But…It’s Our Company Culture!
You are the HR manager for a fifty-person firm that specializes in the development and marketing of plastics technologies. When you were hired, you felt the company had little idea what you should be paid and just made up a number, which you were able to negotiate for a slightly higher salary. While you have been on the job for three months, you have noticed a few concerning things in the area of multiculturalism, besides the way your salary was offered. The following are some of those items:
- You know that some of the sales team, including the sales manager, get together once a month to have drinks at a strip club.
- A Hispanic worker left the organization, and in his exit interview, he complained of not seeing a path toward promotion.
- The only room available for breastfeeding mothers is the women’s restroom.
- “The organization has a policy of offering $200 to any employee who refers a friend, as long as the friend is hired and stays at least six months.
- The manufacturing floor has an English-only policy.
- You have heard managers refer to those wearing turbans in a derogatory way.
What do you think needs to be done to create a more inclusive environment, without losing the culture of the company? What suggestions would you make to those involved in each of the situations?
Strategic Human Resource Management
The organization can run properly and efficiently when the proper maintenance of the organization is done. If proper management is not there in the organization, surely, the growth in the organization cannot also take place. To have a more inclusive environment, it is important to evaluate the diversity level in the organization which will include surveys related to employee satisfaction open forums and debates, and discussions. This will help in finding the various inputs about the different challenges and restrictions that are faced while performing the job. Once it is done, a diversity plan has to be constructed along with a combination of reasonable and measurable objectives and targets that must be executed to attain workplace diversity. Once the plan is made, the implementation must be ensured (Chandra & Kumar, 2018, p.2). This can be done by having an action plan based on the various objectives and targets decided during the development plan. The action plan must include the whole organization rather than focusing on a single department. The employees can be educated about the cultural differences, differences in languages, and customs of various cultures and their beliefs. This can be done by initiating a cultural diversity training program. Certain changes must be made so that the organization can work properly and efficiently as well. The changes which should be done for a more inclusive environment in the organization are stated below-
Avoid discrimination my opinion, There must be a discrimination committee in the organization that can handle all of these incidences. They must focus on the reasons behind specific types of behaviors and if there is any kind of discrimination or not it is done intentionally to hurt someone. Apart from this, the management must ensure that people from various classes and ethnicities get the proper chance to advance in the organization (Asif & Rehman, 2021, p.30). Discrimination should be avoided or biasedness should not be there in the organization if discrimination is there then the worker will not be interested to work in the organization where they are been discriminated against for their religion or gender.
Suggestion 1- The more restroom for females– The females must be provided their privacy when they need and to overcome the language barriers, a common language that is understood by all must be used. Those who do not have command over English can be provided with training on learning English well. The more breastfeeding in this company the more people come to work or visit so if the proper room is there then it will be helpful to the women as well. As an HR manager, in this company, there is a need to create various policies so that all HR-related issues can be made systematic (Hao et al. 2020, p.25). Looking at the case, there is a need to follow policies in the company so that the company can be managed properly. The company needs to create a room for Children and working mothers where they can breastfeed and take care of their children in their free time.
Suggestion 2- Proper salary– A benchmarking of salary and job roles needs to be done and accordingly, a company policy for salary and the years an employee needs to spend on each role needs to be set and then the policy needs to be released. The proper salary should be provided to the people who are working in the organization because if the proper amount of salary is not provided according to their knowledge and work then no person wants to work in the firm. So, the organization should make these changes so that it motivates the employees to continue in the organization or to join this organization as well. The proper salary should be provided to the employees according to their knowledge of the work
Suggestion 3- Behavior implication– A policy of diversity and inclusion and companies’ stance on issues such as multiculturalism, and what is acceptable behavior and what is not needed to be created and informed to all employees. It is seen that the firm has a policy related the English only which can be quite challenging for the workers who have issues speaking the English language. Rather the organization should make an effort that all the people can able to speak the language they can speak or some regional language should be there. The implication of the behavior issue should be there where the person speaking the foul language will not be entertained here and strict action should be taken for that kind of person who uses slang language or has a behavioral issue where they did not behave properly with the other person in the organization (D’Isanto, Barone & Masullo, 2021, p.445).
