Diversity

The case at the company is a diversity issue, and the company has to formulate ways to control cases of discrimination in the organization. There are various forms of discrimination that are experienced in workplaces. Discrimination at workplaces could be based on age, gender, national origin, pregnancy, race, and ethnicity, among other factors. Ms. Holmes alleges to be discriminated based on her sexual orientation. The manager should, therefore, consider the organizational policies regarding diversity and discrimination. Other factors that the manager should consider when managing a diverse workforce include valuing diverse employees, respect between individuals of different cultures, providing cross-cultural training, mentoring of employees on diversity, ensuring equality on training, promoting employees based on performance, and prohibiting discrimination in providing organizational facilities which make the organization uphold diversity competence.

As a member of the HR team, I would advise the manager to listen to Ms. Holmes with an open mind and without making any assumptions or conclusions. The manager should also treat her with respect and compassion and be understanding (Sharma & Mann, 2018). I would ask the manager not to retaliate and keep the complaints confidential and assure the accuser that he will conduct investigations and provide some disclosure on the matter. The manager should then conduct the investigations following established procedures immediately by interviewing the employees. Moreover, the manager should research the law of discrimination and the responsibilities of employers in such cases. The whole process should be documented, and the organization should consider cooperating with the government agencies should Ms. Holmes make a formal legal complaint (Sonnenschein, 1999). Alternatively, the manager may hire a private investigator and take appropriate action on the results.

To help the organization as a whole to provide proper support to Corey and prevent the occurrence of discrimination conflicts in future, I would guide them to create competent diversity culture using the steps below:

• Empower and Educate Managers

I would schedule a cultural and sensitivity training to educate the management on the significance of workplace diversity and how to recruit and manage diverse employees.

• Create diversity-friendly workforce policies

The management should create new or amend current policies in the organization regarding hiring and promoting employees (Jani, Osteen & Shipe, 2016). They should also formulate the punishment for engaging in any forms of discrimination while at work. The employees should be informed and involved in creating policies.

• Promote the organization’s cultural competency

Since the organization has employees from different cultural backgrounds and the employees interact with different people daily, it is essential to promote cultural competency in the organization.

• Educate employees

Teach the employees on the importance of embracing diversity and encourage them to learn more about other cultures so that they can view life from different perspectives, understand other people’s actions, and embrace their feelings and beliefs even when they do not agree with them (Sonnenschein, 1999). The employees should also be encouraged to conduct a personal evaluation and avoid following society stereotypes.

• Create mentorship programs

Underrepresented employees should be connected with mentors to provide support and promote growth.

The situation was not difficult to address. The first three chapters of the course have equipped me with cross-cultural skills of self-knowledge, global thinking, flexibility, interpersonal communication, and how to manage diversity when interacting with people who have different beliefs which prepared me to address issues of discrimination and diversity in the workplace. 

References

Jani, J. S., Osteen, P., & Shipe, S. (2016). Cultural competence and social work education: Moving toward assessment of practice behaviors. Journal of Social Work Education, 52(3), 311-324.

Sharma, S., & Mann, N. (2018). Workplace discrimination: The most critical issue in managing diversity. In Management techniques for a diverse and cross-cultural workforce (pp. 206-223). IGI Global.Sonnenschein, W. (1999). The diversity toolkit: How you can build and benefit from a diverse workforce. McGraw Hill Professional.