Managing a culturally diverse workforce: Diversity perspectives in organizations

Astrid Podsiadlowski*, Daniela Gröschke, Marina Kogler, Cornelia Springer, Karen van der Zee

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The authors conducted two studies to analyze why and how organizations approach and manage cultural diversity in the Austrian workplace and to identify organizations' diversity perspectives. In Study 1, 29 interviews revealed insights into organizational approaches to diversity and how these perspectives are linked to employing and managing a culturally diverse workforce. In Study 2, the authors developed and tested the Diversity Perspective Questionnaire (DPQ). The DPQ consists of vignettes and items to measure an organization's approach to diversity. Results reveal that five diversity perspectives-Reinforcing Homogeneity, Color-Blind, Fairness, Access, and Integration and Learning-gain a deeper understanding of diversity management in organizations. The DPQ is shown to be a reliable measurement instrument for further investigations of diversity perspectives in organizations.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)159-175
Number of pages17
JournalInternational Journal of Intercultural Relations
Volume37
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2013

Funding

The first author received funding from the Commission of the European Communities as a Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant (FP/-PEOPLE-2007-4-3-IRG) under grant agreement Number PIRG02-GA-224818 for data gathering, analysis and write-up. The conceptualization and operationalization of the diversity perspectives has been an essential part of this EU project in close co-operation with Karen van der Zee and Sabine Otten at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen whose contributions the authors want to acknowledge. We want to thank Diana Boer for her comments on earlier versions of this paper. Appendix A

Keywords

  • Austria
  • Benefits and costs of diversity
  • Diversity management
  • Diversity perspectives

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