Ethics and Diversity Plan: Human Resource Management

¶ … Ethics and Diversity Proposal

Twenty-first century institutions face pressures of globalization, often requiring them to adapt to new paradigms so as to "harness all opportunities to cultivate sustainable means for development and human existence" (Darroux, 2013, p. 4). Social networking and workplace diversity are two of the most significant effects of globalization. To be successful in the highly competitive 21st century marketplace, human resource personnel have to appreciate the power of the aforementioned resources and integrate the same into their strategic plans to generate innovation and cohesiveness (Darroux, 2013).

Ethical Consideration

Organizational policy currently bars employees from using social networking sites in the workplace on grounds that quality time would be wasted if such authority was granted. This, in my view, poses both an ethical and social concern. I do not think it is fine to maintain guidelines focusing on controlling employees' social networking behavior when we have the capability to channel its use in creative and positive directions that can be beneficial to both the company and the employees.

There is no doubt that surfing the web during office hours would have an effect on security and organizational productivity; but then, technology is advancing and showing no signs of slowing down, and more and more companies are adopting it. As a matter of fact, "more than half of the Fortune 100 companies have Twitter accounts," which they use to foster such productivity-enhancement tasks as customer service (Darroux, 2013). Some of the core benefits that could accrue from social networking are increased ability to meet corporate social responsibilities, better identification of potential new trends and monitoring of competitors, increased market coverage, and improved avenues for conducting research (Darroux, 2013). Besides, with the invention of the smart phone, it is becoming increasingly difficult to enforce the current restrictions on internet usage. Eventually, it may be more costly to restrict such usage than it would be to allow it, and then establish ways of channeling it in a productive direction

Recommendation

I would recommend the integration of social networking into the planning process and the alignment of human resource management with the same. This would ensure that human resource personnel and organization executives work together towards integrating social networking into the organization, just as they do in ensuring compliance with internal and external regulations (Darroux, 2013). Such alignment would improve internal management, decision-making, service delivery, accountability, and efficiency.

ii) Diversity Consideration

I have noted with concern that despite the organization having a largely diversified workforce, most of our work groups and teams are almost entirely homogenous (made up of people of the same nationality, gender, religion, and race).

This, in my view, explains why the status quo has been commonplace in our organization. Economic business is currently in transition; the technology revolution has spurred a complex workplace that requires employees to work interdependently in teams to bring out the best of talent and operational efficiency. A team composed of members of different cultures is likely to come up with a diverse set of views or opinions, and then integrate those opinions to produce something new. Innovation is crucial if an organization is to thrive in the twenty-first century marketplace (Dreher and Dougherty, 2001). Management may be doing enough to ensure that hiring practices capture the element of diversity; but then there may be no tangible effect unless the rest of the organization is brought on board to appreciate the power and significance of workplace diversity.