Suggestion 4- Avoid targeting people for clothes– The organization should make sure that they do not target the people for their clothes or the traditions that they follow. In the organization, it is previously seen that wearing the turban by the people is not liked by the head manager (Parker, 2022, p.5). But the form should make that point that they should make the mandatory to wear official clothes in the offices but also should give certain exceptions that are traditional so do not get hurt. If this is to be given then the organization will run properly and more people will want to continue to work. With the help of the manager, an off-site activity needs to be planned to engage the workers (Al Hadwer et al. 2021, p.5). A recruitment policy needs to be created where clear instructions on referral also need to be mentioned.
Suggestion 5- Referral policy– In the organization, the referral policy is there so that growth can take place. In this policy, the employees of the organization should refer to one of the friends and the family in the organization and if the person works in the organization, then a certain amount is to be given to the employees for providing a referral. In the firm, the g $200 is offered to an employee who refers a friend, as long as the friend is hired and stays at least six months. Here in these factors, certain changes are to be made so that the work can be done properly. Here the time of the hired person should be reduced to three months rather than 6 months because with more time limits the employees are not interested in refers as they assume that they may get no money if the friend leaves the organization as well. So, for this reason, the employees did not refer to any of the people as well. If the period is low then they are keen to refer the person as well which helps to increase the number of employees in the organization.
Suggestion 6- Regular meet– Earlier in the case it is seen that the sales manager meets together only once amount which is for a drink. Here certain changes are to be made like the regular meeting should be there in the organization so that the manager can meet and find out the issue that is taking place in the organization and make the changes accordingly (Zacharias, Rahawarin & Yusriadi. 2021, p.300). The regular meet-up helps to communicate well and to understand each other. With the help of meeting each other, the sales team can make the plan for the organization which h can be the of the organization as well. These are the certain changes that the sales team should make so that the growth in the organization can take place and the organization can run properly and effectively as well.
Suggestion 7- Promotion of employees– It is most often seen in the organization that the people did not get a promotion the organization according to their days of work or their experiences in the organization. It is clear that if the employees feel that they will not be promoted in the organization or no scope for promotion is there then they leave the organization and will not work on it. It is seen in the case as well that the promotion is not there as per the employees so here the certain changes are to be made. The change is that the firm should make sure the proper promotion is there in the organization for the people who have good experience in the work and have knowledge as well. This initiative will boost their morale in the work and they will work in the same organization and will also be focused on the work
These are the certain changes that should be made in the organization so that the organization can run more effectively and effectively. The changes are to be made so that the employees can understand that the firm is thinking of them as well.
References
Al Hadwer, A., Tavana, M., Gillis, D., & Rezania, D. (2021). A systematic review of organizational factors impacting cloud-based technology adoption using the Technology-organization-environment framework. Internet of Things, 15, 100407.
Asif, F., & Rehman, A. (2021). The Impact of Gender Discrimination on Workplace Environment and Job Satisfaction. Research Journal for Societal Issues, 3(1), 28-38
Chandra, S., & Kumar, K. N. (2018). EXPLORING FACTORS INFLUENCING ORGANIZATIONAL ADOPTION OF AUGMENTED REALITY IN E-COMMERCE: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS USING TECHNOLOGY-ORGANIZATION-ENVIRONMENT MODEL. Journal of electronic commerce research, 19(3).
D’Isanto, F., Barone, G., & Masullo, M. R. (2021). Gender Discrimination and Well-Being: The Case of Physics Inside the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Sector in Italy. Open Journal of Philosophy, 11(4), 444-465.
Hao, J., Shi, H., Shi, V., & Yang, C. (2020). Adoption of automatic warehousing systems in logistics firms: A technology–organization–environment framework. Sustainability, 12(12), 5185.
Parker, E. (2022). ORGANIZATION-ENVIRONMENT RELATIONS AND ADAPTATION. Imagining the Future: Historically Black Colleges and Universities Matter of Survival, 73.
Zacharias, T., Rahawarin, M. A., & Yusriadi, Y. (2021). Cultural reconstruction and organization environment for employee performance. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 8(2), 296-315.
