Benefits of a Diverse Workplace and How Leaders Can Take Advantage of Them
Given the wide range of talents that a diverse workforce offers, the leader can support methods of idea exchange among the staff. According to studies, executives that foster teamwork among a diverse workforce see improved service delivery and higher production (Moran, Harris & Moran, 2011). The human resources manager can also use the workforce's diversity to help the staff members resolve issues more quickly.
The Value of Recognizing Cultural Differences
Understanding and valuing the cultural variations in the workplace remains important to all firms, even with the improvement of communication. Understanding cross-cultural variations at work has several benefits, collaboration among the employees and the leaders (Moran, Harris & Moran, 2011). Further, the more a business recognizes that there are differences in the workplace, the more the organization can manage to achieve more results on a global scale.
How Leaders Motivate a Multi-generational or Multi-cultural Workplace
To lead a multigenerational or multicultural workplace can be challenging. However, it is important for leaders to be flexible and responsive to the needs of the different generations or cultures in the organization. To tap into the talent of the different generations and cultures, then the leader can create a unique workplace culture that manages to break the barriers existing in the different cultures and ages (Moran, Harris & Moran, 2011). The leader should learn to treat all employees as individuals thus use every person's goals and abilities to move the organization forward. Further, the leader can encourage the exchange of ideas amongst the different groups of individuals and thus create an interaction in the employees who would otherwise not interact with one another.
Business Strategies Pros and Cons and Challenges for Implementation
There exist three different types of business strategies described by Michael Porter, and they include; first, there is cost leadership strategy whose primary goal is to provide the cheapest products and services (Campbell, Edgar & Stonehouse, 2011). The advantage is that it offers a broad range of goods at low prices. However, it is out of reach for small business professionals. The main challenges for cost leadership strategy are that it's hard to implement. The second is differentiation, whose focus is to prove to customers that they offer better and different services from their competitors (Campbell, Edgar & Stonehouse, 2011). The advantage of the differentiation strategy is that it's less concerned with the price of its products. However, the businesses adopting this kind of strategy risk attack from other companies adopting the focus strategy in different markets. The companies implementing the differentiation strategy must prove to the customer that they different and better than the competitors (Campbell, Edgar & Stonehouse, 2011). Lastly, there is the focus strategy which places its focus on a small portion of the market. The advantage of this approach is that the company can manage to target its marketing efforts. However, the focus strategy is not always enough on its own and requires supplementing with either differentiation or cost leadership (Campbell, Edgar & Stonehouse, 2011). The challenges for implementing the focus strategy is that it requires in-depth knowledge in their market niche.
SWOT Analysis and how it's used in Business Strategy
The SWOT analysis is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (Campbell, Edgar & Stonehouse, 2011). A business person can use a SWOT analysis to understand what's going on in a business and the means of taking it to the next level. With a SWOT analysis, the management can manage to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the company and focus on the opportunities and threats in the market (Campbell, Edgar & Stonehouse, 2011). Conducting a SWOT analysis assist the management in figuring out where to focus the energy of the organization and thus reduce adverse effects on the business.
References
Campbell, D., Edgar, D., & Stonehouse, G. (2011). Business strategy (3rd ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Moran, R., Harris, P., & Moran, S. (2011). Managing cultural differences (8th ed.). Oxford: Elsevier Inc.
