The founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity Mother Teresa has beautifully quoted on teamwork “None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful”. It is rightly said that teamwork is important, even more so in today’s digital world. The reason is that a team can find a better solution quickly which ultimately results to attaining higher productivity. Teamwork also helps to increase learning opportunities as the members of the team are from different backgrounds or areas of expertise.
Therefore, we can say that diversity creates dimension in the world. Diversity is the key to happiness in society. Apple CEO, Tim Cook, in his response to students’ questions at Trinity College in Dublin mentioned that “A diverse team is more than academic; they bring life experience”. He strongly believes that future companies will be the most diverse as compared to organizations in the past.
Creativity is essential to the success of an international firms and diversity encourages innovation by providing fresh perspectives and a deeper knowledge of customer needs. Anywhere innovation may occur, and without a diverse workforce, opportunities could be overlooked. A diverse workplace is an asset because it recognizes the unique talents and potential that each person brings. Respecting one another’s diversity is what ultimately unites us all and can be the key to a prosperous company with the fair work culture. Characteristics of diversity include understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of variations in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, and age, as well as education, abilities, and experience.
Why a diverse team is an asset to any organization:
Helps to increase creativity and innovation
Businesses should always innovate if they want to remain competitive. The culture and education of the workers from various backgrounds give them unique insights and points of view. Each of them contributes a different mindset to the project they are working on, and they can push each other, which results in the creation of unique and diverse ideas. In this way, the team’s creativity is encouraged and the ability for innovation is strengthened.
In a study that was published in the journal Innovation: Management, Policy & Practice, the authors examined the degrees of gender diversity in the R&D teams of 4,277 Spanish enterprises. Using statistical models, they discovered that during two years, businesses with more women on staff were more likely to develop ground-breaking new ideas.(Rock and Grant, 2016)
Assist to motivate and retain existing/new employees
Staff retention and motivation are factors influenced by diversity as well. If the employees feel they are accepted, valued, and empowered they will be happy, more motivated, and productive and it is easy to retain them. Therefore, businesses with greater diversity are probably to see lower staff turnover rates, which leads to less time spent on recruiting and reduced training expenses.
Connects with a huge number of customers around the world
Every company needs a diversified workforce if they want to market to a variety of consumers. A company must ensure that the business appeals to a larger target market by hiring people from a variety of backgrounds, languages, etc. The personnel will be able to relate to customers from all walks of life since they come from diverse backgrounds. For instance, Amazon e-commerce tech giant has more than 310 million customers (eTail Boston 2020, n.d.). It is because this company has the most diversified workforce which results in connecting many people across the world and ultimately converting them into real customers.
Boost revenue
Any business must prioritize growing its revenue. The ultimate objective of raising earnings will be closer to reality if a company takes full use of a diverse staff. Companies with a diverse workforce and enhanced creativity produced 19% more revenue than businesses with lower diversity scores, according to a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group. The stats provide the evidence. (Lorenzo, 2020)
Improves employer brand and global reputation
The importance of workplace diversity in establishing the company’s outstanding reputation cannot be overstated. As a result, the company and its employees experience enhanced profitability and equality of opportunity. Therefore, businesses that support diversity have a good reputation around the world. As a result, the employer’s reputation and reputation for ethical and fair employment practices are improved.
Understanding the need for diversity in team is especially important to business owners and human resource professionals. DeMont Institute of Management and Technology offers programmes such as HND in Human Resources and HND in International Business that covers topics such as the importance of diversity at workplace and its relevance to present-time job market.
References
eTail Boston 2020. (n.d.). Amazon’s Social Media Marketing Strategy To Inspire Buyers. [online] Available at: https://etaileast.wbresearch.com/blog/amazons-engaged-buyers-drive-social-media-revenue.
Kennedy, J. (2015). Apple CEO Tim Cook says diversity leads to better products. [online] Silicon Republic. Available at: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/business/apple-ceo-tim-cook-says-diversity-leads-to-better-products#:~:text=%E2%80%9CA%20diverse%20team%20is%20more [Accessed 27 Aug. 2022].
Lorenzo, R. (2020). How diverse leadership teams boost innovation. [online] BCG Global. Available at: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/how-diverse-leadership-teams-boost-innovation.
ResearchGate. (n.d.). (PDF) Diversity in organizations. [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304190988_Diversity_in_organizations.
Rock, D. and Grant, H. (2016). Why Diverse Teams Are Smarter. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2016/11/why-diverse-teams-are-smarter.
