Diversity Dimension Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Diversity Dimension - Essay Example Affirmative action refers to the various policies that are used to ensure inclusiveness in areas of business, education and employment in terms of race, religion, sex or age. Diversity in the workforce refers to the policies and practices that aim at including people with certain qualities in the workforce, which the current staff does not have. This could either be on the basis of age, disability, experience, gender or special talents. Achieving Equal Opportunity in Employment through Affirmative Action Legislation, Anti Discrimination Legislation and Managing Diversity Approaches Managing diversity in employment has become one of the most fundamental principals in human resource management in recent years. Diversity in employment is based on the principals of equal employment opportunities to everybody irrespective of inherent differences such as gender, race, religion, age, ethnicity as well as physical disabilities (Sappey et al, 2006). Businesses and companies are being encourag ed to adopt more inclusive approaches in their employment strategies so as to accommodate everybody and help do away with the negative effects of discrimination and marginalization of certain groups and individuals. In order to fully achieve inclusiveness, most companies have been encouraged to adopt policies that reflect affirmative action and those that are in line with anti discrimination laws and regulations. ... In some jurisdictions, the issue of workforce diversity has been backed with a legal foundation. Companies are expected to comply with set out legislations concerning employment procedures so as to avoid discrimination. In some cases, it’s mandatory for organizations to have guidelines and policies to ensure inclusiveness in terms of gender, race and disability (Dickens, 2000). In order to fully achieve equal opportunity in employment, organizations have to rely on affirmative action legislation and policies, anti-discrimination legislation as well as other various approached to workforce diversity management. All these three approaches (Anti-discrimination legislation, affirmative action and diversity management approaches) are the fundamental guidelines in achieving equality in the workforce. In Australia, the idea of workforce diversity has been welcomed by organizations both in the public and private sector (Strachan et al, 2010). The Department of Immigration and Citizens hip has been at the forefront at ensuring diversity at all levels of the department. This has enabled the department to be one of the best performing in the public sector (Strachan et al, 2010). Workforce diversity management can be done using various ways. The two main approaches that organizations can use to ensure inclusiveness in employment are the radical approach and the liberal approach. The liberal approach assumes that there is equal opportunity only when all individuals are able to compete for the rewards freely. According to this approach, employment should only focus on merit of individuals rather than factors such as gender, age disability or race. The radical approach o the other hand states that organizations should however strive to ensure that they not only create