Question

What are the essential components of an effective diversity program,  discuss legal and organizational cultural factors? What are some challenges organizations face in creating and maintaining successful diversity programs and how can these be overcome?

Answer 1

With technological evolution and increase in competition, companies are becoming more diverse. Diversity in any company is considered to be the propagator of innovation and creativity. The company needs to come up with a comprehensive diversity program so as any kind of discrimination and disparate treatment and impact is avoided.

The essential components of a diversity program, in any company, are:

• Comprehensive training program to facilitate diversity
• Cultural analysis so as to avoid any kind of bias or discrimination
• Holistic mentorship program so as to facilitate the career aspirations of employees
• Clear and specific performance goals and KPIs
• Review with mentor and supervisor on regular intervals

The legal and organizational cultural factors which may impact an effective diversity program are:

• The cultural differences between employees of different backgrounds
• Language barrier
• High and low context culture difference
• Legal dependence of different cultures

Some of the challenges which a company may face, in maintaining an effective diversity program are as follows:

• Maintaining harmony and synergy among employees of different backgrounds can be quite difficult
• Clear communication lines across organization is difficult to establish
• Cultural shock among employees must be managed effectively