Employees Diversity: UCCO Case Analysis

To succeed in the modern economic setting and appeal to as broad a range of customers as possible, companies must accept the values and philosophies that are prevalent in the global economic setting. Moreover, the values and philosophies in question will serve as the support system for promoting positive change within an organization, including the enhancement of proper organizational behaviors and the development of qualities such as responsibility and acceptance in staff members.

For this reason, the focus on diversity and inclusion, as well as the elimination of stereotypes, is imperative for promoting effective teamwork and an increase in performance quality. Since an increase in stereotypical perceptions of members of other cultures has been prevalent at UCCO, it is desirable that workshops and training sessions aimed at increasing awareness and encouraging multicultural teambuilding must be held.

The proposed perspective requires the introduction of strategic planning into the management process. In the use of strategic planning as the basis for corporate change, the role of an executive is quite broad, involving several essential responsibilities, such as the development and introduction of a coherent vision, the selection of the person to champion change, taking note of the key alterations, creating a framework that supports the change, measure the improvements, provide feedback, and define the further course or change (Ryan & Rogers, 2019). Specifically, as a manager, one must introduce analytical principles into the process of navigating change ad creating a more diverse setting for staff members.

In turn, in the context of change, promoting inclusion and diversity is instrumental to the creation of a safe workplace environment for employees. It is a well-established fact that staff members are motivated to accept change only when the setting in which they work is conducive to the development of the suggested organizational behaviors and attitudes (Kumra et al., 2020). In turn, the setting where racial, ethnic, and cultural stereotypes thrive, is likely to be seen as hostile and unwelcoming to the staff members belonging to minority groups (André, 2018). For this reason, to implement organizational change effectively, diversity principles must be woven into the fabric of the organizational philosophy and reflected in its mission and vision (Jaeger et al., 2016).

Applying the concept of diversity specifically to the UCCO setting, one must mention the high probability of removing cultural, ethnic, and racial prejudices from the workplace environment. Given the problems that Barbara has encountered as a manager at UCCO, the emphasis on diversity is instrumental since it will encourage employees to accept the company’s shared vision and, therefore, develop an understanding of the basic premises of its corporate values. Along with increased interaction frequency, the proposed change must be seen as critical in advancing progressive views and improving communication in the workplace (Hofhuis et al., 2018).

In turn, to foster diversity and inclusion in the workplace, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary collaboration should be encouraged. The proposed approach toward managing tasks and addressing inclusion and diversity issues will lead to cross-cultural communication, encouraging employees to reconcile their differences and revisit their perception of other cultures, thus, eliminating stereotypes and prejudices that they may have. Specifically, by creating a setting where crossvergence as the process of intercultural sharing of values and philosophies will occur at “differing degrees of convergence/divergence, for different groups of individuals,” Barbara as the UCCO manager can incite change in the corporate setting and alter the mind frame of the staff members (Jaeger et al., 2016, p. 233).

Therefore, the current plan should consist of three key stages. Namely, it should start with revisiting the company’s stance on diversity and organizational culture to reinforce the key provisions and ensure that they align with principal ethical standards. Afterward, seminars and training sessions promoting diversity will have to take place in a cross-cultural setting with a focus on crossvergence.

Finally, the staff members will be incentivized to incorporate the developed skills in the workplace environment. After the change is implemented, controlling it and identifying the instances of staff members failing to utilize the obtained skills will be located. Thus, the further course for improvements will be crafted and incorporated into a follow-up approach.

To enhance the performance within diverse teams at UCCO, where stereotyping representatives of other cultures appears to have developed as a general direction of managing cross-cultural relationships, training and workshops for increasing multiculturalism in communication must be provided at UCCO. Thus, managers will empower staff members to become more productive in their performance and improve the quality of communication within the organization substantially.

Moreover, the emphasis on diversity and inclusion will increase the general level of morale within the firm, making the organization more appealing to general audiences and more ethical in its decision-making. Therefore, by encouraging staff members to see the value of diversity and the ridiculous nature of ethnic and racial stereotypes, UCCO will be able to create a team of diverse experts who can share their culture-related perceptions of work and workplace experiences, thus, expanding the range of their expertise.

References

André, S. R. N. (2018). Embracing generational diversity: Reducing and managing workplace conflict. ORNAC Journal, 36(4), 13. Web.

Hofhuis, J., Mensen, M., ten Den, L. M., van den Berg, A. M., Koopman‐Draijer, M., van Tilburg, M. C., Smitsm C. M. H., & de Vries, S. (2018). Does functional diversity increase effectiveness of community care teams? The moderating role of shared vision, interaction frequency, and team reflexivity. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 48(10), 535-548. Web.

Jaeger, A. M., Kim, S. S., & Butt, A. N. (2016). Leveraging values diversity: The emergence and implications of a global managerial culture in global organizations. Management International Review, 56(2), 227-254. Web.

Kumra, T., Hsu, Y. J., Cheng, T. L., Marsteller, J. A., McGuire, M., & Cooper, L. A. (2020). The association between cultural competence and teamwork climate in a network of primary care practices. Health Care Management Review, 1, 106-116. Web.

Ryan, T., & Rogers, J. W. (2019). The board’s role in cultivating an inclusive culture. Directors & Boards, 1, 38-40.