As a nation of immigrants, the United States has been a strong advocate of diversity management as an effective organizational response to conflicts in both the public and private sectors. Many previous empirical studies have found that businesses that employ a diverse workforce tend to be more profitable. Some argue that diversity has no effect on businesses or that it will destabilize businesses by causing chaos, disrupting cohesion and ultimately reducing productivity.
There is, however, empirical evidence that diversity is more associated with increased sales revenues, more customers, a larger market share, and higher revenues. More customers and increased revenue have been shown to result from gender diversity in the workplace. P.208 in Herring’s book “Diversity pays and helps meet customer demands, understand the pulse of the market and improve goods and services,” says Hubbard (2004).
According to Cox (2001), an inclusive workplace fosters better problem solving because it broadens the perspectives of employees, enhances teamwork, and provides additional resources. P209 in Herring’s book In Silicon Valley, companies have begun to focus more on heterogeneous employees after realizing the competitive benefits of diversity, according to Florida and Gates (2002).
There are some critics who see diversity as a process, and they are concerned about the potential costs of diversity, according to Xin (1999). Ethnic and racial diversity, according to Skerry (2002), is linked to conflict in the workplace. According to Tsui et al. (1992), diversity reduces group solidarity, resulting in increased employee turnover and absenteeism. Because of the use of unqualified employees to carry out the job, a higher level of diversity may result in a lower quality of service. In Herring (2001, p.210),
Because of globalization, many multinational corporations have been able to expand their operations in almost every region of the world. Diversity is essential for multinational corporations because they must employ a diverse workforce that reflects the country’s culture and customs. For example, IBM entered the minority market by encouraging diversity in its workforce. Thus, it has grown and progressed in a morally upright manner.
For Apple, promoting inclusion is a top priority. The Apple Black Network, Apple Hispanic Association, Jewish Cultural Group, Lambada, a lesbian and gay group, the Apple Professional Women’s Organization, and Asians in Action are just a few of the organizations the company has encouraged its employees to form. There are many advantages to having a group like Apple Black Network, such as a national seminar on how to sell more Apple computers to African Americans and how to address the demand for more promotions in jobs for Apple’s black employees, which is the primary benefit of such groups (Rodriguez).
The chart shows that Indian immigrants are overrepresented in the engineering and technology fields in the United States. Between 1995 and 2005, immigrants founded about 43% of U.S. software and computer-related businesses, as shown in the graph below. Using Silicon Valley as a case study, this shows that the US economy is a product of a diverse workforce.
Over 70% of human resource managers who participated in a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management and Fortune Magazine believe that diversity has boosted their company’s recruitment efforts and improved overall corporate culture. “
To be more successful, businesses are now hiring employees from the same cultural background as their target customers. For example, in the 1970s, nearly all of McKinsey & Co.’s consultants were Native American.
While Rajat Gupta, an Indian, was McKinsey’s chief partner in 2000, today only 40% of the firm’s consultants are American, and 60% of the firm is comprised of consultants from 40 different countries. More than 186,000 people work for Accenture, which includes 8,000 Chinese and 35,000 Indians. In today’s multicultural world, businesses that don’t value and embrace diversity will be at a competitive disadvantage. (Daft, pp. 477-478)
A vital link between the marketplace and the workplace is provided by IBM’s director of diversity, Ted Childs. A company’s various work teams benefit greatly from the diverse perspectives and expertise that employees with diverse cultural backgrounds bring to the table. Having a diverse workforce can help break down communication barriers, which is a significant benefit. Customer complaints can be addressed in their native language when an organization employs bilingual employees.
A company’s various work teams can benefit from having employees from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Communication barriers can be broken down by having diverse employees in a work environment. Having bilingual employees, for example, can help the company respond to customer complaints in their native tongue. Start-ups thrive in Silicon Valley, which provides a platform for the exchange of ideas and cultures amongst the region’s many young IT professionals from all over the world.
For IT professionals, there are no barriers to starting a business in Silicon Valley. There are a variety of ethnic and cultural communities in Silicon Valley, which provides a wide range of enterprise sizes and types, as well as an array of expressive styles. Because of this, Silicon Valley is a great place for Asian immigrants to start businesses, as it has been shown that these immigrants benefit the most from the diversity of culture in Silicon Valley.
Work Cited
Abdullah, A. B. M., Stephen Boyle, and Carmen Joham. “Cultural factors in workforce management: the case of multinational companies operating in Bangladesh.” International Review of Business Research Papers 7.2 (2011): 196-211. https://www.academia.edu/download/41274093/Cultural_Factors_in_Workforce_Management20160116-26927-4oy5gj.pdf
Putnam, Robert D. “E pluribus unum: Diversity and community in the twenty‐first century the 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture.” Scandinavian political studies 30.2 (2007): 137-174. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9477.2007.00176.x
Daft R. L., Kendrick M. & Vershinina N. 2010, Management. Cengage Learning, New York. https://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/bwmeta1.element.ekon-element-000171557652
Herring, Cedric. “Does diversity pay?: Race, gender, and the business case for diversity.” American sociological review 74.2 (2009): 208-224. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000312240907400203
Florida, Richard. “The rise of the creative class Basic Books.” New York (2002). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891242414541693