MKTG5004: Critical Literature Review of Workplace Diversity Impact

This report presents a critical literature review on workplace diversity, addressing its significance in modern business. The introduction highlights the importance of a diverse work environment, emphasizing its role in fostering multiple perspectives, enhancing organizational strength, and adapting to change. The methodology section outlines the use of secondary research, specifically published articles, to explore various aspects of workplace diversity, including cultural differences, gender, and abilities. The literature review synthesizes findings from multiple studies, examining the relationships between workplace diversity and organizational performance. Studies by Leslie, Lambert, Schwab et al., Mitchell et al., Kundu and Mor, Joseph and Selvaraj, Jyoti and Kour, O’Brien et al., Hofhuis et al., Rodríguez-Pose and Hardy, Naranjo-Valencia et al., Zhuwao et al., and Owen and Temesvary are reviewed, each offering insights into different facets of diversity. The report explores how cultural intelligence, gender, and ethnic diversity impact business outcomes, identifying both positive and negative influences. The conclusion synthesizes the findings, emphasizing the importance of effective diversity management for enhanced performance, innovation, and adaptation in the business environment.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Method.............................................................................................................................................2
Literature review..............................................................................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The well-established company’s focuses on having a dissimilar environment of working because
it is proved that individual learn to channel their dissimilarities to formulate it their strength to
achieve common objective (Gibson and Fernandez 2018). The workplace diversity is significant
for every organization because it provide several opinions, while discussing on the issue. It also
helps in increasing the unity strengths, makes the organization attractive as well as increases the
flexibility to adapt the changes to make progression of the business (Brown 2017). In this report,
literature review is conducted on the aspects of workplace diversity which includes cultural
differences, gender as well as abilities. The current business problem is to manage the diverse
people in the organization and their impact on the organizational performance. Therefore, the
present study is done to know whether there is an association between the aspects of Workplace
diversity with the performance of the firm.
Method
In this report the secondary research is used for collecting the information about the workplace
diversity. The information is collected by reviewing the already published articles. The search
term like “workplace diversity affects performance” is used to find the adequate as well as
suitable article, to ensure that quality is maintained.
Literature review
Leslie conducted the study on the theory of work unit ethnic diversity by using the multilevel
model multilevel model (Leslie 2017). It is done to know whether the ethnic diversity in the
company is limiting the work performance. The data was collected from the bank branches in the
local area, data collection was done through questionnaire, in this researcher mailed the survey to
all the staff members of bank. However, only 862 respondents respond. In this study for testing
ethnic diversity with the work performance correlation as well as regression is used. The
researcher finds that occurrence of 2 ethnic subgroups, which separates due to high differences in
the status within a workplace is negatively turn the performance. In future, the study can also be
taken by focusing on the amount of effects ethnicity diversity has in the performance of

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employee as well as on the other characteristics of demographic. According to Lambert earlier
studies only focuses on demonstrating the association between cultural diversity and
performance (Lambert 2016). Therefore, no studies are conducted to know the impact of cultural
diversity on the performance of the firm. In this various articles are reviewed to know the
individual as well as group level relationship, the study also shows that the implementation of
structural programs as well as policies. The researcher finds that link between the cultural and
creativity affects the performance of the firm and allows the organization to adopt more
innovative opportunities which is accepted by the organization. The researcher also finds that
efficient management of diversity is significant in the organization because it make an organic
environment as well as enhanced the performance through creativity and innovation. The
research gap in this study is that it only focus on one aspect that is cultural diversity however,
other aspects also affect the performance of firm as well as employees.
Schwab, Webrel and Hofman conducted the study to investigate the gender diversity in the
organization, it demonstrate how the low as well as high level of managerial gender diversity
affects the accomplishment of performance (Schwab, et al. 2016). The researcher focuses on the
structure that merges the different theoretical perception of the groups, individual as well as their
negative and positive influence. The study makes use of the data which is collected by the
Portuguese Ministry of Work. The data was collected from all the employees and 27% of the
respondents were female and 80% were males. The findings show that the managerial gender
diversity influence the performance of the organization by a nonlinear function. The future
research can focus on to find out the level of low and high gender diversity affects the
performance of organization. According to Mitchell, Boyle, Parker, Giles and Chiang now a days
it become significant to work collaboratively with the diverse people in the organization to
sustain in the competitive environment. The data was collected from the health care in Australia,
the random sampling method were used in this study. Researcher received the responses from the
346 respondents, questionnaire method were adopted for gathering data. Researcher finds that
the supports from the leader are important to maintain the diversity in the organization. In future
the researcher can conducted the study to investigate the diversity outside the healthcare industry
that is job-related diversity. This study does not focus on the variables that impact the
effectiveness of the inclusive manager.

