The workplace in the 21st century is far more diverse than it was even a few generations back. Individuals who may have encountered employment barriers in the past due to religious views, ability differences, or sexual orientation now regularly participate in interview pools and on the job with their peers. Per se, companies are largely comprised of people of diverse attributes and backgrounds, including interests, personalities, ideologies, customs, traditions, languages and nationalities, working in unison to achieve a collective objective or goal.
However, these same aspects are credited with the possibility of contributing and fostering critical challenges to the organizations and the organizational culture. General Motors Company (hereinafter, GM), which is a major car manufacturer in the U.S., is not an exception. Generally, the automotive industry continues grappling with diversity challenges, with recent surveys showing companies like GM and Tesla to be overwhelmingly male or being accused of discrimination on the basis of race. Thus, this paper presents an expansive analysis of diversity and inclusion in the automotive industry, particularly in GM, while at the same time providing strategies that need to be undertaken to manage diversity in the workplace.
Abstract
The workplace in the 21st-century is far more diverse than it was even a few generations back. Individuals who may have encountered employment barriers in the past due to religious views, ability differences, or sexual orientation now regularly participate in interview pools and on the job with their peers. Per se, companies are largely comprised of people of diverse attributes and backgrounds, including interests, personalities, ideologies, customs, traditions, languages and nationalities, working in unison to achieve a collective objective or goal (Ravazzani, 2016). However, these same aspects are credited with the possibility of contributing and fostering critical challenges to the organizations and the organizational culture. General Motors Company (hereinafter, GM), which is a major car manufacturer in the U.S., is not an exception (Hausman, 2016). Generally, the automotive industry continues grappling with diversity challenges, with recent surveys showing companies like GM and Tesla to be overwhelmingly male, or being accused of discrimination on the basis of race (Hoeft, 2021). Thus, this paper presents an expansive analysis of diversity and inclusion in the automotive industry, particularly in GM, while at the same time providing strategies that need to be undertaken to manage diversity in the workplace.
Introduction
General Motors, a pioneer in creating a diverse and inclusive company, has long recognized that various viewpoints are critical to market success and staying on the cutting edge of technological innovation in the fast-paced automotive sector. GM is committed to being at the forefront of innovation, harnessing our ingenuity and diverse viewpoints to define the new era of mobility (Hausman, 2016). These perspectives are more crucial than ever now, enabling us to go forward in a moment of extraordinary industry upheaval and assisting us in our transformation from an automotive manufacturer to a global mobility provider (services). Currently, GM is refutable for the manufacture of varied popular American vehicles, including GMC, Chevrolet and Cadillac (Katiraee et al, 2019). Nonetheless, considering its prominent element as a prominent U.S. corporation, especially in the automotive realm, myriad factors have to be considered in order to uphold a viable and efficient management and delivery (Ravazzani, 2016). In effect, diversity is renowned for being a prime factor for the success of large-scale corporations. Though there are numerous definitions associated with the term diversity, loosely, diversity epitomizes an instance that involves varying elements or qualities. In the case of GM, in particular, this company attempts to utilize a diverse workplace as a way of driving their inventions and innovations forward (Kaur & Sharma, 2018). Therefore, given the fast-growing number of employees in GM, it remains quite imperative for GM to incorporate diversity within their management objectives so as to insure optimal creativity and/or innovation (Hoeft, 2021). Particularly, GM has applied the four key principles towards management success, namely: planning, leading, organizing and controlling in building a business structure benefiting all employees (Hausman, 2016). Even though it can be pretty challenging, the benefits that go along with the process of diversification within the workplace cannot be refuted.
A Succinct Explanation of the Concept of Workforce Diversity
Ideally, diversity has been classified into three categories: primary, secondary, and tertiary, though they can further be divided into two groups: primary and secondary. Gender, race, and other observable variables are primary influences, whereas secondary effects include factors that are less visible but have a varying impact, such as language (Kaur & Sharma, 2018). Among the key dimensions are race, ethnicity, gender, age, and handicap. The secondary characteristics include religion, lifestyle, family status, economic status, community, ethnicity, sexual preference, thought style, political orientation, job experience, language geographic origin, and education (Katiraee et al, 2019). The tertiary aspects include beliefs, assumptions, and perceptions. Some academics have classified these features of variety into only two categories, namely: primary and secondary. Primary factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, and age are innate and cannot be influenced by external forces (Carter, 2017). Variety has been further classified into four categories: racial/ethnic/sexual balance, cultural awareness, culturally different beliefs, and broadly inclusive diversity (individual, sub-cultural and cultural), simply because there are innumerable crucial and impacting facets of diversity (Carter, 2017).
