Leadership in Business The Process of Appreciating

Question: Describe about the Leadership in Business for The Process of Appreciating. Answer: Introduction Cultural diversity in the workplace can be referred to the process of appreciating the differences in the individuals existing in the workplace. The difference in the organisation takes place in the respect of age, gender, sex, marital status etcetera. The leaders of the organisation play an important role in maintaining the cultural diversity of organisation. It is necessary for the leaders to understand the cultural diversity prevailing within the organisation in order to build accountability in the organisational systems. The project deals with two important questions that highlight leadership skills in accordance with the diversity in the workplace. In order to maximise capacities, leaders focus on developing necessary policies and working towards a prosperity of their firm as a whole. In the modern times, the understanding of the cultural diversity helps the leaders to minimise a lot of different dimension that exist in the workplace (Elias, 2015). The leaders are able to recognise the relevant dimensions and measure those dimension. Sometimes the organisation faces certain situations where the manager faces cosmetic diversity. The cosmetic diversity arises when the organisations take up initiatives to implement internal diversity so that the external diversity of the stakeholders of the organisation can be met. In such cases, the organisation requires some leaders who help the internal environment of the organisation to interact with the external environment of the company. Thus, it can be stated that the leaders of the organisation need to understand the cultural diversity of the organisation. In the opinion of Northouse (2015), the cultural diversity in Australia is one of the effective sources of the national strength of the nation. The identity and the culture of the economy have increased due to the presence of cultural diversity. However, in contradictory Goethals et al., (2014), stated that the society of Australia is not able to utilize the cultural diversity because of the presence of bias and discrimination. In 2014, the Australian Human Rights Commission had designed a Workplace Cultural Diversity Tool. The advantage of the tool is that the organisation is able to measure their performance level in respect to the best practice standards of the cultural diversity of the organisation. The effectiveness of the tool is increased when the staff member such as the managers of the human resource department or the other department uses the tool in the workplace with full information about the cultural diversity of the organisation. The knowledge about the organisational cultural diversity helps to plan the future work effectively and improve the organisational performance. There exists a dilemma whether the organisation needs to have target or quotas to carry out activities on cultural diversity. However, Chhokar, Brodbeck House (2013), added that there is no such essentiality of targets and quotas as there are many organisation that are committed towards cultural diversity yet do not intend to adopt any sort of targets or quotas. On the other hand, it has been argued by many authors such as Kouzes Posner (2014) that the implementation of targets and quotas in the organisation results in penalising innovation. The targets can be considered as voluntary goals that are considered by the managers of the organisation while quotas are compulsory and are imposed on the organisation by the external body. PwC Australia has kept the Diversity and Inclusion (DI) as one of the main strategy since July 2014. The organisation believed that in order to enhance the efficiency of the organisation the diversity of the organisation has to be improved. From the DI survey report of the company it has been inferred that a majority of the respondents that counted about 42 percent of the respondents had diversity in their cultural background. Thus, the managers of the company found it important to pay more attention towards the cultural diversity in order to achieve the maximum benefits from it. Moreover, to support the cultural diversity the company implements certain initiatives that help to ensure efficient diversity such as shortlisting during recruitment, talent programs and filling up of partnership admission form. In order to become a successful leader in an organisation, the leaders need to understand the current diversity of culture present. There may be variation in the conception and expectation of leadership due to the diversity in the cultural backgrounds of the individuals. Expected competence in the cross-culture awareness and practices has to be shown by the leaders of the organisation that will help the leadership to last for a longer period. Nevertheless, in order to develop effective global leadership strategies within the workplace, it is necessary for the leaders to understand the significance of the cultural diversity of the employees working in the company. In the competitive market of the 21st century, the competitive and the sustainable advantage of the companies is based on the skills and the ability of the leaders who can effectively tackle the diversity present in the organisation and thereby implement strategies that are complex for the business. DuBrin (2015) stated that the leaders need to manage the culturally diverse settings of the company very efficiently through the process of capability of cultural intelligence or cultural quotient (CQ). The leaders should be aware of diversity faced in the organisation since CQ is greatly related to the international experiences of the individuals working in the company. None of the organisation is free from the bias or prejudice thus the perception and the experience of the individuals play a very important in the organisational performance. In 2014, the diversity data was published by a number of US tech firms that indicated underrepresentation of the diversity in the respective organisations. Facebook introduces Managing Bias, a course for its employees. The managers of Facebook together worked with the researcher to develop and innovate the Managing Bias that is shared with the public through the websites. Countering bias and discrimination has to do more than just raising the consciousness. The presence of bias in the organisation can be eliminated or reduced through effort. In the globalised multicultural organisations, the leaders have to learn and understand the value of diversity in the culture of the organisation (Daft, 2014). In order to make the leaders value the diversity it is necessary to make diversity a part of the organisation, crea te diversity of thoughts and innovations, know the gender in the workplace and introduce diversity initiatives in the company. The business leaders have a crucial role in delivering a strong message of commitment