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Kundu and Mor conducted the study to know the association between the perception of the
employees regarding the aspects of gender, age and education and the performance of the
organization in the IT industry (Kundu and Mor 2017). The primary data is used for the data
collection, 402 members were responded and analysis is done by using the factor analysis,
regression, correlation. The researcher finds that age and education differences are limited but
significantly affects the performance. However, from the perception of the employees, the
gender diversity positively affects the performance of the organization. The limitations of the
study is that the data is collected by using only one survey method, therefore in future the
researcher can use several method to collect the data. In future researcher can also the
comparative study in the culture diversity among various industries. According to Joseph and
Selvaraj workplace diversity defined as the strategic Workforce diversity has been identified as
one of ability which adds the value to the organizations as compared to their competitors
(Selvaraj 2015). The aim of the study is to find out effects of the diversity in relation to age,
gender ethnicity as well as to know the results of management in the diversity I Singapore. The
data was collected through the questionnaire in both the industries that is services as well as
manufacturing. The analysis was done through the Software Package for Social Science, and
finds that age; gender as well as ethnicity does not affect the performance of the organization.
Researcher also recommends, in managing the program of Human resource to enhance the
efficiency of workforce diversity. The future study should focus on the particular category that
is managers, executives to know their influence on the performance of employee as well as
organization.
Jyoti and Kour conducted the study to know the influence of cultural intelligence on the
performance of task and also to analyze the adjustment of cultural role in the Asian countries
(Jyoti and Kour 2015). The researcher used both quantitative as well as qualitative approach to
collect the data, the data is collected from 225 executives in Jammu Kashmir and testing is done
by using the model of structural equation. From the analysis, the researcher finds that cultural
diversity significantly add towards the performance of task. The limitations of the study is that it
is only focused in the Asian countries, In future factors affecting cultural diversity as well as
management of cultural diversity can be taken into consideration. According to Brien, Scheffer,
Nes and Lee to gain the competitive advantage company has to increase the workplace diversity
that is it can increase the gender, cultural diversity to sustain the company in the competitive

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environment (O’Brien, et al. 2015). The study is conducted to know the cultural as well as
gender diversity in the organization and their influence in specific department. The researcher
used the dynamic model, to predict the diversity in inter-department as well as various units. The
researcher finds that in particular department the influence of the diversity is positive but in the
overall productivity there it can affect negatively. The researcher also recommends managing
and increasing the workplace diversity by using the mathematical model and through taking the
feedback between the diversity as well as inclusivity of group. In this study researcher does not
focus on analyzing the impact of low and high diversity in the organization, In future researcher
can use the model to understand the affect of low diversity in the organization.
Hofhuis, Zee and Otten conducted the study to describe the growth as well as validation of the
advantages and danger of Diversity scale, this technique is used to know the perception of the
employees regarding the cultural diversity in the workplace (Hofhuis, Zee and Otten 2015). The
research used the interview method and 19 respondents were selected in Netherland, the medium
age was 47. In this study researcher take interview from two staff member which is from the
similar department, however, through various changes questions again was asked by the
researcher to the employees who is working in different department. The study finds that
employees believe that opportunities and threats are both independent factor, it does not generate
from the cultural diversity. In this study researcher does not focus on other aspects like abilities
of the employee, which is considered major factor to analyze the opportunities and threats for the
organization.
Rodriguez-Pose and Hardy conducted the study to know the influence of gender and ethnicity
diversity in the performance of entrepreneurial in the region of UK (Rodríguez-Pose and Hardy
2015). The researcher major focus was on diversity as well as abilities of employees and work of
diverse employees in the organization. The data was collected through reviewing several articles
of culture diversity in entrepreneurship as well as secondary source is used to know the cultural
and gender diversity in UK. The researcher finds that high and different abilities or diversity of
culture and gender is significant for entrepreneurship in UK, because it helps in providing
various opinions. In future researcher can conduct the comparative study of different region to
provide detailed information about importance of gender and ethnicity diversity in the
organization. Naranjo-Valencia, Jimenez and Sanz-Valle innovation leads company to sustain in

