HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT
healthcare, minority staff members are often over qualified and yet hold lower level positions. Furthermore, they face the daily challenge of having to prove themselves to colleagues and patients, and would have to work four times as hard to gain credibility and acceptance. It becomes painful to come to the reality that for the minority worker the issue of respect, acceptance, status, belongingness and recognition is wishful thinking. Another key challenge for management is having the courage to focus on equality of opportunity- a process of affirming talent, drive and merit. For example, Ann Compton who many regard as one of the finest ABC news reporters was one of the very first women to be hired by ABC Corporation. At the time of her interview, Anne Compton was not more qualified than the male candidates, but the organisation chose to give her the opportunity to serve and the rest is history. According to Sam Donaldson a colleague of Ms Compton; diversity is not affirmative action, but a process of creating out of the box thinking, which
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A SI A N H O S P I T A L & H EA LT HCAR E M A N AGE M E N T
is only tenable in a culturally rich work environment (Personal Communication, 2005). In addition, Barbara Walters was discriminated against because it was suggested that she had a pronunciation problem with ‘r’, which was interpreted as she having a Brooklyn accent. Ms. Walters was later given the opportunity and today she is a television legend. The suggestion is for organisations’ to give the so called B and C players the opportunity to serve alongside the so called A players. Management must therefore eliminate internal cultures that ignore great ideas from the minority worker, perceives assertiveness as aggression; perceives a questioning mind as insubordination and destroys souls through destructive comments rather than enhancing the mind, heart and spirit of the wholeness of the individual regardless of cultural differences. Diversity as a competitive weapon
It is claimed by most writers (Thomas and Ely, 2000) that a diverse workforce is a factor for competitive advantage.
IS S UE - 49, 2020
However, Thomas and Ely contend that the poor application of both assimilation and differentiation models of diversity have hindered the value of a diverse workforce. In the assimilation model, Thomas and Ely claim that the mistake that management makes is the tendency to treat ‘everyone’ the same by blending minorities into a majority monoculture. Whilst in using the differentiation model, organisations tend to pigeonhole employees into niche jobs and markets based on their background. For example, blacks are hired and assigned to promote products designed for the black market. Whatever, the model used; the real issue is the failure of management to conceive of how best to utilise a heterogeneous workforce. It is my opinion that the failure of most healthcare systems to adequately address implicit bias in the recruitment and hiring process continue to negatively impact non-whites. A diverse workforce I believe has great potential as a source of competitive advantage only if the socialisation, assimilation, training, social recognition, responsibility, career development and
