Initiatives – business management question

One of the most successful structures for eliminating the glass ceiling is the mentoring relationship.  Mentoring provides minorities and women with direct training and inside information on the norms and expectations of the organization (Daft, 2016).

Many top managers are often unaware of the special needs of employees who are single parents, are non-English-speaking, or have elderly parents (Daft, 2016).  Alternative work scheduling may be important for these groups of workers.  Another issue is that racial/ethnic minorities and immigrants have had fewer educational opportunities than other groups.  Some companies work with high schools to provide fundamental skills in literacy and math, or the provide programs within the company to upgrade employees to appropriate educational levels. 

Most of today’s organizations provide special training, called diversity training, to help people identify their own cultural boundaries, prejudices, and stereotypes and develop the skills for managing and working in a diverse workplace (Daft, 2016).  The first step is typically diversity awareness training to make employees aware of the assumptions they make and to increase people’s sensitivity and openness to those who are different from them.  The next step is diversity skills training to help people learn how to communicate and work effectively in a diverse environment.

Describe how diversity initiatives, mentor relationships, and training programs help create a climate that values diversity in your organization.

200 words please