Employee Diversity Case Study

In the last couple of decades, Australia has developed into a multicultural society. As globalisation increases, employing people of diverse cultures, beliefs and skill backgrounds has become more crucial for both creating a sustainable workforce and transcending the Australian national context (D’Netto, 2013:1261). Innovation, creativity and the ability to be open to change assists an organisation’s success and competitive advantage in areas such as marketing, problem solving and resource acquisition. This is brought on by the introduction of diversity management policies and procedures (Cox, 2001:34). The implementation of appropriate procedures should be developed through the human resource department and senior management team as part of an organisation’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plan. Managers are now expecting that workplace diversity will achieve “higher workforce morale, more effective customer service and improved financial performance” (Kulik, 2014:131). However, these benefits can only be achieved if diversity is properly valued and encouraged, if support from managers is absent, then challenges can arise, such as poor communication, resistance to change, as well as economic and time losses. In the last few decades, Australian governments have introduced laws which can lead to greater

However, it has been shown that generally ethnically diverse employees possess a stronger work ethic, are more productive and innovative, as well as building synergy and introducing new attitudes and processes to keep up with modern times thus improving an organisation’s reputation. An organisation with family-friendly and proactive EEO practices will see these positive behavioural changes amongst current employees (Houkamau and Boxall,