by Siew Cheng Hoe

Created on: February 11, 2009

Managing Diversity

What is diversity? In short, diversity means differences. The challenge of a company includes managing a diversified workforce. Workforce diversity means employees are different in culture, age, gender, skills, abilities, religion, sexual orientation etc.

In Singapore, many companies have diversified workforce, consisting of:

a. Different nationalities, since 30% of the workforce in Singapore is made up of foreigners

b. Different age group, about one-quarter of older workers (aged 50 and above) are still working

c. Different races, though population in Singapore is mainly Chinese, there are different races (eg Malay, Indians, Eurasian and others) living in harmony.

d. Employees with other commitments. Many working women are also mothers with heavy household responsibilities.

Why managing diversity is important?

A diversified workforce is like a two-edged sword. If a company knows how to harness the power of the diversified workforce, it can bring great benefits to the company. If not managed properly, it can be a great source of conflict.

Benefits of a diversified workforce includes:

1. More ideas generated. Great ideas can lead to improved quality of product and improved process.

2. Better customer service, eg in service industry, staff able to speak different languages and dialects can serve customers from diversified background.

3. Support round the clock operation, eg during Chinese New Year, non-Chinese can work.

One way in which company can manage diversified workforce is by encouraging employee participation.

We will examine how a restructured hospital with a diversified workforce encourage employee participation.

Alexandra Hospital (AH) is a 400-bed hospital located in the West of Singapore. Founded in the 1930s as British Military hospitals, it has grown to be one of the biggest public hospital in the 70s.

The present staff strength of AH includes:

Medical Staff Over 150

Nursing Staff Over 400

Allied Health Staff Over 150

Ancillary Staff Under 280

Clerical Staff Under 80

Administrative Staff Under 80

In 2000, the management of Alexandra Hospital from the Ministry of Health to the National Healthcare Group (NHG) Pte Ltd took place. The hospital was restructured to give better service to the public. Restructuring also means that employees get to participate more in the management of the hospital.

Employee Participation in AH

In this section, Employee Participation is divided into company initiated programme and staff initiated programme.

Company Initiated

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