“Managing Diversity Policy”

Introduction

An organization’s human resource management function focuses on the people aspect of management. According to Lawrence Kleiman said, any organization’s success depends on how it manages its resources and a business cannot succeed without managing its human resources. Thus, people determine the organization’s objectives, and people run the operations that allow the organization to reach its objectives.

Demographic changes in the population have led to changes in the labor pool in which the public sector selects its workers. As we enter the third millennium, America's workforce looks markedly different than it ever has before. In a way, it can be described as polytypic. Compared with the workforce of even twenty years ago, more white women, people of color, disabled persons, new and recent immigrants, gays and lesbians, and intergenerational mixes (i.e., baby boomers, Generation Xers, and Generation Nexters) now work in America. To say that this has created challenges for managing the workplace is an understatement. The way in which government employers embrace this opportunity of diversity will clearly distinguish effective and efficient organizations from those that are unproductive and unable to meet the demands and necessities of the American people in the twenty first century.

In short, workforce diversity will prevail in public and private sector organizations in the twenty first century. To the extent that the demographics of the

workforce reflect that of the general population that it serves and it is effectively managed, the delivery of public services will be greatly enhanced.

Predictions and estimates over the past twenty years or so suggest that because of demographic changes to this nation's population, the composition of public and private sector workplaces is contemporaneously changing. The workforce changes that have already begun to occur include:

• Increases in the number of women

• Increases in the number of people of color

• Increases in the average age of workers

• Increases in the number of foreign-born or immigrant workers

• Increases in the number of contingent workers (e.g., part-timers, temporary workers)

Changes to the labor force and workforce go well beyond race, ethnicity, gender, and age. As noted, there will be greater diversity based on such characteristics or factors as ability, sexual orientation, foreign born status, and so forth. For example, greater protections offered to disabled persons under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 have increased their representation in public and private sector workforces. And the ADA has relatively strong provisions requiring employers to make "reasonable accommodations" for disabled persons.

The nature of public and private sector workforces has undergone considerable change in the last several decades, and it will continue on this trajectory into the twenty-first century. Public sector employers are challenged to seize the opportunities presented by the new workplace in order to better serve the American people.

The managing diversity policy will focus on recruitment and selection as well as training. Every effort should be made to attract applications from all sections of society and to ensure fair treatment throughout the recruitment process. In the area of training, managers should gain the skills needed to ensure that they focus on the development needs of individuals and not show preferential treatment to one specific group of people.

Historical Overview of Recruitment and Selection

At every level of government, HRM systems are criticized as being inflexible, unresponsive, slow, rule-bound, and user-unfriendly. Civil service systems are criticized for not meeting the needs of their customers вЂ" both the customers within the organization that personnel exist to support and the citizens government exists to serve. Too often, HRM processes are viewed as hindering, rather than helping public sector organizations attract, motivate, and retain the talented people government must have to provide responsive service to its citizens.

Traditionally, public sector hiring practices have focused on the testing process, to identify the best-qualified candidates. It is indisputable that written civil service exams used by many jurisdictions are valid and reliable and therefore work well to identify the

best-qualified candidates. Jurisdictions have amended civil service laws, expanded recruiting activities, developed more competitive alternatives to traditional written exams, and applied technology to the hiring process.

Policy Statement

This agency recognizes its talented and diverse workforce as a key competitive advantage. Our business success is a reflection of the quality and skill of our people. The agency is committed to seeking out and retaining the finest human talent to ensure top

business growth and performance. We recognize the importance of reflecting the diversity of our customers and markets in our workforce. The diverse capabilities that reside within our talented workforce, positions us to anticipate and fulfill the needs of our

diverse customers, both domestically and internationally, providing high quality

products/services. Diversity management benefits individuals, teams, our company as a whole, and our customers. We recognize that each employee brings their own unique

capabilities, experiences and characteristics to their work. We value such diversity at all levels of the organization in all that we do. Managing diversity makes us more creative, flexible, productive and competitive.

The agency seeks to manage diversity through recruitment, career development and promotion, community programs, diversity leaders, and diversity practices.

Recruitment

As a global player, the agency recruits people from all around the globe. We believe that

our employees from many different cultural, linguistic and national backgrounds provide us with valuable knowledge for understanding complex international markets. We have established outreach programs to identify talented women and individuals from under-represented backgrounds for recruitment. We provide scholarships for promising young women and under-represented status students with the potential to become high achieving professionals in