Diversity in Global Organizations
All businesses, especially global businesses, face the challenge of maintaining a high level of organizational and business-unit-specific focus while also working to achieve measurable levels of business-unit-level diversity in their organizations and operations. Diversity is a complex issue that creates many challenges for global organizations. The challenge of maintaining a high level of business unit-specific focus while also working to achieve measurable levels of business unit-level diversity is one that many international organizations have already faced and continue to face in their efforts to achieve a diverse workforce and achieve more excellent business-unit-level business outcomes.
1. Employees with Different Cultural, Social, and Linguistic Backgrounds
Companies committed to having and retaining a diverse workforce should be mainly focused on the organizational context in which decisions are made, how those decisions are communicated, and who can make those decisions. For employees to be effective and productive in a diverse workforce, an organization must consider every employee’s cultural, social, and linguistic background. Jonathan Osler San Francisco states that “diversity has become a way of life, but it is not well understood and not well practiced.” The most effective way to ensure the success of a diverse workforce is to provide each employee with the resources they need to be successful in their own unique cultural, social, and linguistic setting.
2. Business Unit Focus on Diversity
In addition to considering the cultural, social, and linguistic backgrounds of every employee, organizations should also focus on how the business units within their organization interact to ensure that each business unit is aware of the goals and objectives of the organization as a whole. For business units to be effective and productive in a diverse workforce, an organization must consider every employee’s cultural, social, and linguistic background. Osler shows that every organization has a culture. An organization’s culture will impact how every employee interacts with each other, how business decisions are made, and how work gets done.
3. Ethnic Diverse Workforce
As the workforce becomes more and more diverse, organizations must increasingly focus on the diversity of their organizational populations. While most organizations will never experience a corporate population that is highly diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, or other cultural identities, it is essential to work to increase racial and cultural diversity among employees within the majority organizationally diverse population. Organizations that have achieved a high level of racial and cultural diversity among employees are more likely to be successful in reaching out to various people, including under-represented ethnic groups, due to their efforts.
Jonathan Osler San Francisco believes that organizations that want to achieve greater levels of employee and business-unit diversity will benefit from hiring individuals with different cultural, social, and linguistic backgrounds and creating an inclusive environment that encourages employees from all backgrounds to raise gender equity and discrimination issues. Organizations will also benefit from structuring their organizations so that every employee feels empowered to participate in organizational decision-making and communication processes. A global learning network can help organizations achieve business unit-level diversity by allowing each business unit to represent a different culture and region of the world.