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competitive market but managing diversity of the employees is considered significant factor
(Naranjo-Valencia, Jiménez-Jiménez and Sanz-Valle 2016). Researcher believes in today’s
generation diversity and innovation affects the performance of employees, however, this study is
focus on analyzing the links through testing the industrial companies. The data was collected
from the Spanish companies, 15 employees were selected for the sample size, and interview
method is taken for collecting the data. From the analysis, the researcher finds that culture
diversity can make various creative innovations and raise the performance of the company.
However, it results that there is positive relationship between cultural diversity as well as
performance of employee.
According to Zhuwao, Ngirande, Ndlovu and Setati there is enhancement in the workplace
diversity in South Africa, the study is conducted to know the influence of gender and cultural
diversity in the performance of workers in the institution of higher education in Africa
(Simbarashe, et al. 2019). In this study researcher adopted the cross-sectional research deign as
well stratified random sampling method is used, the sample size selected was 258. The
researcher finds that relationship between the gender as well as cultural diversity with
performance of the employees is positive. The researcher also finds that institutions in Africa
develop efficient strategies to manage the diversity in effective manner. In future researcher can
conduct the study by taking large sample size by conducting comparative study in the same
industry. According to Owen and Temesvary conducts the study to know the relationship
between gender diversity in the performance of bank (Owen and Temesvary 2018). The data was
collected from the 90 US Bank and finds that there are U-shape association between the gender
diversity and performance of bank and also find that increasing the gender diversity in bank will
results in enhancing the value of the banks. In future the researcher can conducted the study on
better understanding the association between diversity of gender on managerial boards as well as
inequalities within the banks.
Conclusion
From the above it is conclude, that workplace diversity is important for each and every
organization because it helps the organization in providing various expertise opinions. In this
report, the aspects like gender, culture and abilities is selected to know their relationship with the

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performance of organization. The various articles were reviewed and find that there is
association between both of them and it affects positively. From the above it also finds that
cultural diversity, gender diversity as well as abilities these are important for the organization to
gain competitive advantage. The researcher used various model, quantitative as well as
qualitative approach to know whether diversity affects the performance of the organization.
However, the above studies make several efforts to know the relationship between both of them
but none of the studies focuses on level of influence cultural, gender and diversity in abilities
have on the performance of the organization. The other research gap is that no comparative study
in the aspects of workplace diversity in similar industry is conducted by the researcher.
References

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Brown, Jennifer. 2017. Inclusion: Diversity, the New Workplace & the Will to Change. Publish
Your Purpose Press.
Gibson, Sarah, and J. Fernandez. 2018. Gender Diversity and Non-Binary Inclusion in the
Workplace: The Essential Guide for Employers. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Gröschl, Stefan. 2016. Diversity in the Workplace: Multi-disciplinary and International
Perspectives. Abingdon: Routledge.
Hofhuis, Joep, Karen I. van der Zee, and Sabine Otten. 2015. "Measuring employee perception
on the effects of cultural diversity at work: development of the Benefits and Threats of
Diversity Scale." Quality & Quantity 49 (1): 177-201.
Jyoti, Jeevan, and Sumeet Kour. 2015. "Assessing the cultural intelligence and task performance
equation: Mediating role of cultural adjustment." Cross Cultural Management 22 (2):
236-258.
Kundu, Subhash C., and Archana Mor. 2017. "Workforce diversity and organizational
performance: a study of IT industry in India." Employee Relations 39 (2): 160-183.
Lambert, Jason. 2016. "Cultural diversity as a mechanism for innovation: Workplace diversity
and the absorptive capacity framework." Journal of Organizational Culture,
Communications and Conflict 20 (1).
Leslie, Lisa M. 2017. "A status-based multilevel model of ethnic diversity and work unit
performance." Journal of Management 43 (2): 426-454.
Naranjo-Valencia, Julia C, Daniel Jiménez-Jiménez, and Raquel Sanz-Valle. 2016. "Studying the
links between organizational culture, innovation, and performance in Spanish
companies." Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología 48 (1): 30-41.
O’Brien, Katherine R, Marten Scheffer, Egbert H. van Nes, and Romy Van Der Lee. 2015. "How
to break the cycle of low workforce diversity: A model for change." PloS one 10 (7).
Owen, Ann L, and Judit Temesvary. 2018. "The performance effects of gender diversity on bank
boards." Journal of Banking & Finance 90: 50-63.

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Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, and Daniel Hardy. 2015. "Cultural diversity and entrepreneurship in
England and Wales." Environment and Planning 47 (2): 392-411.
Schwab, Andreas, James D. Werbel, Heike Hofmann, and Paulo L. Henriques. 2016.
"Managerial gender diversity and firm performance: An integration of different
theoretical perspectives." Group & Organization Management 41 (1): 5-31.
Selvaraj, Palanisamy Chinnathambi. 2015. "The effects of work force diversity on employee
performance in Singapore organisations." International Journal of Business
Administration 6 (2).
Simbarashe, Zhuwao, Hlanganipai Ngirande, Wiseman Ndlovu, and Sam T. Setati. 2019.
"Gender diversity, ethnic diversity and employee performance in a South African higher
education institution." SA Journal of Human Resource Management 17 (1): 1-8.