Workforce Diversity Management and Performance in Food and Beverage Industry in Lagos State, Nigeria
[Thesis]
Oyedele, Ola Olusegun
Abdulraheem, Issa
Kwara State University (Nigeria)
2019
147 p.
Ph.D.
Kwara State University (Nigeria)
2019
Workforce Diversity is an inclusive term based on recognizing all kinds of difference. It is about valuing everyone as an individual. It recognizes that people from different backgrounds can bring fresh ideas and perceptions which can make the work done more efficient and products and services better, to offer outstanding customer service, and to sustain a competitive advantage especially in the Food and Beverage Industry in Nigeria. This ultimate faith forces managers to hold and understand the theory of workforce Diversity, its benefits and challenges. As such, this study examined the impact of workforce diversity management strategies towards organizational performance which focuses into the food and beverage industry within the larger manufacturing sector. The research also emphases on workforce diversity management strategies which contains the employee communication(EC) as a mechanism in reducing conflicts, talent availability(TA) and employee retention(ER), leadership initiatives(LI) and organizational success(OS) and organizational creativity(OCr) and product quality(PQ) which are the utmost critical variables amongst the others.The study employed primary data mainly for revalidation of results andinferential information from secondary sources.Primary data was harnessed from the views of managers and employees of the foods and beverage industries through questionnaire. The study adopted cross sectional research design and considered 3 multinational corporations in the food and beverage sector in Nigeria based on random sampling technique. Thesample sizeconstituted the lower, middle and senior level staff of the multinational Corporations at their headquarters and plants to achieve the objectives of this study based on the four hypotheses that were formulated. Both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were employed. The statistical tools used included cross tabulations, Mean, Regression and Correlation analysis with the aid of SPSS computer packages. The results showed that employee communication (EC) have significant effect on organizational effectiveness (OE) (at P=0.000). It was discovered that talent availability (TA), has significant relationship on employee retention (ER)(at P= 0.002). It was also found out that leadership initiatives (LI) has a significant relationship with organizational success(OS) (at P =0.000). It was also observed that organizational creativity (OCr)has significant effect on product quality (PQ) (at P =0.000).In conclusion, the study reflected that Workforce diversity represents both a challenge and an opportunity for business and corporate entity. Hence, no organization in this dispensation of Globalization can survive without workforce Diversity.Thestudy recommends that;organization ought to accord due priority for optimum utilization of strength of workforce diversity and institute measures to enhance commitment among the employees for improvement of organizational performance. Organizations should make workforce diversity management a core business value because diverse work teams bring high value to organizations and respecting individual differences will benefit the workforce by creating a competitive edge and increasing work productivity.