Diversity indices as a blessing and a bane to organizational performance

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of diversity management on the performance of employees in selected banks across Delta State. The study was anchored on social identity theory of exclusion in the workplace.  A descriptive survey research design was used for the study. Data was sourced using the primary source. A population of 900 employees from selected banks in Delta State was used for the study. A sample size of 173 employees derived through Borg and Gall was used for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The instrument was subjected to both face and content validity.  A reliability co-efficient of 0.79 was obtained through the test-retest method.  The data collected was analyzed using frequency count and percentages while ANOVA was used to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that gender, age, ethnicity, and educational diversity had significant positive effects on employees’ performance. The study recommended that in setting up teams in the workplace, personnel department in line with top managers must ensure that there is a proper representation of members of various ethnic groups, age and gender so as to create room for effective succession planning. Management should choose the most qualified in terms of academics to ensure that appropriate guides to thinking are done to formulate policies on diversity management and firm performance.