Managing Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Managing Diversity - Essay Example The history of transport in UK can be traced back to over 4000 years ago, when man was using stone tools and making the transition from a nomadic existence, living by hunting and gathering his food, to living in settlements and developing agricultural skills. Although, history of transport is very old, only during the 1930s, a few roads were upgraded to dual carriageways as a means of relieving unemployment but it was the motorway network that started to develop in the early 1960s that were the first major additions to the road network. (Reference: Shropshire Transport) Modern day today, this industry being the 5th largest employment sector in the country and over 2.3 million people being employed, the need to upgrade the employment process and policies and match the same with the other industries has risen. This is more so important to this industry as people of diverse background and cultures have taken this as a means of employment. This is where the organizational behavior comes into picture to manage diversity and aiming at "Equality" and "Equal Opportunities" for employees. As some of the greats put it, Diversity in an organization is defined as ""Diversity within organisations is about recognising the range of differences in people and valuing people as individuals, respecting their differences and their differing needs. It is also about accommodating differences wherever possible so that an individual can play a full part in the working environment" (Daniels and Macdonald, 2005, p.1). First and foremost, it has to be recognized that an individual alone is unable to fulfil all his needs and wishes and he lacks the ability, strength and time or endurance for achieving all these single handed. Therefore, he must rely on others for help to achieve these. As several people are involved, there is a need to co-ordinate and establish a chain of mutual help. It is a plain truth and fact that in order to achieve organizational goals, all involved in the system have to accommodated and looked after with the same level of interest. Respect for individuals, irres pective of caste, creed and culture is the key. This is the basic concept of managing diversity and bringing all involved, under the same umbrella with no discrimination and giving all an equal opportunity. There are many different ways of defining "equality". When looking at equality initiatives in employment, "Equal Opportunities" has become a common label. But there are many different definitions of "Equal Opportunities". The Collins Concise Dictionary defines "inequality" as "the state or quality of being unequal; disparity" (Collins Concise Dictionary, 1989, p.639). In determining inequality, a moral judgement has to be made about whether social difference is better or worse (Vincent, 1995, p.4). The focus (of EO) is on preventing unfair discrimination, so that when two people have the