As the global marketplace for various goods and services has become increasingly favored, the businesses must take the diversity in the work force more seriously and embrace it. There needs to be a hike in the full awareness of numerous cultures. There are many reasons as to why cultural knowledge is mandatory (Kirby, 1985). Merely gaining a differing employee population is not sufficient but to gain a much more successful outcome in the organization in today’s demanding economy, one should not just focus on having a multifaceted workplace but should also be able to respect the diversified cultures and ideas that come along with it. A business that aims to be outstanding must target on having good communication. Various cultures have a different approach towards communicating and if the cultural differences are not identified then it may lead to an increase in obstacles being faced followed by confusion and mistakes being made.
A form of rule is followed by individuals and organizations when it comes to ‘Dignity and Respect’ in the workplace which is treating people the way one wants to be treated. Being around in a workplace where everyone comes off to each other with respect and dignity usually tends to have a very positive environment with lots of laughter, varied ideas and lastly, resulting to a remarkable outcome. Individuals should always be around a healthy work environment where there is a balance in the professional practices and a well-followed code of conduct, and also, no attacks personally and no impractical demands from the employees (Frayer, 2002). However, in many organizations all around the world, that is not the case. An electronics manufacturing organization that is huge and well-known worldwide named Foxconn Technology Group was known to have an array of suicides regarding frivolous working conditions in the factories in China in the year 2010 where merely within a few months, about fourteen young migrant workers dove to their deaths from the buildings in the Foxconn campus (Lucas, et al., 2013). These workers who practically lived almost their entire life there after perceiving work were under very harsh work conditions and were given degrading and offensive punishments for making slight mistakes. These employees were more of robots in the eyes of the organization and were always meant to behave and performs tasks in the ideal way. They were not made to be any sort of priority, were not given decisions to make and only had a set of protocols that they were demanded to follow (McCall, 2001). The workers described their work life as a ‘life without dignity’. This approach to diversity and the dignity of the employees in the workplace brings losses of life in the workplace due to stress and pressure which ends up making the company an unfavorable figure in the economy. Having to treat consumers in an adverse way also tends to bring financial losses to the companies such as poor output or having employees resign and recruit another batch again which leads to an entire procedure of recruitment and training again.
It is important for international employers to manage diversity and preserve employees’ dignity in the workplace due to countless reasons. If there is an improvement in the dignity and respect being given to individuals, employees will automatically start feeling like the organization values them and this, indeed can lead to a company reaching new heights and also bring in thousands of potential profits into the business. Employees feeling appreciated is a great deal for them although it might not seem like one (William I. Sauser, 2009). Acknowledging an employee on a specific task and reciprocating with positive recognition would make a difference in the overall performance of the employee. It is fairly mandatory for employees to be appreciated in a working environment, so they do not feel unimportant and do not end out bringing a culture of disengaged employees that only make enough effort to not get fired. Workplace dignity is more compelling than any dignified mannerism and should be given the most importance to (He, et al., 2014). Nowadays, there is nothing more important to individuals than their self-worth, there is a rising need of gaining their ideal kind of self-worth from the work environment they indulge in. They also desire to be treated respectfully in all walks of their lives, mainly at the place they are recruited. These employees feel like they need to feel that they are making their own contributions for themselves, the organizations they are working in, their families, etc. Once employees’ dignity is shot down, there is a downward spiral in motion. Employees then respond back by not putting enough commitment and creativeness into the work, which then may misguide the higher authorities, who may later comprehend that the employees are unwilling to participate and then result to treating them with even less respect.
Everything that includes the workforce, consumers and markets are all progressively diverse and to bring out success within individuals and organizations, diversity should be managed well, it also helps to enable boost organizational competitiveness and also makes good use to all employee groups. This can be done by paying heed to specific guidelines and making use of them accurately can bring effective results. As mentioned previously, emphasizing on communication will be able to assure the fact that employees do comprehend the policies, protocols, procedures and other information (Hill, et al., 1993). An acceptable and positive type of communication will bring out changes to overcome that barriers than come within culture and language. In an organization that is diverse, the management could put out key materials where for example, for information regarding safety, symbols and visual imagery could be used such as warning signs so it is easy for everyone to follow, or possible translations could be done. Furthermore, all employees should be viewed more as individuals of their own and should not be viewed as employees belonging to different groups. Employees should all be encouraged to identify their co-workers more like individuals and make judgements on the basis of their word rather than their personal aspects (Comer & Soliman, 1996). For these factors to come into action, employees need to be motivated to work in a group that is diverse. Employees should be encouraged to work in a group of individuals where they can get to know and value each individual for who they truly are and accept their cultural differences. This also enables to broaden the involvement and outlook that the employees have on the team they are a part of and assist one another to find their strong aspects and take advantage of those strengths as they combine their talents and raise better output gradually. To manage diversity equally and effectively, one should also base the decisions on a specific criterion where all the employees are set a specific target to meet the best of their ability according to their standards, and to not set various benchmarks for different groups which would lead to a biased environment. One should also focus more on obstacles that are more job-related than issues that personal when it comes to employees (Jr., 2003). Furthermore, employers need to be more open-minded in this scenario. They should be able to encourage their employees to think outside the box and be ready to accept the numerous kinds of culture, languages and background that they will come across and that they culture they come from are not the only ones. This can also be done by conducting diversity training which would enable to reinforce policies and motivate workers to portray behavior that is appropriate. Lastly, having a full understanding of discrimination is vital. The higher authority that controls employees should have a fair comprehension of the laws regarding discrimination and the penalties that are applied for violating these certain rules (Williams, 2001). Once there is sufficient knowledge on this topic and is passed onto the employees will bring a significant change in the number of problems that arise and behavioral issues.
There are basic rights and freedom for humans in the workplace that every individual focus on the factors of fairness, equality and dignity. These rights are usually preserved by the law. All organizations of public authority are to follow these guidelines and principles (Levin, 2009). Perhaps, these human rights are a safe way for employee dignity to be protected as most of these human rights are constructed in a way where workers within the workplace feel secure in their surroundings (Henry, 2011). An individual has their own right to their personal life and for example, if an employer is criticizing an employee for being homosexual, the workers’ rights there is clearly being violated as they have no rights to one’s personal life. An employer only has the legal rights to monitor the activities of an employee within the work environment, which cover aspects like internet access, telephone calls, emails, etc., all during work.