Introduction
The modern business environment presents new problems that affect several facets of management, including one of the most important aspects; Human Resource Management (H.R.M.). This research aims to focus on the issue of workforce diversity and how it can help increase the organization’s global competitiveness if properly managed. Diversity implies the existence of many ethnic groupings, cultures, languages, physical characteristics, opinions, socioeconomic backgrounds, gender identity, and religious beliefs within a single population. In this research, workforce diversity will be described as above, however, in the context of an organization. The first chapter will provide a brief overview of diversity, benefits of cultural competence, diversity management perspectives, and a case study on workforce diversity. Additionally, concepts and frameworks of organizational development will also be discussed to comprehend diversity in an organizational setting better.
Research Question and Hypothesis
Managing a diverse workforce is a major concern for many organizations. When individuals of all sorts of thinking, perceptions, and generations work in a group in the same environment, a situation may arise where all of these diverse types of individuals may not see eye-to-eye on things. This research aims to answer the following question:
- Can the H.R.M. leverage workplace diversity and use it to increase an organization’s global competitiveness?
- To effectively conduct this study, the following is the main hypotheses that will form the basis of this research;
- Workplaces are growing more diverse, and when people from different eras, perspectives, and ways of thinking collaborate in the same setting, a situation could occur in which all of these diverse individuals may not see eye-to-eye on things. However, businesses can identify and capitalize on previously untapped opportunities when all the differences are properly managed.
- Diversity allows organizations to begin recognizing emerging trends because their workforce is reflective of their clients. Consequently, by building an inclusive atmosphere, one can focus on the aspects that encourage employees, minimize absenteeism, and improve productivity.
Research Objective
The research aims to demonstrate how H.R.M. can help increase an organization’s competitive advantage by properly managing a diverse workforce. Workplaces are growing more multinational. In this perspective, diversity offers a competitive edge to organizations that promote it. The role of H.R.M. is to enable businesses to identify and capitalize on previously untapped opportunities. The purpose of such opportunities is to gain a competitive advantage that allows organizations to establish and maintain their market share.
Keywords
Human Resource Management (H.R.M.), global competitiveness, diversity, diverse workforce, H.R.H.R. managers, diversity management, globalization.
What strategies can the H.R.M. employ to help effectively manage the growing issue of workplace diversity?
Literature Review
This study focuses on the positive impact of workforce diversity on an organization’s global competitiveness. Many scholars have conducted studies globally on various aspects of workforce diversity in different businesses and organizations in the past years. The diverse findings will be helpful to this research in sorting out the contextual dimension to be used in this research. Singh et al. (2020) defined H.R.M. as the practice of recruiting people, training them, rewarding them, creating and implementing policies for them, and formulating retention methods. In today’s fast-changing global market environment, an organization’s ability to quickly adapt its day-to-day operations and long-term objectives is a major predictor of its global market performance (Agwu, & Onwuegbuzie, 2018, p. 7).
The overall tasks of managing diversity entail creating and maintaining a workplace atmosphere that facilitates all employees to achieve their full potential in achieving organizational goals (Khan et al., 2020). Proper diversity management at workplaces can help to establish a more understandable atmosphere to boost work effectiveness, productivity, and organizational competitiveness.
Case Study-Pilot
A pilot study will be used as a case study for the research. The main focus is to test both the data and the methodologies. A sample size of 35 respondents is selected to offer insight into how the data is collected and analyzed. The pilot study respondents will be different from those of the main study.
Theoretical Methods and Trends
In today’s world, worker diversity is a big topic in every company. Sousa et al. (2020, p. 417), every H.R.M. must exercise caution when dealing with such a diverse workforce. The concept that enhanced performance and increased competitive advantage is attained through individuals in the company is a distinctive element of H.R.M. (Anwar and Abdullah, 2021). H.R.M. and workforces are becoming increasingly important sources of long-term competitive advantage in businesses today (Syed, & Bayeroju, 2019, p. 5). The most significant resource of any firm is a diverse workforce, which is exceptional at problem-solving since it provides unique and different creative concepts and gives the company a competitive advantage (Sharma and Verma, 2019).
