KANDOLA AND FULLERTON’S MANAGING THE MOSAIC
Use this to develop a mission statement for managing diversity in your organisation.
Rajvinder Kandola and Johanna Fullerton argue that the fundamental principles underpinning managing diversity are acceptance and respect. This requires an understanding that each individual is unique, and respecting individual differences. These differences can be related to disabilities, ethnicity, gender, race, religious or political beliefs, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status. It is about the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and supportive environment. It requires moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within your workforce.
Kandola and Fullerton liken this situation to a mosaic in which the organisation is made up of a number of pieces of glass, each with their own unique individuality and identity.
The analogy with the mosaic is that each individual piece is acknowledged, accepted and has a place in the whole structure.
Kandola and Fullerton argue that managing the mosaic effectively is based on the mission statement:
Management commitment to developing an ….
Organisational vision of the workforce of the future and ….
Sharing the ownership of the vision with all key stakeholders. It also entails ….
Assessing and responding to the needs of everyone through ….
Individual focusing and effective ….
Communication.
Kandola and Fullerton stress the importance of conducting an audit of needs in an organisation that may identify sources of potential bias and ways in which the culture of the organisation, its structure and processes can overtly or covertly discriminate against individuals.
They further argue that efforts to address discrimination through short awareness training run the risk of not only ingraining stereotypes even further but also of creating new, more powerful stereotypes that simply replace the old one.
HOW TO USE IT
Diversity management is a process intended to create and maintain a positive work environment where the similarities and differences of individuals are valued, so that all can reach their potential and maximise their contributions to an organisation’s strategic goals and objectives. To do this effectively:
- Have a clear vision of what you intend to achieve in respect of managing diversity and why this is important.
- Make sure that you have a commitment to being visible, active and on-going in promoting the vision.
- Play a major role in motivating the workforce to focus their energy on working towards the organisational vision.
- Ensure that all initiatives that involve managing diversity are initiated, co-ordinated and monitored.
- Provide adequate resources to support this.
- Deal with any opposition to the vision. There may be some concern from marginalised groups that the vision will result in a loss of focus and commitment towards their own group’s interests.
- Don’t try to address opposition to managing diversity by holding short staff training sessions.
Managing diversity has a great deal to offer organisations in recruiting, retaining and getting the best from all their workforce by not making assumptions about people based on superficial ideas of their perceived membership of any group.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
- How clear is my own commitment to this issue?
- Am I able to express my vision with clarity and conviction?