Managing workforce diversity and organization's performance case study of Famy Auto Spares Ltd. Kenya

Abstract

This study investigated whether managing diversity of workers in Famy auto spares limited is beneficial to its performance. The definition of managing diversity for this study was defined as the process of creating an effective environment for all employees to work and develop while organization performance was defined as the rate of turn over to retain workers, profits made annually and ability to pay dividends and expand. The study particularly sought to find ways of improving management of diversity, the study was conceived due to organizations not being able to manage the diversity of their workforce forcing them to be assimilated to the majority group of the workforce. Conducted through both qualitative and quantitative research designs, data was collected in May 2010 using questionnaires, document analysis and interviews from 75 staff selected from 150 staff randomly selected from accessible population. The data was analyzed through content analysis and statistical analysis and presented in tables and figures. The study established that majority employees think there is a relationship between managing workforce diversity and organization performance, workforce diversity leads to segmented communication and top managers should be committed to managing diversity. The study concluded that workforce diversity can be beneficial to an organization if effectively managed. The study recommends that top managers should be more involved in managing diversity and communication in organizations with diverse workforce should be effective to reduce segmented communications.