The_Essential_Manager_s_Handbook

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VALUING DIVERSITY / 41

Capitalizing on diversity
Managers face many challenges
capitalizing on diversity, such as:
coping with employees’ unfamiliarity
with native languages, learning
which rewards are valued by different
demographics, and providing career
development programs that fit
the values of different targeted groups.
There are several ways for you to try
to capitalize on diversity:

-^ Communicate your objectives^
and expectations about diversity
to employees through a range of
channels, such as mission and
value statements, slogans, creeds,
newsletters, speeches, emails, and
everyday conversations.
-^ Recruit through nontraditional
sources. Relying on current
employee referrals usually produces


PRACTICE WHAT
YOU PREACH
First look into your heart
and mind and root out any
prejudice. Then, demonstrate
your acceptance in everything
that you say and do.

Tip


a limited range of candidates. Try
instead to identify novel sources for
recruitment, such as women’s job
networks, targeted newspapers,
training centers for the disabled,
urban job banks, and over-50s clubs.

-^ Use diverse incentives for motivation.
Most studies on the subject of
motivation are by North American
researchers—unsurprisingly—
on North American workers.
Consequently, these studies are
based on beliefs that most people
work to promote their own well-being
and get ahead. This may be at odds
with people from more collectivist
countries, such as Venezuela,
Singapore, Japan, and Mexico, where
individuals are driven by their loyalty
to the organization or society, not their
own self-interest.


US_040-041_Valuing_Diversity.indd 41 30/05/16 3:00 pm

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