Modern organizations have a very diverse workforce. In an organization,
diversity can be defined as the presence of employees who differ from each
other in terms of age, gender, ethnicity or education. There are various
approaches for managing diversity. These approaches can be applied at the
individual level or at the organizational level. The 'individual' approaches
to managing diversity include 'learning' and 'empathy.' The organizational
approaches include testing, training, mentoring and the use of alternative
work schedules.
Since most organizations have to employ a diverse workforce, they must strive
to develop into multicultural organizations. A multicultural organization is
one which is determined to eliminate all forms of social oppression within it
and includes members of various cultural and social groups in the
decision-making process. Such an organization acknowledges the contributions
of people of various cultural and social groups, and reflects their interests
in its mission, operations, products or services.
An organization progresses through various stages before it develops into a
multicultural organization. These include the exclusionary organization, the
club organization, the compliance organization, the affirmative action
organization, and the redefining organization. A truly multicultural
organization aims at eliminating all forms of social inequities and involves
members from diverse groups when taking decisions that are crucial for the
survival and growth of the organization.
Ethics is concerned with moral issues and choices and deals with right and
wrong behavior. In recent times, the importance of ethics has increased
considerably in the study of OB. Many factors in the cultural, organizational
and external environment influence ethical behavior. The major ethical issues
that organizations have to address are sexual harassment, discrimination in
pay and promotion, and the right to privacy. Sexual harassment at the
workplace refers to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and
other verbal or physical conduct which can be construed to be of a sexual
nature.
The issue of pay and promotion discrimination addresses the fact that women
and minorities do not receive pay and promotion opportunities on par with
men. Getting personal information through the use of computer technology, and
mandatory drug testing and controlling the lifestyles of employees are
regarded as a violation of the privacy of employees. Organizations should try
to address these ethical issues and develop a work environment which allows
people from various groups to work together to achieve organizational goals.
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Short Case Studies / Caselets