The many dimensions of workforce diversity have also been divided into three categories by researchers, namely: variety, separation and disparity. Separation refers to disparities in employee opinion caused by various attitudes, values, or beliefs, whereas disparity refers to differences in assets caused by different attitudes, values, or beliefs (Hausman, 2016). Another classification of diversity divides the dimensions into observable and non-observable characteristics like gender and talent. As a result, diversity is a collection of varied or related characteristics, and multicultural, multiethnic, and multiracial workforce factors have been connected to diverse organizations (Kaur & Sharma, 2021). The importance of these many dimensions changes depending on where you are in the world. Diverse facets of diversity are valued differently in different countries. A feature that is significant to one person may not be significant to another. Race and nationality are highly respected in most countries. Gender is a well-recognized and controversial aspect of diversity in many countries (Ravazzani, 2016). Many countries recognize the significance of age disparities. In ethnically varied countries like Korea and Japan, race is important, while in homogeneous countries like Korea and Japan, race is meaningless (Desmarais, 2017). Many countries have yet to recognize physical handicap, and just a handful place a premium on social standing. The least important factor is sexual orientation, which has gotten a lot of focus.
The Benefits of Workplace Diversity
There are myriad ways through which an organization can benefit from diversity. For instance, for starters, recruiting a diverse workforce expands the pool of potential employees and applications, resulting in more options, higher quality, and lower costs (Hausman, 2016). Second, workforce diversity improves individual performance, resulting in higher workplace productivity and job satisfaction, as well as decreased attrition, recruitment, and training costs (Baran & Kłos, 2014). Increased job satisfaction among a diverse staff improves the quality of employee-customer interactions, which is the third significant advantage (Kaur & Sharma, 2018). Furthermore, a diverse staff increases resources and allows for broad access to new networks. Finally, diversity increases group creativity/innovation, and better cultural appropriateness between service employees and customers can improve customer experience and satisfaction (Katiraee et al, 2019).
In essence, incorporating a diversity committee, advocacy group, multicultural workgroup, language lessons and intercultural training, along with a diversity workshop typify some of the many techniques for dealing with diversity in the workplace, particularly cultural diversity, that have been proposed in the literature (Desmarais, 2017). The ability to handle diversity can be instilled through training, employee development, and formal recruit training. The study also discovered that when companies implement identity-conscious human resource policies (for example, actively targeting minority groups), women and minorities' participation in management improves (Hausman, 2016). According to several studies, the most successful strategy to boost minority management is to establish diversity responsibilities (e.g., a diversity officer, a diversity committee, and/or an affirmative action plan). In one study, the author demonstrates the value of diversity programs in promoting women and minorities' engagement in the workplace, particularly at the executive level (Desmarais, 2017). Businesses that consciously pursue diversity management do so when their commercial goals meet with the demands of women and minorities, such as expanding profitability and customer base (Ravazzani, 2016). Those companies that have been successful in managing diversity believe that it is the secret to their success. Essentially, entrepreneurs who are committed to promoting diversity in their workforce will attract a bigger client base and increase their company's profitability, according to various studies.
The Role of Workforce Diversity on Employee Performance
Employee performance is critical to a company's success. To boost employee productivity, staff performance must be reviewed; else, unhappiness, conflict, stress, and low productivity will ensue. The act of doing; observable and measurable tasks, achievement, or accomplishment are all examples of performance in a task (Hausman, 2016). Employee performance is defined as the active carrying out of one's responsibilities in order to achieve results. It simply refers to an employee's capacity to meet the requirements of the work. Workers perform better when diversity is handled in a positive and integrative manner (Carter, 2017). Age, gender, ethnicity, language, education, experience, marital status, religion, and handicap, among other aspects of workforce diversity, have a bigger impact on employee performance. Encouraging workforce initiatives within the firm will undoubtedly aid in the development of a long-term workforce and an increase in employee performance (Ravazzani, 2016). Good employee performance is critical for a company's future growth. Good workforce diversity strategies are regarded to help both employee and organization performance in the field of human resources. Individual employee performance is clearly influenced by organizational performance; as a result, the positive effects of employee diversity at the workforce level will be both internal and external motivators for them, assisting in the development of employee collaboration (Kaur & Sharma, 2021). In essence, enhancing organizational and employee performance, organization have to copy the practice of GM in implementing workforce diversity, where every person of the diversified work team or group has distinct, abilities and talents.
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- Quote paper
- Mutinda Jackson (Author), 2020, Managing Workforce Diversity at General Motors Company. A Thematic Literature Review, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1275272
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