What is the future of diversity management Essay

What is the future of diversity management - Essay Example Leadership and diversity are among the most discussed topics in scholarly research. The growing diversity of national and international workforce presents a serious challenge for leaders who must develop new approaches for managing diverse employees and using diversity as the source of competitive advantage. Unfortunately, previous research was increasingly concentrated on searching for â€Å"one best way† of leadership in organizations. Put simply, researchers were preoccupied with an idea to find one, universal leadership model, which would be equally effective in all organizational settings. With time, the idea of â€Å"one best way† was gradually replaced with the ideals of contingency leadership, which came to dominate organizational and leadership consciousness in all parts of the world. According to Day (1991), â€Å"implied in the contingency approach to leadership is the need for leaders to be flexible in their choice of leadership style based on the situation † (p.362). Today, contingency exemplifies the key component of diversity management decisions in organizations: a multitude of diversity management models suggests that there can never be a universal solution to diversity management issues. The current state of workplace development suggests that diversity in organizations will continue to persist. The coming years are likely to witness a dramatic shift from diversity management to diversity cultures in organizations, which will serve an essential source of competitive advantage and an instrument of continuous organizational learning in the long run. Literature review Workforce diversity is rightly considered as one of the most popular and controversial topics in contemporary business literature. Globalization and integration of markets and businesses lead to the growing diversity of employees in small organizations and large corporations. Thus, it comes as no surprise that organizations and professionals in organization studi es seek to develop and test new models of leadership and management, which will let organizations utilize their diversity potential to the fullest. It should be noted, that present day organizations are undergoing a dramatic change in diversity philosophies and principles. Today, the scope of diversity management is no longer limited to increasing the share of minorities in the workforce but implies the need to develop and sustain diversity-sensitive organizations (Dreachslin, 2007). In this situation, senior leaders are expected to develop sound commitment to recruiting, retaining, and supporting applicants and candidates that had been previously underrepresented (Dreachslin, 2007). Furthermore, diversity-sensitive ideology in organizations obligate leaders to convince and educate other stakeholders that diversity is the key strategic value and defines the course of long-term development in organizations. Unfortunately, â€Å"the effects of diversity on performance are mixed† (Haas 2010). The factors mediating the relationship between diversity and organizational presentation are numerous and varied. In the meantime, researchers develop and test new models of diversity management and their implications for organizations. The current state of research displays a tendency toward describing and analyzing numerous models of diversity management and their implications for the future of global business. Mitchell and Boyle (2010) tried to create a single, theoretical framework of diversity management and tested a model of leadership, in which diversity management would be closely connected to innovation and creativity, learning, and organizational transformations. The researchers found out that transformational leaders facilitated the creation of knowledge in organizations, leading to increased recognition of diversity and acceptance of diversity management within the staff (Mitchell & Boyle 2010). However, while