To successfully manage a diverse workforce, H.R.M. requires proper leadership, psychology, organizational development, measurement, organizational development, and communication skills. A diverse workforce offers several benefits, including problem-solving innovation and flexibility, all of which can contribute to a competitive edge (Urbancová et al., 2020, p. 5020). In a multicultural workforce, competitive advantage is achieved by recognizing the diversity and cultivating an atmosphere of inclusion. An atmosphere in which individuals strive toward a similar goal while feeling encouraging increases productivity, profitability, and employee commitment (Boon et al., 2019, p. 2516). This, in turn, promotes an organization’s global competitive advantage.
Research Methodology
Research Approach
It is critical to determine the design that will be suitable for analyzing primary and secondary information when conducting research. Scholars Aigbavboa and Thwala (2020, p. 67) advise that the research should begin by determining the suitable philosophy that will characterize the study’s hypotheses. Positivism, interpretivism, realism, and pragmatism are all approaches that a researcher can use. The goal is to determine the philosophy that one chooses to attain in research. According to the researcher, an individual’s perception of workforce diversity is based on personal experience or information obtained from reliable sources. This study will use inductive reasoning to acquire new information about workforce diversity and global competitive advantage.
Quantitative
To get information from the sampled participants, the researcher plans to employ a questionnaire. The researcher will create structured questions that are amenable to mathematical analysis and coding. This tool will be emailed to the participants with clear instructions on answering each question. They will be expected to fill out the questionnaires within two weeks. To help with the analysis, they will then email the document back to the researcher.
Primary
The researcher intends to gather data from individuals who have worked at companies with diverse workforces. The researcher will also gather data from H.R.H.R. managers who are in charge or have ever been in charge of a diverse workforce. Through their businesses, the researcher will be able to reach these participants. We’ll get in touch with them via email and phone calls.
Secondary
Once the filled questionnaires are obtained from the sampled participants, secondary data will be gathered using resources from newspapers, magazines, journals, or books about the same topic. With the data published or unpublished, the researcher will utilize public records, business documents, historical and statistical documents to contribute to their understanding of the topic.
References List
Agwu, M.E., & Onwuegbuzie, H.N. 2018. Effects of international marketing environments on entrepreneurship development. J Innov Entrep 7, 12. Web.
Aigbavboa, C., & Thwala, W. 2020. The construction industry in the fourth industrial revolution. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Anwar, G. and Abdullah, N.N., 2021. The impact of human resource management practice on organizational performance. International Journal of Engineering, Business, and Management, 5. Web.
Boon, C., Den Hartog, D. N., and Lepak, D. P. 2019. A systematic review of human resource management systems and their measurement. Journal of Management, 45(6), 2498–2537. Web.
Khan, M.R., Shobikah, N. and Kaium, M. A., 2020. Managing workforce diversity in organization a case study on Aetna health care service. Khatulistiwa Journal of Islamic Studies, 10(1), pp. 56-88. Web.
Sharma, M. and Verma, R., 2019. Diversity and performance-boon for the organizations. International Journal of Scientific Research, 10(8):32546-32549. Web.
Singh, L.B., Mondal, S.R.S.R. and Das, S., 2020. Human resource practices & their observed significance for Indian S.M.E.s. Revista ESPACIOS, 41(07). Web.
Sousa, I. C., Ramos, S., & Carvalho, H. 2021. Retaining an age-diverse workforce through H.R.M.: Mediating work engagement and affective commitment. German Journal of Human Resource Management, 35(4), 409–435. Web.
Syed, J. and Bayeroju, O. 2019. H.R.M. and business performance. 5TH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE-Nigeria.
Urbancová, H., Hudáková, M. and Fajčíková, A., 2020. Diversity management as a tool of sustainability of competitive advantage. Sustainability, 12(12), p.5020. Web.
