Managers can no longer ignore the fact that the nation's workforce is becoming increasingly diverse. Affirmative action programs are no longer enough to deal with this increased diversity. Instead, organizations are taking a more far-sighted approach that includes setting up departments to assist employees in handling complaints and personal insults from customers, and to setting up workplace environments that foster harmonious and productive relationships among all workers. The issue of diversity in the public sector is important because government offices are subject to rules and regulations which private industry can sometimes avoid. The recent passage of the California Civil Rights Initiative (known officially as the CCRI and unofficially as Proposition 209), which effectively repeals affirmative action in that state, may well have a long-term impact on government workers not just in California, but throughout the nation. This research examines various diversity programs which have been implemented in the United States, the reasons behind their success, and the prospects for managing diversity in the public sector in the future based on lessons learned from private industry and in light of CCRI.
The research question addressed, together with the research hypotheses tested, are presented in the following section. Relevant literature then is reviewed, and this review is followed by a presentation of the method and research findings. Lastly, the conclusions drawn from the research findings are presented.
One research question was investigated in this study. This question was as follows: What defining characteristics of organizational-level diversity programs that have been implemented are associated with program outcomes that reflect increased diversity within the contexts of racial/ethnic and gender representation across both the functional and hierarchical structures of the organization. The research hypotheses that w...