Research Proposal : "The positive influence of cultural diversity at the workplace."

Problem Description

The present era of globalization demands for incorporation of the culture of diversity within business organizations. Today's workplaces are infused with people belonging to different cultural backgrounds and hence, there is a need to find out ways through which the culture of diversity can be promoted within the workplaces. The concept of cultural diversity denotes "The existence of a multiplicity of sub-cultures and different value systems in a plural or multicultural society or other setting" (Cultural diversity, n.d.). It is imperative for today's organizations to promote cultural diversity to support the quest of expanding globally. But there are myriad of organizations which lack proper strategies to promote the culture of diversity, and this is a hindrance in the way of success and in the way of gaining competitive advantage. Moreover, some organizations are skeptic about the end result of promoting and infusing a culture of diversity within the workforce. This skepticism has to be addressed first and the management of such organizations must be convinced of the positive implications of the introduction and promotion of a culture of diversity within the workplace. Hence, in order to emphasize the issue of cultural diversity in the context of global businesses the pivotal question that must be answered is that, "How does cultural diversity render positive impacts on organizations?" An answer to this question will pave the way for ascertaining the positive implications of the incorporation and promotion of a culture of diversity within the workplaces and the answer will also help myriad of organizations to indulge in the process of infusing a culture of diversity in order to spread globally and to gain the competitive advantage.

Research Aim and Objective

Aim:

The primary aim of the research study is to critically assess the consequences of promoting and eventually incorporating cultural diversity within the workplaces and to justify the need of considering such promotion and incorporation.

Objective:

The pivotal objective of the research study is to ascertain how organizations can reap the benefit of having cultural diversity within the workplace. Another objective of the research study is to assess the ways in which organizations can introduce cultural diversity effectively within the workplace. Moreover, the research study's objective is to make recommendations to improve the process of introducing and enhancing cultural diversity within the workplace.

Research Questions

• How does cultural diversity render positive impacts on organizations?
• How can organizations get benefitted by the introduction and promotion of cultural diversity within the workplace?
• What are the ways through which organizations can appropriately introduce, promote, and nurture cultural diversity within the workplace?

Literature Review

Globalization demands for the promotion and inclusion of cultural diversity within workplaces. Business organizations eyeing for spreading their businesses on a global basis should infuse and respect cultural diversity within the workforce. The present literature on cultural diversity, relating the concept to organizational success, basically emphasizes the positive implications of the introduction and promotion of cultural diversity within the workplace. In Gillian Coote Martin's article, "The Effect Of Cultural Diversity In The Workplace" (2014) it can be observed how cultural diversity renders positive effects on organizations which take initiatives to infuse it within the workplace. Matin (2004) has pointed out that, the trend of infusing cultural diversity in the workplace has been fueled by the business needs instigated by globalization. The author has also conveyed that, one positive effect of the introduction and incorporation of cultural diversity is that, "employees belonging to different cultures usually have different ways of thinking and can thus analyze a matter at hand from a variety of perspectives. This is hard to achieve when employees belonging to the same culture are asked to analyze the same matter" (Martin 2014). Martin (2004) has also pointed out how the introduction, promotion, and eventual incorporation of cultural diversity within the workplace can help employees cope with and survive culture shock. Martin (2004) has argued that, "Another positive effect of cultural diversity in the workplace is the increased tendency of organizational personnel to overcome culture shock as the business expands in other countries and becomes international." Moreover, in the article, "Cultural diversity in organizations: A study on the view and management on cultural diversity" (2013), by Dhakshayene Holmgren and Anneli Jonsson the positive impacts of cultural diversity on organizations have been discussed. Holmgren and Jonsson (2013) have emphasized that in the era of globalization when businesses are eyeing for global expansion, inclusion of international workforce becomes imperative, and as international workforce is bound to be composed of cultural diversity, the concept's role in paving the way for international business expansion is to be considered as a positive one.

Proposed Research Design

For a successful research study an appropriate research design must be implemented and adhered to. This research study would be based on qualitative research methodology. This study would tend to synthesize information rather than only analyze them. Moreover, the research study is going to capture the big picture and reveal how a multitude of variables work in a collaborative manner in the real world (QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, n.d.). The research study is going to examine the naturally occurring behavior and hence, the investigative methods would be as much non-intrusive as possible (QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, n.d.). The effect of the research on the subjects and the data would be minimal, and the collected data would be more "impressionistic and interpretive than numerical" (QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, n.d.). Furthermore, as the research study is going to follow the qualitative method, the control over the research context would be low, and as a whole it would be heuristic and hypothesis generating (QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, n.d.). The research would include primarily the case study method. Case study "is an account of an activity, event or problem that contains a real or hypothetical situation and includes the complexities you would encounter in the workplace" (What is a Case Study?, n.d.). Data would be collected online and review of literature would be done on literature obtained through online research. The case study would be done on multiple organizations. Academic sites and library databases would be searched for obtaining specific cases relevant to the topic of research.

(1,029 words)

References

Cultural diversity. (n.d.). [online] Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/cultural-diversity.html [Accessed 25 Oct. 2015].

The Effects Of Cultural Diversity In The Workplace. (2014). Journal of Diversity Management, [online] 9(2), pp.89-92. Available at: http://www.cluteinstitute.com/ojs/index.php/JDM/article/download/8974/8934 [Accessed 25 Oct. 2015].

Martin, G.C. (2014). The Effects Of Cultural Diversity In The Workplace. Journal of Diversity Management, [online] 9(2), pp.89-92. Available at: http://www.cluteinstitute.com/ojs/index.php/JDM/article/download/8974/8934 [Accessed 25 Oct. 2015].

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH. (n.d.). [online] Available at: http://linguistics.byu.edu/faculty/henrichsenl/researchmethods/RM_2_04.html [Accessed 25 Oct. 2015].

What is a Case Study?. (n.d.). [online] Available at: https://student.unsw.edu.au/what-case-study [Accessed 25 Oct. 2015].