Workplace Diversity Review and Applications

Introduction

In this essay, a brief literature review of 8 sets of journal articles on individual aspects of Organisational Behaviour particularly in the area of diversity is discussed. Each author review and evaluates the common themes, key arguments, key findings and the differences in viewpoint across different journal articles. Finally, applying the literature review to a workplace setting, and how the example differ and compare with the review.

Task 1

Does Workplace Diversity Matter?

Anne M. McMahon from Williamson College of Business Administration USA studied diversity in the workplace. Her thoughts of diversity in business helps in pooling the best talent, reduces the gap between increasingly diverse customer bases, unleashes creativity, promotes innovation and thereby enhances the competitiveness of the organisation. In contrast, increasing diversity alone does not guarantee immediate tangible improvements. Nevertheless, creating a diverse workforce could yield huge benefits. (McMahon, 2010)

She argued that having a diverse top management is the most powerful way to steer toward support for diversity. “Drawing up on social identity theory, her research suggested encouraging employees to know each other as individuals so as to overcome stereotyping, prejudice and intergroup conflicts resulting from an in-group association based on likeness to oneself.” (McMahon, 2010)

In her research she had found that increasing group level diversity does not necessarily lead to higher performance and a diverse group is not always a better-performing group. Based on two surveys and a review of extant research, the study found that benefits of diversity are contingent up on situational factors such as organisational culture, strategies and the environmental context. (McMahon, 2010)

Embracing Diversity

Kristin Gunderson Hunt once said committing to diversity is not just a numbers game, it’s a mission. She argued that diversity is a strategy in the sense that we...