Effective communication is vital for any workplace as it substantially contributes to organizational growth and the business’s overall performance. Furthermore, communication of the company with its partners, competitors, and customers can also translate either into success or failure. There are many factors that can either hinder communication in the workplace or significantly enhance it. This post will consider how diversity affects a company’s internal and external communications.
Diversity in the workplace has multiple benefits for business performance. According to Zojceska (2018), companies with higher diversity rates in age, gender, race, religion, cultural background, education, and sexual orientation positively affect employees and contribute to a more accepting environment. One of the benefits of diversity, higher employee engagement, can positively affect internal communication (Zojceska, 2018). Higher diversity leads to employees feeling more included and accepted and feeling more confident and engaged with their colleagues and management (Zojceska, 2018). Thus, workers easily enter into the idea exchange process and feel more empowered when presenting new ideas.
External communication is a more complex process as it involves numerous independent stakeholders. In addition, informal external communication cannot be directly controlled and regulated by the company and can lead to the formation of a company image that differs from the official one (Jouany & Martic, 2020). One of the benefits of diversity, better company reputation, can be viewed as an advantageous factor for the informal form of external communication (Zojceska, 2018). Diversity in the workplace signals to the broader society and potential customers that the company is socially responsible and makes it easier for different categories of clients t relate to it (Zojceska, 2018). Therefore, diversity has an overall positive effect on the external communication of a workplace.
In summary, the company’s employment of a wide range of individuals with diverse characteristics can be highly beneficial for its internal and external communications. Employees feel empowered, accepted, and included in a diverse workplace, supporting their engagement in the work process. Moreover, diverse businesses are more favorably received by society, including potential customers. Overall, diversity contributes to an organization being more efficient and more profitable.
References
Jouany, A., & Martic, K. (2020). 12 reasons why internal & external communications go hand-in-hand. The Employee Communications and Advocacy Blog. Web.
Zojceska, A. (2018). Top 10 benefits of diversity in the workplace. TalentLyft. Web.