Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion

For this assignment, you will write a paper about at least four social and demographic changes you identified in your research in the studies for this unit. Make sure you:
� Describe each change.
� Explain how each change will impact the human resources role as a strategic employee relations partner and its practices for the next 5�10 years.
� Identify and explain at least three HR practices for managing the changes that will promote positive employer-employee relationships.
� Organize research and data in a coherent manner to support your position and influence others.
� Include a reference page, and format your references using APA (6th edition) guidelines.
� Use at least three academic references, in addition to the Web sites used for the demographic data.
* 4 pages

Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion has emerged as subjects of discussion in the ever changing world. Diversity, in broader terms, refers to any particular dimension that is used to distinguish one group of people from the other (Gerber & Linda, 2010). It calls on people to respect and appreciate the differences in terms of gender, ethnicity, age, education, nation of origin, religion, sexual orientation, and disability among others. There is however more to do with diversity than just mere description as it appears. It is the tendency of different individuals to carry along with them diverse perspectives, life styles, work experience and culture (Gerber & Linda, 2010). As a basis and a driver of invention, diversity could be viewed as an incredible idea in the world of business and the society at large. Inclusion on the other hand, is used to refer to the state of being respected, supported and valued. It is all about giving attention to the needs and preference of every person and making sure that every individual is provided with the right conditions to attain is or her potential (Gerber & Linda, 2010). Inclusion is always reflected in the relationships, culture and practices of an organization which has the sense of supporting a diverse workforce. Logically speaking, diversity means the mix and inclusion is the means of making the mix to collectively work well.

Diversity is something that is real in the society today given that immigration now happens anywhere in the world. Taking the United States, which is a typically diverse country as an example, there are African-Americans, Hispanics, Chinese, Native Americans, and many others all of whom have different ways of life religion included. The whole of this population, however diverse they may be, there has to be inclusion so that each of them has to play a role in spinning the wheel towards development.

These different groups of people with wide range of cultural identities have to find a way of understanding and coping up with the different cultures that they interact with. The most prominent social challenge in this case therefore is how to cope up with the different cultures within the society.

Fostering epistemological inclusiveness and diversity in the workplace has occupied the center stage of the priorities set aside by Human resource development professionals. Any multinational institutions like international schools and companies have to embrace this particular matter of concern (Klerck, 2009). As had been stated earlier on in this paper, different groups of people from different cultural and ethnic groups tend to find themselves in the same environment at the same time. Employment and education lead the table in bringing people of such kind together.

Social change is manifested in the revolution of norms (Gerber &Linda, 2010). This is evident today especial in the multicultural nations, US being one of them. Gender roles have increasingly overlapped. To this day, women are seen to perform duties which, in the previous years were viewed as solely left for men. People migrate from one country to the other to seek better employment opportunities. What is evident in the modern society is improved mobility, increased flexibility, increased connectedness and better freedom.

The world is swiftly and steadily being initiated into a society of diversity. This diversity is indeed impelling the very fundamental part of different societies and the culture of such societies. The social trends are increasingly being viewed, not as a likely danger, but as a prospect to expand the worldview, share experiences and then initiate better tactics and inventive ideas to solve world problems and live together as one.

As a matter of fact, diversity will continue to thrive in the major institutions in every corner of the world. This is because globalization is taking place day by day and this is drawing people from all walks of life. Africans, Americans, Asians and Europeans are consistently brought together and each one of them comes in with their own culture and this, they try to impose on others. Some may reject such practices others may embrace them. This implies that in some way, diversity will be reduced later on in the centuries to come. In this way the world will move towards being integrated into one cultural institution. This is practically proven by interracial marriage that has been currently observed, a practice that never existed in the past.

As is the case in several countries, the population of the United States is steadily graying. The elderly population has been on the rise and is projected to even further grow in the near future. Statistics show that by 1950, only 8 percent of the total US population was age 65 and above. The same age group had risen to 12 percent by the year 2005 and this is expected to hit 23 percent by the year 2080. In fact the percentage of the elderly population is projected to double the current population in a century to come. Contrastingly, the population of the working-age is expected to shrink from 60 percent as it stood in 2005 to about 54 percent by 2080. These are the expected demographic changes in the US. To support this, the following table was obtained from the Board of Trustees (2006).

Year	Population (thousands)	Percentage  65 or older
All ages	Under 20	20-64	65 or older
1950	160118	54466	92841	12811	8
1970	214765	80684	113158	20923	10
1990	260458	75060	153368	32029	12
2005	302323	83963	181457	36902	12
Projected
2020	339269	87547	198213	53510	16
2040	376856	92268	207416	77172	20
2060	402,079	96760	218777	86543	22
2080	428,214	101,159	230,137	96,918	23

Table 1: U.S. population, by age, selected years 1950–2080

Researches that have independently been done have indicated that if the current population trends continue in The US, then the immigrant population risk overtaking the original population (Toossi, 2012; Schwatka, Butler & Rosecrance, 2012). The population growth of this country depend on immigrates rather than bath rates. In fact it is expected that there will reach a point when the number of immigrants will exceed the number of births annually. This is seen to be possible because of inclusion in every sector in The US economy. As was noted earlier on, the population is first aging and this implies that the working population is also in the reducing end. Labor will have to be imported (Toossi, 2012; Schwatka, Butler & Rosecrance, 2012). The purchasing power of this country will have to be boosted. In this way diversity and inclusion will be seen to have changed the demography of this particular country.

References

Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds. 2006. 2006 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds. Washington, DC.

Gerber, J. J. and Linda, M. M., (2010). Sociology. Toronto: Pearson Canada.

Klerck, G. (2009). Industrial relations and human resource management: A critical approach. London: Routledge.

Schwatka, N.V., Butler, L. M. and Rosecrance, J. R., (2012).An aging workforce and injury in the construction industry. Epidemiologic Reviews 34, 156–167.

Toossi, M., (2012). Labor force projections to 2020: A more slowly growing workforce. Monthly Labor Review 135 (1), 43–64.