Diversity training

Diversity training

It is defined as a distinct set of programs whose purpose is to facilitate positive inter-group interactions, reducing prejudice and discrimination. According to Lauring and Ross (60) diversity training differs from other types of training because it deals with issues that are regarded emotional and subjective. Diversity training promotes awareness among the employees and the management. Another role of diversity training is sensitizing the employees in an organization about their differences and how these differences can be capitalized in order to enhance organizational performance. Diversity training can serve many other roles in an organization. Firstly, besides raising sensitivity and awareness it can be used to communicate important skills such as mediating, and cross-cultural conflicts. Secondly, diversity training can be used to teach the HR personnel how to use recruitment tools that target minorities. The diversity training should be administered throughout all levels; from management to the entry level.

Diversity training encompasses many types of activities. These activities are classified into two : experiential training methods and instructional training methods. Instructional methods are aimed at raising awareness about the benefits of diversity-friendly behaviors and policies. Some of the common instructional tools include lectures, implicit attitude tests, videos, fact sheets and group discussions. The content that is relayed to the trainees should touch on existing equal opportunity laws, different cultural styles of communication and social interaction and policies against gender harassment. On the other hand, experiential training method assumes a personalized and participatory approach. Some of the common experiential activities include travelling to neighborhoods whose population comes from a different ethnic background. It could also involve group therapy sessions, and group discussions. An organization could decide to use either experiential or the instructional method.

There is a vast literature on diversity training. According to Li (46) diversity training is the cornerstone of diversity initiative and that’s why an organization should include it in the diversity program. Studies that have been conducted on this subject have found out that participants in diversity training programs are able to acquire skills and on-the-job diversity behavior. However, resistance is likely to occur because employees could perceive diversity training as discriminatory in the sense that it give an unfair advantage to the minority groups. In response to these concerns, some organizations are opting to make diversity training opportunities available to employees on a voluntary basis. The subject of voluntary diversity training has received great attention from scholars. It is widely acknowledged that employees are most likely to participate in training that they perceive will lead to valued outcomes. This statement is supported by a study that was conducted by Sadri and Tran (91). The study indicated that in North America, black Americans and women are more likely to participate in the diversity programs than white men because they feel it will lead to positive outcomes. Based on this literature, it is important for an organization to decide from the onset whether training will be mandatory or voluntary. In order to avoid backlash from some of the employees, an organization could consider conducting a pre-training assessment to gauge the attitude of the employees towards the program.

Besides voluntary diversity programs, the available literature has also focused on the factors that affect the success of the diversity training. One factor that has been evaluated is the characteristics of the participants. A study that was conducted Mike (153) compared the homogeneous training groups and heterogeneous training groups. The study concluded heterogeneous training groups promote cohesion among the members while improving the quality of discussion unlike the homogeneous training groups. However, there a feeling that heterogeneous training groups reinforces prejudice attitudes among the trainees.

Another factor that has been explored is the individual differences in experiences. Employees who have prior experience in diversity issues are less likely to benefit from the training. Consequently, if an organization has a large percentage of employees who are well versed in diversity issues it could consider using alternative strategies such as behavioral modeling. In addition, in order to increase the participation of employees with higher pre-training competence levels, it could consider introducing a voluntary program. On the other hand, trainees with little previous training in diversity issues are more likely to benefit from the program.

Recruitment

Recruitment is an important process that the management can utilize to bring aboard employees from diverse backgrounds. The recruitment approach adopted by the HR department should strive to reach out to diverse pools of talent. In order to ensure all groups are represented it is important for an organization to form relationships with minority organizations, professional groups and colleges that are associated with minority groups. In addition, organizations can use minority publications to identify potential employees and attract new employees. Another way the recruitment process can be changed in order to accommodate diverse groups is by creating an organizational environment that appeals to candidates from diverse labor markets. Alternatively, an organization could use a diverse team of recruiters to spearhead the recruitment effort. Most importantly, potential candidates have to be screened to ensure that they are ready to support the culture of diversity in the organization.

Promotion

Creating a diverse workforce in an organization can also be achieved through the promotion process. In this regard, the management and the promotion board should ensure that cultural and ethnic differences are taken into account during the process. In addition, the promotion panel should ensure that potential candidates for promotion have internalized the organization’s diversity principles.

References

Albrecht, M.H. (Ed.). International HRM: Managing diversity in the workplace.

Oxford: Blackwell, 2000

Aronson, D. Managing the diversity revolution: Best practices for 21st century

business. Civil Rights Journal, 6 (2002): 46-66.

Gröschl, Stefan. Diversity management strategies of global hotel groups: A corporate web site based exploration. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 23(2011): 224 – 240

Jackson, S. E., and Joshi, A. Diversity in a social context: a multi-attribute, multi-level analysis of team diversity and sales performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25.(2004): 675−702.