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Managing Diversity at Workplace

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Submitted By nayyab
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Managing diversity at workplace: A case study of HP

Summary:

Introduction:
In recent era of globalization workforce diversity have increased the complexity of job. The term diversity is defined by different authors in different ways. In this study the author has discussed different perspectives of this term and approaches used by Hewlet Packard to manage diversity. The study is divided into six sections: 1. Overview of HP 2. Different dimensions of diversity management 3. Strategies perused by managers to embrace diversity 4. Strategies used by HP to handle diversity 5. Paradigms of diversity management 6. Suggestions and conclusion

Overview of HP:
HP is founded by Bill Hewlet and Dave Packard on 1st January, 1939 with headquarters in California. HP initiates its diversity management policy from the very beginning and introduced “open corporate culture” accompanied by a new management style known as “management by walking around” this kind of management style has never been introduced in large organizations before. As HP operates in more than 120 countries with employees of 172000, it is easy to understand the presence of multicultural workforce in the company. This diversity has no doubt increased the complexity for managers to manage diversity.
Diversity management and its dimensions:
In this study the author defines diversity as difference among team members in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality or other dimensions of social identity. Immigration, gender migration and other ethnic issues are highlighted as the main reasons of complexifing the diversity issue. Managing diversity means understanding its effects and implementing behaviors, work practices and policies that responds in effective way. Carmichael (2005) has identified three dimensions of diversity. * Primary (age, race, gender, ethnicity

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