Organisation Behaviour Project

Batch — PGDM PT 2017-18

Name - Lakshmi Srinivasan Roll No. — 17PT008
Project - Workforce Diversity & Knowledge Management to improve performance of the organisation
Abstract
Workforce Diversity
Workforce diversity means similarities and differences among employees in terms of age, cultural
background, physical abilities and disabilities, race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. No two
humans are alike. People are different in not only gender, culture, race, social and psychological
characteristics but also in their perspectives and prejudices. Society had discriminated on these aspects
for centuries. Diversity makes the work force heterogeneous. In current scenario, employing diversified
workforce is a necessity for every organization, but to manage such diversified workforce is also a big
challenge for management. Workforce diversity is strength for any organization but people still stick to
their views related to caste, religion etc., and so consider diversity as a problem but if managed properly,
can increase the productivity.
Knowledge Management
Knowledge is often defined as a “justified personal belief.” There are many taxonomies that specify
various kinds of knowledge. The most fundamental distinction is between “tacit” and “explicit”
knowledge. Tacit knowledge inhabits the minds of people and is either impossible or difficult to articulate.
Most knowledge is initially tacit in nature; it is laboriously developed over a long period of time through
trial and error, and it is underutilized because “the organization does not know what it knows” Some .
knowledge is embedded in business processes, activities, and relationships that have been created over
time through the implementation of a continuing series of improvements.
Introduction
Workforce Diversity Management
When we enter the 21st century, a fundamental shift is occurring in the world’s economy. We are moving
towards a world, in which barriers to cross border trade and investments are tumbling, perceiver distance
is shrinking due to advances in transportation and telecommunications technology. In short, we can say
that day by day the world is becoming a global village due to globalization. In order to survive in this type
of cut throat competitive world, the organizations have to hire an effective and efficient workforce that
can handle such competitive environment. Employing diversified workforce is a very essence for every
organization. In the current scenario, the organizations that employs quality and competitive workforce
regardless of their age, attitude, language, gender, religion, caste can only compete at the marketplace.
Human resource is an important asset for any organization. Capital and physical resources, by themselves,
cannot improve efficiency or contribute to an increased rate of return on investment.
The given below model clearly explains the above statement

It is through the combined and concerted efforts of people that monetary or material resources are
harnessed to achieve organizational goals. But these attitudes, efforts and skills have to be sharpened
from time to time to optimize the effectiveness of human resources and to enable them to meet greater
challenges. Without employees, the organization cannot move an inch. Therefore, the management of
this resource is also an important issue. Human resource management is concerned with managing
‘human aspect’ of the organization in such a way that organizational objectives are achieved along with
employee development and satisfaction. When the organizations employ human resource having
different age, gender, perception, attitude, caste, religion, region, it will be very difficult for the
management as well as for the employees to manage and adjust with that environment. Managing this
diversified workforce is a big challenge for any organization. Each individual is different from each other
because of their different religion, educational background to which they belong, age and the perception.
When different types of people, in terms of thinking, perception, generation come together to work at
the same place, definitely a situation may come, where all these different types of people may not agree
at the same point. At that point of time, it might affect the interpersonal relationship among people and
in due course it will impact on the productivity of the organisation

The given below model clearly explains how the workforce diversity impacts Productivity

IMPACT ON

Knowledge management systems (KMS) are applications of the organization’s computer-based

