ESSAY: History of Diversity in the Workplace

Research the history of diversity in the workplace and answer the following questions:

How has it evolved over the past five decades?
What moved it to the forefront of modern business’ priorities? Cite examples.
Identify 3 diverse organizations. Provide a brief description of the organization and discuss how they are harnessing the power of diversity.

ANSWER

History of Diversity in the Workplace

            The general workplace in most organizations has significantly changed in the past decades. The continuous development of technology and the significant upsurge of information in the contemporary periods has experienced substantial transformations in the recent years. Roberson, Ryan, and Ragins (2017) distinguish that diversity in the workplace was acknowledged during the 1960s following the enactment of equal employment and career opportunity laws.  The social and political modifications led to the development of civil rights legislation. These laws were initially based on safeguarding categories of race, gender, and ethnicity. There was, however, a little focus on disabilities, age, and religion, which are currently being focused on most organizations. Later in the 1980s, organizations got accustomed to diversifying their workplaces. It was in the late 1980s that most companies hired more women. The minorities had a large share of the new employees into the workforce, and both the illegal and legal immigrants represented a large share of the workforce population in nations like America. The intensified demographic…

            Organizations began to evaluate diversity in terms of productivity, public image, market share, and even retention. Diversity developments were extended significantly due to flexible programs, dress requirements, emergency care, and phased retirements. Organizations also started to apply diversity outside the workforce content, predominantly to their consumers. For instance, an increase in the population of minorities in most nations has significantly led to the increased growth of their purchasing power. A change in consumer demographic…

            The contemporary modifications in most organizations suggest that a diverse workforce is valuable to the growth of any company. For instance, there has been a high rate of globalization, as most companies seek more opportunities in global markets intending to acquire a competitive market share. Hudson (2014) distinguishes that the need to become more global has moved diversification in the workplace to the forefront of modern business priorities. Also, changes in population demographics have compelled most companies to diversify their workforce to increase their sales and have a considerable market share. For instance, the American population has increasingly become …

In the contemporary business environment, some of the most diverse companies include Microsoft Corporation, Cisco Systems, and Accenture PLC (DePersio, 2019). Cisco Systems is an American technology organization that conducts its operations globally (Lewis, 2019). The company introduced a diverse representation framework that provides individual information to enable hiring administrators to look for skills in the regions the company conducts its business. Microsoft Corporation is a leading developer of computer systems, applications, and personal computers (Hall and Zachary, 2019). The company’s board of directors is the most diversified with ethnic minorities and women in…

References

DePersio, G. (2019, June 25). The Best (and Worst) Companies For Workplace Diversity. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/professionals/072815/best-and-worst-companies-workplace-diversity.asp

Hall, M., & Zachary, G. P. (2019). Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Microsoft-Corporation

Hudson Jr, S. W. (2014). Diversity in the Workforce. Journal of Education and Human Development, 3(4), 73-82.

Lewis, R. (2019). Cisco Systems. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cisco-Systems-Inc

Roberson, Q., Ryan, A. M., & Ragins, B. R. (2017). The evolution and future of diversity at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 483.