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Preamble
Organizations around the world has been realizing the cultural diversity within organization is not a negative aspect, rather can facilitate organizational stalk for glory However it is not an easy task to manage employees with different cultural backgrounds. Nevertheless there are many policy guidelines that can make task easy On a broader perspective, cultural diversity can be managed through communicating (creating awareness among all employees about diverse values of peers through communication), cultivating (facilitating acknowledgement, support and encouragement of any employee success by all other workers), and capitalizing (linking diversity to every business process and strategy such as succession planning, reengineering, employee development, performance management and review, and reward systems) strategies (Cascio, 1998).
The diverse workforce has become a reality today. The impact of cultural diversity varies with the type of environment and firm's overall strategy As more and more number of firms move from domestic, multidomestic, multinational strategies to operating as a truly global firm, the significance and impact of cultural diversity increase markedly (Johnston, 1991; Reynolds, 1986). Management of cultural differences has become more important for creating advantages and getting competitive edge. Diverse workforce (diversity) refers to the co-existence of people from various socio-cultural backgrounds within the company Diversity includes cultural factors such as race,gender,age,colour,physical ability ethnicity etc. (Kundu and Turan, 1999).
Diversity includes all groups of people at all levels in the company Diversity requires a type of organizational culture in which each employee can pursue his or her career aspirations without being inhibited by gender, race, nationality religion, or other factors that are irrelevant to performance (Bryan, 1999). There are certain arguments for creating a diverse workforceAs all the segments of society have stake in the development and prosperity of the society as a whole, the creation of diverse workforce should be seen as a social and moral imperative. A company with a diverse workforce can better serve and compete in diverse markets.
Hiring a diverse workforce can be challenging, but the greater challenge is to retain the diverse workforce. Diversity enhances creativity and innovation and produces advantages. Diversity helps organizations for entering the broader competitive arena. Diverse teams make it possible to enhance flexibility and rapid response to organizational change. Diversity also causes certain problems like - Communication...