INTEGRATING BUSINESS VALUES--THE LEGALITY, MORALITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE
Recent years have seen considerable attention paid to diversity programs in the workplace. Affirmative action has come under increased scrutiny when applied to university applicants--a recent Supreme Court decision was hailed as a victory by both sides of the affirmative action issue, for example. In the workplace, diversity has evolved to be seen as highly desirable in many organizations, giving companies an edge in the market and enriching the creativity of the workforce. In other companies, diversity programs are implemented only as a way to prevent lawsuits or unfavorable publicity, but the corporate culture as a whole does not necessarily embrace diversity. This research considers cultural diversity in the workplace from legal, ethical and social responsibility perspectives.
Diversity programs have become popular in the United States in recent years because of shifting demographics. According to analysts, 47.5 percent of the work force was composed of women in the late 1990s, and 29 percent of the net additions to the work force overall were non-whites (Carlozzi, 1999). This means that managers and executives will be under increasing pressure to establish diversity programs that recognize that the American work force is no longer a homogeneous group of white males, but rather a diverse combination of gender and ethnicity. Employees who find companies that foster diversity are more likely to remain in those organizations than in companies that do not recognize the importance that diversity plays in the work place. Similarly, as word spreads that a particular organization has a strong diversity program, it is likely to find it easier to attract and retain high quality workers with diverse backgrounds. In other words, diversity programs can give companies a competitive edge in the marketplace (Jain & Ver...