Professional Documents
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Mesh
Mesh
By
HR Forum Team
Christian, Jew, Muslim, Shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of
being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged - Rumi
Ever thought how life will be if everyone you met, everyone you associated with, everyone you worked with
was just like you? The picture does sound quite rosy for starters; getting along with people, making
decisions, getting the work done. All of it will be a cake walk; but, as and when time progresses, the going
will get tougher. The truth is that you need variety, you need change. And, thankfully everyone is different.
Every individual comes with their own different talents, different strengths, different ideas, different
perspectives and even different weaknesses. Associating with all these differences is what makes life
whole.
In this time and age, we spend more than half our adult lives at our place of work. Here we meet people of all
kinds. People who are of a race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure,
organizational function, education and background which is different from ours. All this and more
encompasses the concept of diversity. To put it simply Workplace diversity refers to the variety of
differences between people in an organization.
Welcome to the special edition of the HR Mesh. Diversity, is a word thrown around way too often. People
talk about maintaining an all-inclusive workforce, however, when we do look closely, we see organizations
doing little to adhere to this promise. As future managers, we wanted to know what all can be done to keep
the diversity in an organization alive and kicking, which is why we chose this as the theme for this edition.
In keeping with the idea of diversity, this magazine has articles from students of business schools all over
the country. Insights from IIM, MDI, IMT, XIMB and Great Lakes have managed to clear the air around the
challenge of diversity a fair bit. To add to that we have also incorporated an article by our esteemed alumnus
HR Forum team hopes that you enjoy reading the HR Mesh as much as we loved making it. Please feel free to
write to us at [email protected]. We will be delighted to hear from you.
Happy Reading!
Contents
HR mesh
Unity in Diversity
Himanshu Aggrawal, Great Lakes Institute of Management Chennai
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Problem solving
Decision making
Risk-taking etc.
For instance in India there goes a thought that
women are not fit to work as an Industrial
relations manager due to harsh working
environment, but ironically we can see that
women these days become the most successful IR
managers. It is the nature of women which has
made some factories left with no IR issues.
Culture of worshiping women in India has made
all ruthless men in factories not to swear a word in
front of a woman.
Gender Distribution of Directors in NIFTY
Companies
success factors.
It improves the business outcomes
The financial performance improves
People feel motivated
It leads to healthy competition
The company's brand image revamps
Negative aspects of a diverse workforce:
If few employees in the organization do not
support diversity whereas few others do, it will
create internal friction among the employees.
Un-calculated and unconscious decisions to
create distinct categories, just to ensure diversity
will not turn out to be an optimum solution.
There is a possibility that just for the sake of
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Introduction:
I think... if it is true that there are as many minds
as there are heads, then there are as many
kinds of love as there are hearts.
-Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
This quote made from a book in 1877 may seem
insignificant in the context of a topic as
contemporary as workforce diversity. 21st
century has been characterized by eroding
national boundaries, and dwindling cultural and
gender barriers that weaken global workforce. In
spite of the current scenarios organizations are
facing challenges in managing workforce
diversity. Even in countries with a diverse
workforce, employees from demographically
dominant groups have more influence than the
others.
Organizations are finding it increasingly difficult
to manage a diverse workforce. This can be
attributed to lack of in-depth understanding of
what is diversity. The essence of diversity can be
interpreted from the quote of Leo Tolstoy. Each
individual has his/her own characteristics, way of
thinking, expressing, and interacting.
Managers play a significant role in managing
workforce diversity in organizations. As a future
manager, in order to handle diverse workforce in
the future, it is quintessential that we understand
the concepts, benefits, challenges, and
approaches in managing a diverse workforce.
Diversity of workforce:
A workforce comprises of individual with varied
abilities, potential, and skills, based on age,
gender, race, ethnic group, sexuality, religious
beliefs etc. Effective management of diverse
workforce implies a style of inclusive
management system which manages the
differences found in a multicultural workforce in a
manner which will ultimately results in the
highest level of productivity for both employees
and organization.
Managing diversity in an organization involves
By
Mahesh Rao P B and Fahman
Abdul Latheef
IMT Ghaziabad
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Conclusion:
In the present scenario managers face the
dilemma of equality versus equity and soft versus
hard affirmative actions. Ideally managers need
to focus on equity and adopt soft affirmative
actions to manage diversity and improve the
productivity of the workforce and the
organization.
It is time that organizations facilitate a workplace
environment that fosters intolerance towards
discrimination, and the art of thinking
independently together. Diversity is the one true
thing that mankind has in common, and it is time
that we as humans celebrate the same.
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Managing A Multi-Generational
Workforce
Introduction:
Generally at a workplace, two to three
generations work together. Workforce now-a-day
is an amalgam of employees who are veterans,
middle age employees and recently graduated
young chaps. Now each of these groups has its
own behavioral characteristics and has a vast
difference from others in its approach to a
particular situation.
By
Jagmohan Garg
IMT Ghaziabad
Generation Y workforce:
] People born between 1978-1989
]
Most fickle minded generation with high
demand of freedom
] Has creative quotient
]
Works on its own terms with a pragmatic
Multi-generation workforce:
Workforce across the globe is divided on the basis
of age group. These are explained as follows:
Traditional workforce (the silent spectators):
] People with age more than 65 years
] 95% of this workforce is about to retire
Academic qualifications of the overall group:
]People who went to high school: 60%
]People who have a diploma: 38%
]People who have a graduation degree: 26%
] Least tech-friendly workforce
]Adhere to the principles of sincerity,
punctuality, perseverance and normally have a
conservative mind set
]Like good guys who are least likely to cause
any disruption in an organization
Baby Boomers workforce:
]People born between 1946-1964
]77% are employed of which 49% are men Over
achieving and very focused
]First ones to lay excessive focus on creating a
work life balance
]Internet and newspaper are the most important
media for this workforce
Generation X workforce:
] People born between 1965-1967
] Highly educated generation
]
More concerned about financial and
emotional security
] Culturally more diverse
] Most media savvy generation
] Money is a very strong motivator to them
]
Requires more coaching and value for their
work
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References:
Hanks R S and Icenogle M, Preparing for an AgeDiverse Workforce: Intergenerational ServiceLearning in Social Gerontology and Business
Curricula in Educational Gerontology, Vol. 27
Issue 1, Jan 2001, p49-70, 22p.2 Charts.
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By
Reyomi Annie Roy
XIMB, Bhubaneshwar
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Diversity beyond HR
Irrespective of the diversity of your workforce you
will have a hard time retaining and benefitting
from it if the individual and collective differences
aren't addressed throughout the employment
lifecycle. An employee isn't likely to consider a
long career at a company if she doesn't see
anyone like them self in management positions
Hence, diversity and inclusion management
should extend far beyond the hiring processes to
the entire organization and be considered in
every phase of talent managementfrom
recruiting, and on-boarding to professional
development, leadership training, performance
m a n a g e m e n t , fe e d b a c k / m e a s u r e m e n t ,
workforce planning, and more
Birds of a feather flock together
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By
Oindrila Ghosh
IMT Nagpur
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By
Rupal Khandelwal,
IIM Kozikode
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233
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Unity In Diversity
By
Himanshu Aggrawal
Great Lakes Institute of
Management Chennai
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Fun Section
Humour begins and ends with HR
By
HR Forum Team
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Fun Section
Humour begins and ends with HR
By
HR Forum Team
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