International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056 Volume: 06 Issue: 07 | July 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072 © 2019, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.34 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 3030 CHALLENGES OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGERS DUE TO WORKFORCE DIVERSITY N.F. James Bernard 1 , Dr. C.R. Christi Anandan 2 , Dr. A. RaviKumar 3 1 Research Scholar, Dep. of Management Studies, BIHER, Chennai – 73 2 Assistant Professor, Sacred Heart College, Tirupattur, Vellore District, Tamil Nadu, India 3 Associate Professor, Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, BIHER ------------------------------------------------------------------------***------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstract: Human Resource Management is a process which deals with managing the people to achieve organizational goals. To achieve the goals of the Organisation, Human Resource Managers must understand the current trends in their field. One of the important trends to manage in this globalized environment is workforce diversity. People differ in many ways such as personality, background, beliefs and values. Such differences may have both positive and negative impact on an organization. This study was conducted with Human Resource Personnel from various industries to find out the challenges they face in managing a diverse workforce. Some of the findings reveal the following: it is time-consuming to communicate the same information in two or three languages to employees who speak different languages; it is not an easy task to tackle problems of a diverse workforce; there is always delay in the completion of work given to a group of employees from different backgrounds. Key-Words: Diversity, Workforce Diversity, Human Resource Managers, Different Backgrounds, Management of workforce 1. INTRODUCTION Human Resource Management is a process which deals with managing people to achieve organizational goals. The world is rapidly changing in terms of business. Therefore HR managers must understand the effects of the current trends in their field which have financial implications for their organization. Some of the current trends in Human Resource Management include: workforce diversity, globalization, business process re-engineering and corporate downsizing. This study was conducted on workforce diversity since it is one of the challenging areas in human resource management today. People differ in different ways such as personality, background, beliefs and values. In any work environment such differences may include age, gender, race, religion, educational background, language, family status, work style, work experience and geographical location, just to mention a few. Such differences may have both positive and negative impact on an organization. Therefore, human resource managers must give particular consideration to the diversity of their workforce while planning their management process. The concept of diversity focuses much on understanding each other’s differences and on how people perceive themselves as well as others. Diversity makes the work-force heterogeneous. If it is managed properly, it can increase creativity and if not managed properly, it can lead to conflicts among employees and can negatively affect productivity. 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE India is one of the countries across the globe with more diverse workforce. Meena (2015), in his article, categorized Indian diversity into two: socio-cultural and demographic. He pointed out that the socio-cultural dimensions consist of caste, religion and language, whereas the demographic dimensions include age, gender, sexual orientation, physical disability and region of origin Salexa A. (2014) describes workforce diversity as “similarities and differences among employees in such elements like age, gender, religion, cultural background, race, physical abilities and disabilities and sexual orientation”. Jha, A. (2009) recognizes diverse workforce as the most important asset of the organization. He points out that a diverse workforce is good at problem solving because members provide different and creative ideas and give competitive advantage to the organization. He also adds that proper understanding of the expectations of each individual will make the diversified workforce happy. Ankita Saxena cited Saha, A. (2007) emphasizes that there is a need to employ diversified workforce even though the employees find it difficult to adapt the culture of the organization and to adjust to the environment. It is, therefore, the