communications and information systems (CIS) to support the various Knowledge Management
processes. They are typically not technologically distinct from the CIS, but involve databases, such as
“lessons learned” repositories, and directories and networks, such as those designed to put organizational
participants in contact with recognized experts in a variety of topic areas. A significant difference between
many Knowledge Management Systems and the organization’s Communication and Information System
is that the Knowledge Management System may be less automated in that they may require human
activity in their operation. While information systems typically requires that humans make choices in the
design phase and then operate automatically, Knowledge Management System sometimes involve human
participation in the operation phase. For instance, when a sales database is designed, people must decide
on its content and structure; in its operational phase, it works automatically. When a “lessons learned”
knowledge repository is created, people must make all of the same design choices, but they must also
participate in its operational phase, since each knowledge unit that is submitted for inclusion is unique
and must be assessed for its relevance and important.
Research
To resolve the workforce diversity and knowledge management issues, our 126 year old organization
follows different ways and have different policies and norms, which has been listed below. I contacted
two managers in my organization, taken their views and also included my views and collated those points
1. Age Diversity - In our organization, we follow certain policies, systems and norms by which
people of different generations are aligned to work together. They are
• Flexible working arrangements
• Flexi-pay Part of fixed pay to allow tax savings
—
• Additional retiral contribution (Discretionary)
• Recruitment Best person for the job
—
• Flexible insurance policy—Additional discretionary contributions allowed for parental
coverage
• Pay mix changes by levels More concentration on fixed pay at junior levels and higher
—
bonus and LTI at Senior levels
• Open culture with Open desk seating system
• Team based targets all succeed together
—
• Talent based practice rather than experience based
• Equilateral Benefits
• Recognition for service in organization —Long service awards
• Sabbatical policies
• Medical and Insurance benefits
• Higher education benefits
2. Gender Diversity — In our organization, the ways by which we take care of gender diversity are
• Roles identified for diversity hiring with clear hiring policies on gender ratios
• Best in class parental leave policies
• Creche reimbursement for working mothers and fathers
• Flexible working arrangements Option for flexi hours / part time working
—
• Equal opportunity employer
• Sexual Harassment Committee and Open door policy for any discrimination
 • “Bring them Back in the Game” programme for women who took work break due to
some personal or other issues
• Diversity led policies in recruitment to encourage inclusive culture

But we don’t have any specific policy for Third ender

3. Cultural Diversity — Our organization follows different ways to handle Cultural Diversity. They
are

• Celebration of all major festivals

• Regional celebrations, in addition to the central celebrations
• Employee moments across geographies to ensure exposure to diverse cultures
• Our hiring policy ensures that we recruit people from across the country. We visit
regional campus for recruitment

4. —
Physical Ability and Disability Diversity In our organization, we create different infrastructure,
ways of policies and benefits to develop and retain differently abled employees

• Equal opportunities employer

• Accessible infrastructure
• Committee for any kind of discrimination
• Specific roles opened for differently abled
• Promote hiring for differently abled
• Better Referral Bonus for differently abled employees

5. -
Knowledge Acquisition and Creation We also follow different processes through our policies,
systems and norms in creation of Knowledge acquisition and creation

• Central repository of all important documents

• Mailer campaigns to create awareness
• New Joiner induction sessions
• Line manager trainings
• Globaltrainings
• Creative contests for employees
• Specific Portal for knowledge acquisition and creation
• Regular email campaign
• Regular webinars

6. -
Transfer and Storage of Knowledge We also follow different processes for transfer and storage
of knowledge. They are

