Academic Work Showcase: Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

Introduction

            Organizations today face many considerations and opportunities regarding diversity and leveraging diversity for greater success. Domestically and globally, organizations face changes in the diversity of labor pools related to culture, age, ethnicity, and race. Diversity within the marketplace and expanded global operations have also changed the customers and stakeholders that organizations are accountable to. As a variety of organizations expand influence and operations across the globe, there are many considerations when adapting to cultural differences. Understanding diversity is crucial to expand opportunities for production, marketing, revenue, or influence. Regardless of the type of organization and where it operates, leaders within organizations must be able to address and leverage opportunities that diversity brings. Inclusivity of diversity within an organization helps it remain relevant to the environment it operates in. It is a reality of the modern-day operational environment.

Inclusivity in the Workplace

            Leaders must have the ability to address many changes that occur as diversity increases in the operational environment to leverage the opportunities diversity brings to an organization. One consideration in this regard is the diversity of the labor market domestically and internationally. Diverse labor markets offer diverse employee pools with varying insights, talents, and perspectives because of culture, gender, age, etc. Even organizations and leaders that primarily operate domestically must understand that local populations offer a great amount of diversity. Just in the United States alone, organizations are seeing shifts in generations entering and exiting the work force. Women outpace men in earning college degrees. Racial/ethnic diversity is shifting to a less predominantly Caucasian population. Whether addressing local or global diversity, integrating global leadership behavior into key organizational processes that are inclusive of a diverse population is a necessity to remain competitive and effective in diverse environments. Leaders must seek opportunities to include and promote this diversity. One means of incorporating a “global mindset” into organizational processes is through recruitment (Gundling et al., 2011).

Talent Acquisition to Promote Diversity and Inclusivity

            Serving in the U.S. Army over two years overseas and working in recruiting for the U.S. Army for the past fourteen years has helped me understand the importance of diversity when operating in a global environment. It has also allowed me the opportunity to promote and lead diversity initiatives through the talent acquisition process. The unique skills and knowledge that diversity brings to an organization like the military plays a critical role in the national security and global influence of the United States. Although cultural intelligence can be developed through education and cross-cultural exposure within existing organizational members, the nuances of culture can be difficult to “teach” (Gundling et al., 2015). Sometimes it is the less “teachable” aspects of culture that make the difference between success and failure. It is partially for this reason that the inclusion of diverse populations is beneficial and necessary for organizations.

To capitalize on global diversity, one program I worked on within the U.S. Army was the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program. The objective of this program was to recruit individuals from foreign countries who were in the United States under student immigration visas for post-secondary education and had key native language/cultural capabilities. This afforded me the opportunity to work with individuals from China, Iraq, Philippines, India, and Africa during the talent acquisition process. The process of working with diverse populations of potential recruits under this program helped me to develop my own cultural intelligence. I had to successfully function across diverse cultures by adapting my own behaviors and beliefs to communicate effectively, understand different norms, and interact in more culturally appropriate ways (Livermore, 2015).

Including Diverse Perspectives in the Leadership Process

Diversity cannot be fully leveraged if the varying diversity of perspectives and thoughts are not voiced and given equal consideration in the decision-making process in an organization. To leverage this “leadership” potential in a diverse work force, subordinates must feel comfortable or valued in voicing perspectives that might not be the “norm”. They must be included in the leadership process of decision making. Leaders that value diversity must foster this practice by not allowing their own biases to devalue or persuade input from others. A true “global” leader needs to understand the value of multiple perspectives in making sound decisions in diverse environments (Gundling et al., 2015). This concept pertaining to global leader behaviors in the context of global diversity is just as applicable to generational diversity domestically.

Northouse (2015) defines culture as,” the learned beliefs, values, rules, norms, symbols and traditions that are common to a group of people” (p. 428). In my experiences as a leader, younger generations that I work with have distinct “cultural” attributes that are important to the leadership process and relevant to the operational environment. Younger generations I have worked with have distinct differences in how they prefer to interact with others personally and professionally, as well as how they view different approaches to leadership and the leadership process. They often have different perspectives of how to successfully complete tasks. For instance, more collaborative approaches to completing projects or tasks has been a preferred method I have noticed. In my own development as a leader, I have had to learn to include these different perspectives and norms into the leadership process by being receptive and encouraging input from all team members.

Not only has this helped my own effectiveness in leading subordinates of different generational cultures, but it has also helped to leverage different perspectives and talents for greater success in organizational tasks and projects. My own journey to understanding the value of diversity in this regard was understanding the unconscious bias in my own beliefs of how to lead others and how best to accomplish tasks. Gundling et al. (2015) describes unconscious bias as, “resulting in overestimating or underestimating a person’s ability or idea” (p. 92). Aside from the obvious implications pertaining to overestimating my own ability or underestimating the abilities of younger generations, I now understand this can apply to a belief that past approaches or techniques are the only means for success. Often these outdated methods can fail to account for changes to the organizational environment and lack effectiveness if new perspectives are not adopted.

Conclusion

Cultural diversity is a much more inclusive concept than just people or nations outside our own geographically. Although global diversity shapes many of the theories associated with leadership concepts like cultural intelligence, global leadership, and cultural awareness, these concepts and theories can also help leaders be more inclusive and cognizant of the diversity that is around them in any environment, whether domestic or global. Successfully seeking to incorporate diversity and including diverse perspectives in the leadership process of decision making helps organizations be more creative, innovative, and successful in the many diverse and challenging environments most organizations operate in.

References

Gundling, E., Caldwell, C., & Cvitkovich, K. (2015). Leading across new borders: How to

            Succeed as the center shifts. Wiley.

Gundling, E., Hogan, T., & Cvitkovich, K., (2011). What is global leadership: 10 key behaviors

            that define great global leaders. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Livermore, D. (2015). Leading with cultural intelligence: The real secret to success (2nd ed).

            American Management Association.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed). Sage.