regarding the diversity and the inclusion in the organisational culture. The commitment of the leaders to ensure cultural diversity comes up from the individual understanding. Swanson Frederick (2016) opined that as diversity can be considered as mix of people present in the organisation to create wide-ranging culture, the organisation carries out several practices that affect the diversity of the organisation. The diversity and inclusion goals are considered as the part of the organisational management and the performance objectives by a number of companies such as Telstra, General Mills, Nissan, Merck and many others. The cultural diversity helps the leaders of the organisation to support the flexible arrangement in the workplace. The leaders are able to provide the employees with a balance between the professional and the personal commitment such as flexible working hours, on boarding support af ter leave from the company etcetera. In order to achieve organisational changes, there is a requirement of effective leadership in the overall sense within the workplace. One of the major attentions that is to be stressed on by the leaders is not only to cultivate and develop diverse talent in the organisation (Trax, Brunow Suedekum, 2015). Thus tackling the biasness and the discrimination is mandatory for the leaders. Inclusive leadership promotion suggests that an individual fails to give privilege to a few number of cultural groups over other due to the assumptions of the individuals regarding the leadership of the company. According to Syed et al., (2016), searching for the talents is the first step to bring diversity in the workforce. In many organisations such as General Mills, during and after the process of staff recruitment the leaders track the metrics of the cultural diversity. It has been inferred that there is a positive correlation between the leadership behaviour and the organisational culture. Simon La Cava (2014) added to the above statement by stating that organisational culture is positively correlated to the job satisfaction of the employees working in the organisation. In an organisation there are individuals who have different backgrounds, socioeconomic background and ethnicities. This differentiation causes the organisation to face a number of challenges. The incorporation of good and effective leadership helps to achieve enhanced productivity, morale of the employee and understanding in the diverse environment of the organisation (Wood Wilberger, 2015). The leaders of the organisation are capable of implementing the appreciation of diversity in the workplace. A supportive environment is achieved that helps the employees to feel that the managers and the leaders are always approachable in case of emergencies and events. Thus, the impact of the leaders on the cultural diversity of the organisation is positive as the employees are given the opportunity to share their ethnic cultural background, personal customs, and awareness with the co-workers and the management of the organisation. Considering the example of Westpac, it has been reported to be important for the company to create inclusive culture within the organisation so that innovation and bright ideas can be achieved in the organisation. The leadership program of the Westpac has been an important part that helped in shaping the cultural diversity of the organisation. The program helps to develop the skills of the leaders such as increasing their flexibility in thinking and working style, make better decision, enhance the planning ability etcetera. The Employee Action Groups (EAGs) of Westpac is an effective way to increase the involvement of the employees of the organisation in the diversity and inclusion. The company has two different EAGs that highlights the cultural diversity of the organisation that are Brothers Sisters (Indigenous Australians) and Asian Leadership. The aim of the EAGs is not only to promote and celebrate culture but also create opportunities for development for all the members of the company that helps to support the business. Therefore, the company is able to work with communities that have a diverse culture. According to Markus (2015), the leadership of the organisation influences the cultural diversity to a great extent. Diversity and inclusion helps to bring in different talents in the workplace that works together to achieve a common goal that uses various skills. The skills of the individuals boost up the loyalty of the employees that further enhances the employee retention and productivity. Moreover, the leaders receive many more solutions since there are a number of diverse minds working together in an organisation. The individuals in the organisation are able to bring variation in their thinking, operating, decision-making and problem solving activities of the company. A competitive edge is also provided to the company as the leaders are able to attract and retain talents (Hoch Kozlowski, 2014). The communication skills of the employees and the leaders are increased and a synergy is built in the team that further invites new attitudes and profit in the organisation. In addition t o that the market share of the organisation is increased and a satisfied diverse base for the customers is created. As stated by Glickman, Gordon Ross-Gordon (2012), the topic of cultural diversity its relationship with leadership remains a debatable issue in Australia. Administrators focus to build clear and transparent goals that not only increase performance of their brand, but also promote a sense of cultural diversity. A well-developed set of work methods and motives of the company, results in an increase in trust factors. Further, in order to maximise leadership qualities, supervisors take an active part in organising schemes and engagement programs to let the employees maintain a free and honest bond with the management. In addition to involving in ground level surveys, leaders emphasize the need for welfare activities and deal workers the way they want (Williams, 2013). A sense of responsibility and respect among the employees enable a flourish and advancement in of cultural diversity. Apart from highlighting a continuous evolvement of the taskforce as a whole, accepting feedbacks and wor king towards building up new strategies also contribute towards enhancing the diversification and leadership process. Conclusion Analysing the several aspects it can be inferred that in the modern business world there exist a broad range of cultural diversity. It can also be understood that with a proper organisation and management by company leaders, the diversification in workplace can be fruitful. Further reviewing the cases of several enterprises, the theory can be understood in a better and sophisticated manner. In order to maximise capabilities, leaders seek to gain knowledge and implement strategies with the organisational structure as well. 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