Diversity includes all of the differences that make us unique. Workplace diversity is not just about Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) or Affirmative Action (AA); it's broader. Diversity encompasses and acknowledges any difference amongst individuals. What makes individuals so different or diverse? Here are just a few areas:

In order to manage diversity effectively in the workplace we need to include people, recognise them as individuals and utilise what makes them different.

Why manage diversity?
There are many reasons why we should manage diversity in our organisations and workplace, here are just a few:

• Social justice
• Anti discrimination obligations
• Benefits on productivity and profitability
• Provides a competitive advantage in the world market
• Positive impacts on organisational behaviour and effectiveness
• Business case
• Ideological Reasons
• Supports a process of managing change, particularly due to social and demographic changes in the workplace
• Supports a corporate image as an “Employer of Choice”

Diversity may be seen as a wide ranging process of management. So how can we as individuals encompass diversity into our daily work life and bring this concept into our team? Here are just a few things to consider:

• Be aware of EEO in the workplace and actively integrate these principles in all areas such as recruitment, training and development, performance management, coaching, accessing leave, negotiating flexible or alternate work practices etc.
• Be aware of the way that people interact in your team and respond to each other. Does everyone in your team treat people with respect and in a fair, just and equal way?
• Acknowledge the differences in your team member's cultural backgrounds. For example, try to increase your understanding and knowledge of different cultures, consider discussing differences in culture during team meetings, invite team members to bring in food from their culture for morning teas/lunches or try different cultural restaurants for special occasions.
• Try to understand as much as you can about the abilities, aptitudes, skills and interests of your individual team members? Are you capitalising on people's visible and hidden talents? Consider utilising people's abilities, aptitudes, skills and interests in different ways or when the need arises.
• If possible learn as much as you can about the work experiences of your team members. Can you utilise their backgrounds, knowledge or experiences from other industries more effectively?
• Learn as much as you can about what motivates you and others? Are you motivated by power, affiliation or accomplishment? Motivation is our willingness to exert effort to achieve a goal or perform a task. We are all motivated by different things. Knowledge of motivation can help us all to understand what makes people enthusiastic to approach some tasks and procrastinate with others.
• Try to learn and understand more about the behaviour of those in your team. Do you understand why people act or react the way that they do? Do you know why people behave in a particular way when they are under pressure or stress? Understanding behaviour can help us to improve our relationships and interactions with people on a daily basis. Understanding behaviour may involve a series of team development activities combining the use of behavioural tools and an experienced facilitator to guide this process.
• Be conscious of the types of team building activities that you undertake. Do they include everyone or can allowances be made so that everyone can participate? Do the activities allow people with disabilities, different physical abilities or ages to participate? Do team building activities take into consideration cultural differences or values? E.g. food or alcohol inclusion in activities.
• When organising team events, meetings, offsite etc, do you take into consideration the personal needs or dependent care responsibilities of different team members?
• Do you know how your team members like to learn? Do you understand their individual learning style? An understanding of how others learn can help us to change behaviour by detecting and correcting errors and assist people to acquire new knowledge or skills. Consider presenting or sharing information with team members in different ways to enable people to understand messages or information more effectively.
• Do the values, ethics and behaviour of your team match those of your organisation? Or, do your team or individual members operate differently?
• Is you team homogenous or heterogenous ? That is, is your team made up of people who are the same or different? Diverse teams can operate and achieve high performance outcomes, creative results and leading edge solutions.

Noted in the book “Organisational Behaviour” by Linda Chaousis, diversity gets people in the door and inclusion keeps them there. Inclusion means finding ways for people to connect in the workplace and be involved on a daily basis. Diversity is a good thing for teams and business. While for some, managing diversity may be seen as a challenge, the key to making diverse teams operate effectively is to find ways to include everyone, to accept and tolerate differences and to actively capitalise on the diversity of talents and perspectives that exist in people.

References

Human Resource Management in Australia, Strategy, People, Performance. Helen De Cieri and Robin Kramar. McGraw Hill Australia, 2003

Organisational Behaviour- Concepts, Controversies and Applications. Fifth Edition. Stephen P. Robbins. Prentice Hall 1991

Organisational Behavior- Linda Chaousis. Prentice Hall, 2000.