Advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity in workplace

Introduction
In the modern world where globalization is a trend the expression diversity at workplace comes
up a lot more often.
Since technology related to transportation is ever modernizing around the globe so transporting
from one place to the other has become easier than ever.
In this report we will review the literature relating to the advantages and disadvantages of
diversity at workplace. We will list various literature reviews on how to manage employees in an
organization with cultural diversity. Finally we will conclude our report to summarize our
findings.

Literature review
Let us start by defining cultural diversity. It is defined as the mix of work units with reference to
the cultural or demographic features that are prominent and relating to the bond between group
members of an organization. (Parks-Yancy, 2007 and DiTomaso, Post, 2007)
Nowadays organization does not expect an individual from a different cultural history to easily
merge with the companys culture and start working for results (Amaram, 2007).
Companys across the globe have understood that having a workfoce with diverse culture can
prove to be an asset when growing into international markets
Nowadays organization primarily targets in building strategies to manage an employee base with
diverse culture and uphold such programs.
According to Konrad,2003 describes the factors that drives organizations to change the attitude
and programs pertaining to hiring of employees from various background or culture.

Primarily he states that the best talents for any business may not be local we need to look
globally to hire the best minds.
Secondly Konrad states that the market share increases when there is a diverse employee base
that can cater to a diverse customers of an organization.
The approach of a local in the market where he resides and then his approach to the local
customers is highly valued to the organisation

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Lastly Konrad also states that an organization can be more competitive when employees from
different background or culture brings to the table something different which then is combined.
While analyzing the statements of (Jayne & Dipboye, 2004) in a non-economic related argument,
an increased diversity among workforce is ehically correct and an improved methods to deal
with race and gender conflicts.
In the todays ever competitive environment the above argument can seem to be insignificant
because organizations are more concerned about their capital and ways to increase them.
However, Amaram,2007 points out the various arguments relating to the reason why
organizations are changing to diversity programs.
Along with moral and social duties, he states that such diversity programs have become an
integral part of organizations to evade legal problems pertaining to laws of civil rights. In
addition to this he says that to have competitive advantage companies are required to implement
new policies and strategies that can make diverse employee base more efficient and avoid
conflicts. Also at the level of the government it is realized that efficiently administering cultural
diversity is important for economic achievements.
A notable example is that of the Australian government policy named Productive Diversity that
manages diversity in the country.
This strategy primarily aims at utilizing the skills of people raised in foreign lands, thereby
achieving a better competitive edge in the international market.
The statements discussed here are mostly on the basis of theories and research statements. We
will analyse the literature for further evidences that the prosperity of the organization can be
achieved from cultural diversity.
Many researches and studies conducted on the topic from multiple angles have come up with
different conclusions of their own.
After studying the researches pertaining to this issue Jayne and Dipboye (2004) concluded that
there are primarily four aspects to it.
Increased diversified crowd does not improve the aptitude level always
The increase in diversity does not always reduce disagreement, build a sense of commitment
and uplift motivation among the employees.
Better group performance cannot be achieved by improving group diversity.
A companys performance cannot be improved by diversity of workforce

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The research by Choi and Rainey(2009) points out that all of this can be drilled down to the
diversity of gender, race, religion and so on.
These findings were in line with the research of Milliken and Martins(1996) along with the
research of Williams and OReilly ( 1998) which states that racial diversity is indirectly related
to the performance of any organization mainly because there is less cohesion among the group
and increased conflict.
We can point the fact that this research was mainly concentrated on US government agencies so
it may not be considered a trend in the global business scenario.
Many other researches on this topic has revealed few very interesting findings. McMahon (2010)
writes a updated studies on diversity. In the first study of Richard (2000) conducted a study on
the US banking sector. This research illustrated that diversity and performance are not directly
related instead it is related mostly on the organisations strategies in the field of their business.
When the companys strategies and policies were more towards growth there was a firect relation
between the variables of diversity and performance but the result was the other way round when
strategy is aimed at downsizing.
Also, the above research although regarded as indispensable information, only was conducted
among the US banking sector so it may not be true in the complete picture. (source:Richard,
Murthi, & Ismail, 2007)

The findings illustrates that at peak and off peak levels of racial diversity there exist a curvilinear
positive relationship between the organisations performance and racial diversity.
Also the study showed a positive correlation between the performance of an organization aimed
for long term and racial diversity
Although the above results are reliant on the stability of the environment and specialization of
the industry, the fact that the relationship between the firm performance and racial diversity
would become weaker in a volatile environment compared to a stable one.

Conclusion
The increase in the diversity of the workplace in the market in the present scenario has new
challenges associated wit it.

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Henceforth diversity management strategies have become an important factor for the
organization of the present age.
For an organization to implement such strategies they must have a methodically planned
approach looking at all aspects especially the results from a meticulously implemented strategy.
The studies have revealed that a good strategy can bring positive results to any organization.

If the strategies are not well planned and researched befor implementation can result in the
disaster of any business.
The complexity of the diversity in workplace can be understoo from the above research.
The improvement in performance of an organization largely depends on more than one factor
namely environmental factors, the type of business, organizational policies and strategies and son
on.
Cultural diversity does not always promise an uplift in the performance as we analysed from
various literatures.
However, having a diverse cultural employee base in an organization and efficiently managing
them can produce very good results.

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