How Does Managing Inclusion in Organizations Differ from Managing Diversity?

How does managing inclusion in Organizations differ from managing diversity?

Due to globalization, many countries have seen an increase in immigrants and as a result have diverse population. Hence, the organizations today have a lot more diverse work force than before. Therefore, there is a growing need to manage diversity at workplace. Managing diversity for an organization includes religion, age, disability status, gender identity and sexual orientation. Organizations have to prevent discrimination against these, avoid negative conflict among diverse groups and provide an inclusive environment for its employees. Organizations have to approach diversity as a whole but inclusion in an organization is an active process in which diversity is viewed as valued resource. A particular organization may not have as much diversity but still has to focus on inclusion. For example, if an organization has all whites working for them as employees, the organization still has to focus on inclusion. Not all the employees have the same culture, background, gender, religion, upbringing etc.

Give 2 examples of the practice of inclusion using at least 2 of these levels of analysis? (group, intergroup, or organizational)

Group level inclusion: Inclusion in a group is created through following suitable practices and establishing appropriate norms such as treating everyone with respect, giving everyone equal opportunities, emphasizing teamwork, and working through conflicts effectively. Because of diversity in the groups, the members encourage disagreement. They realize that more disagreements will bring more effective solutions as the members are expected to feel included and contribute to their best ability. For example, a group of multi-cultural people are a part of a gaming company. Their team will function better to deliver a better product as they have adopted the above-mentioned characteristics of group level inclusion. Another example that I can I think shows group level inclusion is the international space station. Astronauts from different countries, backgrounds, cultures, race and gender work together efficiently in the space missions.

Organizational level inclusion: The environment of inclusion in an organization depends on the policies and practices they choose to implement. The inclusive environment depends on the organizations core values, norms, goals, operating systems, and strategies. Leaders also play an important role in defining the inclusive environment in an organization. For example, how the employees are hired, retained, trained, evaluated and promoted says a lot about the inclusive environment of the company. Equal opportunity and fairness is practiced in inclusive organizations as a result the employees feel included, have been treated fair, and they have a position of power as they are included in every decision made by the organization.