EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

Equality and Diversity

Equality and Diversity

Introduction

The management of workforce diversity is a tool to increase organizational effectiveness and cannot be underscored, especially with current changes sweeping across the globe. It is argued that organizations that value diversity will definitely cultivate success and have a future in this dynamic global labor market (Tempe & Smith, 2007). Workforce diversity management has become an important issue for both profit and nonprofit organizations. Its importance has mainly been brought about by the free movement of labor due to globalization and the fight for human rights by certain minority groups who feel excluded from the employment sector.

The workforce diversity emerged mainly to further the availability equal opportunities in the workplace. This equal opportunity philosophy is aimed at ensuring that organizations make the most out of the difference from a diverse workforce rather than losing talent which might assist the organization to be more efficient and effective. (Tempe & Smith, 2007)

Definition of terms

For the purpose of this study, diversity is being defined as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines protected classes, which includes a person's race, color, religion, sex (including an unborn child's during pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information. This specific definition of diversity is used rather than much broader definitions of diversity (which can include categories like values, personality types, etc.; for a broad discussion of the term diversity and the multiple viewpoints about how diversity should be defined. The EEOC's definition is similar to the perspective of scholars in this arena such as Carmines and Stimson who write that “one of the most enduring relationships is the impact of race and ethnicity on values” (as cited in Meier, Wrinkle, & Polinard, 1999, p. 1026).

Performance measures are defined here as the umbrella concept under which outputs and outcomes are classified. Scholars in different areas of research (for-profit, public, and nonprofit sectors) use different performance measures both within and across sector research. It is worth taking time then to define outputs and outcomes, as some studies use outputs as a measure of an organization's performance while others use outcomes. Poister (2003) defines outputs as “the immediate products or services produced by public and nonprofit organizations” (p. 99). Organizational outputs have primarily been the focus of work in nonprofit literature examining the relationship between board diversity and performance. Most of this work focuses on outputs such as financial performance (i.e., funds raised for the organization) or other organizational performance metrics (such as board effectiveness and/or board performance).

Some scholars examine the connection between diversity and performance, which evaluate the impact of diversity on outcomes. Outcomes are defined as the results an organization produces (Poister, 2003). Additionally, distinctions are often made between different types of outcomes: short-term, intermediate, and long-term outcomes. Yet most scholars conducting research examining diversity's impact on performance do not denote whether they are measuring short-term, intermediate, or long-term outcomes.

Importance of Equality in Diverse Workforce

From the human resources professionals' perspective a highly motivated and skilled workforce is ...