This refers to employing different categories of employees who are heterogeneous in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, relation, community, physically disadvantaged, homosexuals, elderly people etc. The primary reason to employ heterogeneous category of employees is to tap the talents and potentialities, harnessing the innovativeness, obtaining synergetic effect among the divorce workforce. In general, employees wanted to retain their individual and cultural identity, values and life styles even though they are working in the same organization with common rules and regulations. The major challenge for organizations is to become more accommodating to diverse groups of people by addressing their different life styles, family needs and work styles.
Implications for Managers: Managers have to shift their philosophy from treating everyone alike to recognizing individual differences and responding to those differences in ways that will ensure employee retention and greater productivity while, at the same time not discriminating. If work force diversity is managed more effectively, the management is likely to acquire more benefits such as creativity and innovation as well as improving decision making skills by providing different perspectives on problems. If diversity is not managed properly and showed biases to favor only a few categories of employees, there is potential for higher turnover, more difficulty in communicating and more interpersonal conflicts.