• Using specific portal

• —
Using IBM Connection cloud Online community, where employee can view and save
data related to function / process / vertical
• Our Global HR system ensures saving of data in centralized cloud
 7. Knowledge sharing We also follow the following ways for promoting sharing of expertise and
-
knowledge between various knowledge resources / employees / customers / vendors
• With the help of webinars
• Regular email communications
• Using posters
• With the help of Face to Face session —Team Specific
8. Policies and applications used by organisation for creation and sharing of knowledge Also
-
our organization follow some policies or practices to promote use and application of shared and
created knowledge for better performance
• Lean Projects
• Functional Projects
• Trainings by subject matter experts to impart what they have learned
Advantages of Diversified Workforce Management
An organization’s success and competitiveness depends upon its ability to embrace diversity and realize
the benefits. When organizations actively assess their handling of workplace diversity issues, develop and
implement diversity plans, multiple benefits are reported such as:
• Diversity stimulates innovation and productivity and creates a world class culture that can
outperform the competition.
• A multicultural organization is better suited to serve a diverse external clientele in a more
increasingly global market. Such organizations have a better understanding of the requirements
of the legal, political, social, economic and cultural environments of foreign nations.
• In research-oriented and hi-tech industries, the broad base of talents generated by a gender-and
ethnic diverse organization becomes a priceless advantage. “Creativity thrives on diversity”
• Multicultural organizations are found to be better at problem solving, possess better ability to
extract expanded meanings, and are more likely to display multiple perspectives and
interpretations in dealing with complex issues.
• Organizations employing a diverse workforce can supply a greater variety of solutions to problems
in service, sourcing, and allocation of resources.
• Employees from diverse backgrounds bring individual talents and experiences in suggesting ideas
that are flexible in adapting to fluctuating markets and customer demands.
• A diverse collection of skills and experiences (e.g. languages, cultural understanding) allows a
company to provide service to customers on a global basis.
• A diverse workforce that feels comfortable communicating varying points of view, provides a
larger pooi of ideas and experiences.
Advantage of Knowledge Management Process
Knowledge Management Process will help us to improve organizational performance. The same has
been expressed as

KM Pmcesscs Organitational Processes Intermediate Outei’mes

Know ledge: lmpro ed: Impnn ed: hnpro ed

— Creation — Inno ation — Organtiational ()rgani/ational
—
—
ACquistidn Indi idual Learning Behas mrs Performance
—
— Relinement — Collective Learning Decisions
I
—
— —
Suruge (ollahoratise Products
— ‘1 ransfer i)ccision—n taking — Sericcs
—
— Sharine Processes
—
— Re—Use Relationships
(with
suppliers.
customers
and part ner)

9. Conclusion

An organization’s major objective is to earn profit and to enhance its productivity. There is no doubt that
employing diversified workforce is the very essence in today’s scenario but to manage such a diversified
workforce is a big challenge in front of the management. Hiring diversified workforce will leads to
improvement in productivity, but may prove to be a disaster, if not managed properly because not only
the management but employees are also feeling some problems like language problem, attitude clashes,
and difference in perceptions, which is directly related to human behavior, which ultimately affects the
productivity of any organization.

It is reallya big matterof concern forall HR professionals, on one hand we saythatwe should include new
trends in HR policies and on the other hand, the latest trend like workforce diversity is treated as a
problem. However, this problem can be solved by adopting various policies like:

• Encouraging the use of common language in the organization among the employees
• By conducting various motivational and mentorship programs
• By keeping the channels of communication open among the employees and employers
• By encouraging employee participation

Further one should accept the fact it is not the matter of culture in fact it is the matter of quality.
Therefore, for improving productivity, quality has to be maintained and not thrown out.

Knowledge management is a set of relatively new organizational activities that are aimed at improving
knowledge, knowledge-related practices, organizational behaviors and decisions and organizational
performance. Knowledge Management focuses on knowledge processes — knowledge creation,
acquisition, refinement, storage, transfer, sharing and utilization. These processes support organizational
processes involving innovation, individual learning, collective learning and collaborative decision making.
The “intermediate outcomes” of KM are improved organizational behaviors, decisions, products, services,
processes and relationships that enable the organization to improve its overall performance.
 5e14
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industr experiences. I his is critical lbr businesses as it helps build belier unders
customer needs and develops connect v ith people from diverse backgrounds, fm)stering higher
success rates.

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systems or norms dc) by hich the cultural diversity is ensured?

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it is a large Lintapped talent pool. Key attributes that differently-abled professionals wotild bring
to the workplace are: sense of loyalty (research suggest that difjirenth’ abled people aiw proud
to do nieaning/ul work and gain ci sense ojbelongingness to the place and people arozindthem),
positive energy and creates a compassionate workplace.

In our organi/ation. shat are the sa s (processes. policies, incentive system, recruitment
systems or norms etc) through v hich needs of differently abled people are fulfilled.
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