employees at organisation in comparison with squat number of female workers. Another key reason behind the presence of gender diversity inequality is the workplace environment and workplace safety. There are high numbers of cases which are filed in the Australian courts regarding the issues of workplace safety. Female workers are the victims of several incidents at the workplace such as mental and physical harassment, diversity in pays, poor security, lack of maternity leaves, etc.[5] All these issues carets gender inequality in the organisations. As a result of this there is lack of gender diversity at the workplaces which results in male dominating culture prevailing in the organizations, less authoritative positions offered to female employees, lack of support to the female workers etc.[6] To overcome the issues and challenges of gender diversity inequality, the organisations can take use of strategies such as a fixed percentage of female workers to be recruited in the organisation, higher workplace security, incorporation of specific units which take care of the workplace issue faced by women employees, use of benchmarking, rating scale and other performance evaluation tools for having appropriate evaluations of the performance of the employees and offer adequate growth opportunities to female workers. All this will help in eradicating the issues of workplace gender diversity inequality issues.[7] There are various other workplace diversity issues such as related to diverse ethnic groups, diverse behaviour styles, diversity related to age of the individuals and employees suffering from disability.[8] All these firms of workplace diversity are beneficial as well as hazardous for the Australian organisations. The challenges developed because of these diverse groups comprises of difference of opinions among the employees of diverse age groups and it leads to organisational conflicts. There are several issues arise in change management programmes as because of diverse ethnicity and cultures, it is not easy to get adjust with the changes made in the organisational culture and functions.[9] There are several benefits also of increased workplace diversity such as higher adaptability towards change, increased organisational productivity, and development of innovative ideas, higher organisational creativity and brand image. There is also attained competitive benefits and greater captur ing of market opportunities.[10] Conclusion From this essay it can be analyzed and concluded that there is higher workplace diversity in Australian organisations. But there are three major challenges confronting organization when it comes to diversity. The first challenge is the gender inequality. This can be overcome through recruitment of increased number of female workers as well as by offering them managerial positions so that they can be motivated to work. The second challenge is cultural diversity. To overcome this, there must be informal association among the employees as well there must be formed teams and employees must develop their interaction with individuals of diverse cultural groups. The third challenge is that the leadership positions are more of packed by the native people. This can be overcome by incorporating appropriate policies for evaluating the performances of the employees and offering equal opportunities of development and growth to every organisational individual. Bibliography Ali, M., Ng, Y. L., Kulik, C. T. (2014).board age and gender diversity: A test of competing linear and curvilinear predictions.Journal of Business Ethics,125(3), 497-512. Berman, E. M., Bowman, J. S., West, J. P., Van Wart, M. R. (2012).Human resource management in public service: Paradoxes, processes, and problems. Sage. Bertrand, M., Hallock, K. F. (2001).The Gender Gap in top corporate jobs.Industrial Labor Relations Review,55(1), 3-21. 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