Exploring workplace diversity and organisational effectiveness: A South African exploratory case study

SA Journal of Human Resource Management

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Exploring workplace diversity and organisational effectiveness: A South African exploratory case study
 
Creator Mazibuko, J. Veli Govender, Krishna K.
 
Subject human resources management diversity; transformation; workplace performance; organizational effectiveness
Description Orientation: Transformation and managing diversity are organisational imperatives, especially in South Africa. Thus, it is important for international companies with major operations in South Africa (SA) to embrace the benefits of managing a divergent workforce and translate this for organisational benefits.Research purpose: The article explores the perceptions of management and staff on diversity and its value to the organisation, by empirically evaluating the relationship with organisational effectiveness and performance through the development and testing of five hypotheses.Motivation for the study: Legislation has made it mandatory for transformation of the South African workplace and ensuring that diversity is embraced. However, not all companies have fully understood the benefits of recruiting and managing diverse teams for the benefit of the organisation.Research approach, design and method: Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used, whereby a survey was conducted among 227 employees using the Towers Watson Employment Employee Insight Survey (EIS). Inferential statistical techniques were used to test relationships among related variables postulated through five hypotheses.Main findings: It was ascertained that understanding and managing diversity has played a pivotal role in the (research) organisation’s performance and effectiveness over the past 5 years. More specifically, diversity management created room for appreciation, innovation and creativity that gave the organisations an edge to tackle diverse markets.Practical/managerial applications: South Africa has a diverse population, and when individuals join an organisation, they bring a unique set of characteristics referred to as personalities, which, through the socialisation process, get assimilated into teams’ norms and values, and the culture of the organisation. Managing diversity in the workplace is part of employee retention and attraction, with the intention to energise workplace productivity, thus increasing the organisation’s competitive edge.Contributions or value add: The positive impact engendered by diverse recruitment and retention is also supported by employee engagement, which presupposes employee ownership of change, by making it happen, and it is driven by employees that offer solutions to problems, by helping one another and who are proud of being part of the organisation. Its impact in the bigger scheme of events is to drive business performance, growth, cost management, and ability to attract, retain and engage top talent by establishing a winning and inclusive culture.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor none
Date 2017-11-23
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Survey and focus groups
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajhrm.v15i0.865
 
Source SA Journal of Human Resource Management; Vol 15 (2017); 10 pages 2071-078X 1683-7584
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/865/1350 https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/865/1349 https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/865/1351 https://sajhrm.co.za/index.php/sajhrm/article/view/865/1339
 
Coverage South Africa current 227; all SA groups
Rights Copyright (c) 2017 J. Veli Mazibuko, Krishna K. Govender https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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