Benefits of Cultural Diversity
The establishment of diversity programs in any organization is of great significance, and companies that make use of diversity initiatives show various levels of achievement and growth. Diversity itself refers to all manner of ways in which people differ such as sex, age, nationality, race, and culture. Brazzel (12) defines cultures as the various aspects of mindsets that make people differ from one another. It also refers to the ways of life and patterns of thinking accepted by one generation and passed on to others. The components of culture include customs, beliefs, art, values, and norms. Due to the changes in the composition of workforce as a result of globalization, cultural issues have placed a big challenge to many organizations especially multi-cultural organizations. Effective management of diversity has been a concern of many organizations for the last ten years.
One of the most challenging factors in building multi-cultural organization is marketing as its interaction with peoples’ culture determines whether a company will succeed or not. Advertising and promotion play a critical role in explaining concepts and benefits of a product to the society or target segment. However, what is normal in one culture may be different from another culture and therefore a diverse workforce will be able to provide information that is useful to the marketing manager prior to the development of the marketing plan or strategy. This means, managers will have relevant information pertaining to the needs of the target market. This will ensure success of the marketing program in the targeted group.
Diversity has a direct impact on employee productivity. According to Canen (5), achievement of worker has been closely related to how well members of marginal groups related to their work and employer. The manner in which company bonds with its employees by embracing diversity provides a good environment for achieving the...