CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Effects of cultural diversity on academic performance

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Research

Diversity in workplace is thought to increase shareholder value. Diverse knowledge and experiences can aid in generating profits. In the literature, Diversity and Equality management is often unreflectively presented as a universal concept, despite the fact that it has its origin in two historically and politically specific contexts: the USA and the UK. Not all western countries have the similar multicultural origins as these two countries do. It is therefore of interest to investigate the interpretation of Diversity and Equality management as a management concept in another socio-cultural context. It is against this background that we are interested in understanding how Diversity and Equality management, as a concept, is translated into a context. Daniels and Macdonald (2005) recognized three different types of diversity, social category i.e. demographic characteristics such as age, ethnicity, gender and disability, informational diversity or differences such as education and knowledge, and lastly psychological differences in personality and attitudes. While many people recognize social diversity also known as surface level diversity, it is important to an also acknowledge the broad nature of diversity.

The main aim of the research is to discuss the impact of cultural diversity on the work of academics in a UK business schools. Diversity has the potential to bring new life, fresh thinking and new solutions to problems, but this is not the research focus stated at the start of your dissertation - you seem to have defined a different question here, seemingly based on opinion rather than substantiated academic argument, and which you did not investigate. So be very careful - here and throughout - to maintain alignment with your stated research focus.

Research Aim and Objectives:

The research is based on the following aims and objectives;

To identify how cultural diversity affects the work of academics in the Business School,

To identify possible explanations for increased cultural diversity within the Business School,

To identify how academics understand Managing Diversity,

To identify how the Business School currently manages cultural diversity, and

To identify how management of cultural diversity might be improved.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Culture is usually described with the word "shared" as many researchers asserted that a culture is developed from a set of shared experiences, understandings, and perceptions among members of a group, an organisation, a community, or a nation (e.g., Hofstede, 1991; Sathe, 1985; Schein, 1985). Language is always viewed as a crucial characteristic among all the cultural features that make up cultural identity explained by Powell (2006) quotation of Geert Hofstede, “I would say that understanding of other languages is almost a necessary, albeit insufficient, condition for the understanding of the phenomenon of culture" (p.13). Different languages affect communication between employees in the workplaces i.e. language differences frequently result in miscommunication. Seymen (2006) explained that good communication reduces emotional stress.

According to Baum et al., (2007) because of various cultural backgrounds, employees have more difficulty to interpret others' behaviour, which increases their uncertainty of how other employees might ...