The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to examine academic literature related to the subject of workforce diversity in order to draw conclusions about the related effects, practical implications, and future projections. Thus, the paper includes evaluations of six sources, including peer-reviewed journal articles, one web-site article, and one chapter from a textbook for this course. The bibliography presents pieces by Aghili (2017), Hossain et al. (2020), Mazibuko and Govender (2017), Ravazzani (2016), Roberson (2018), and Watson and Hoefer (2013).
Aghili, S. (2017). The value of diversity in nonprofit management. TBG Insights. Web.
The article by Saalar Aghili (2017) focuses on the challenges that nonprofit organizations specifically face if there is a lack of cultural, socio-economic, or racial diversity among their employees. Heterogeneity of staff could help such companies to be more productive and creative, as well as to develop close relationships with the communities they are tasked with assisting. On the other hand, not having any people of color (POC) or women on the team most often results in financial losses, reputational implications, and overall counter-productivity. The article incorporates recent statistics and studies to craft a convincing argument regarding the need for diversity every nonprofit organization has. Most importantly, Aghili (2017) offers a detailed, yet concise, action plan for nonprofit executives to foster diversity in the workplace. Despite that, the main focus of the piece is recruitment, which takes way from the fact that retention has to be acknowledged as a crucial aspect of creating a truly diverse work environment.
Hossain, M., Atif, M., Ahmed, A., & Mia, L. (2020). Do LGBT workplace diversity policies create value for firms? Journal of Business Ethics, 167, 775–791.
Hossain et al. (2020) aim to determine whether there are any positive outcomes stemming from organizations adopting diversity policies in relation to people who are a part of the LGBT community. The findings demonstrate that there is a positive correlation between a company’s innovation index and its Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI). Despite that, it could be argued that the most innovative firms are the most likely to implement any sort of change. Thus, they are simply the first ones to adopt LGBT diversity policies, which does not imply that in doing so, an organization becomes more innovative.
Mazibuko, J. V., & Govender, K. K. (2017). Exploring workplace diversity and organisational effectiveness: A South African exploratory case study. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 1(2), 1–10.
The study’s purpose is to demonstrate the connection between a diverse workforce and organizational performance. Mazibuko and Govender (2017) conclude that homogeneity of staff has a positive impact on a company’s effectiveness and a level of competitive edge on the market. Thus, in order to expand and attract new clientele, companies must start the process of entering new markets by investing in attracting and hiring divergent personnel. Regarding the article’s implications, the authors show that diverse employee retention and attraction leads to positive long-term outcomes, including the rise of creativity and innovation.
Ravazzani, S. (2016). Understanding approaches to managing diversity in the workplace. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 35(2), 154–168.
The study by Ravazzani (2016) is a mixture between theoretical and empirical analysis, which aims to examine various approaches to diversity management within Italian organizations. The most common method in Italy is the “Integrating diversity” approach, which implies that companies rarely go further than simply protecting the rights of minorities as they are forced to do by the law. However, applying these results to all Italian businesses is not possible as the author uses a non-probability sample of only those companies that have diversity programs. Most often, executives focuses only on traditional attributes such as gender, disability, and race. In terms of the implications of the chosen article, the findings suggest that in order to have a truly diverse workforce, organizations have to develop concrete action plans, identify available resources, and adopt diversity strategies according to the specific context of their business.
Roberson, Q. M. (2018). Diversity and inclusion in the workplace: A review, synthesis, and future research agenda. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 6(1), 7.1-7.20.
The article examines the progress terms such as “diversity” and “workforce diversity” have undergone over the recent decades. However, instead of centering only on the past, Roberson (2018) allocates a big part of the piece to practical implications of workforce heterogeneity and the future direction of diversification trends. The author synthesizes the latest academic resources on the subject and concludes that companies have to put effort in developing diversity philosophies and principles, investing in diversity training, and establishing mentoring programs. Apart from that, Roberson (2018) makes predictions about the course the trend of a diverse workforce is ultimately headed. Thus, the concept of diversity is likely to expand further to include various sociocultural aspects of a person’s identity, which Watson and Hoefer (2013) recognize as well. In addition, there is going to be a more pressing need for generalizable diversity frameworks.
Watson, L. D., & Hoefer, R. A. (2013). Chapter 9: Human resources. Developing nonprofit and human service leaders: Essential knowledge and skills (1st ed.). SAGE Publications.
The ninth chapter of Developing nonprofit and human service leaders: Essential knowledge and skills by Larry D. Watson and Richard A. Hoefer (2013) examines the crucial role the field of Human Resources (HR) plays for nonprofit organizations. Similarly to Aghili (2017), the authors make a good point by emphasizing the importance for human service companies to be just as diverse as the communities they serve. This way, a person in need of assistance can always find someone who can relate to them in one aspect or another and offer the most appropriate solution. Instead of focusing solely on visible attributes of employees (e.g. race, gender, etc.), Watson and Hoefer (2013) recognize that fostering diversity implies hiring people with different sexual orientations, educational levels, and so on.