The changing workforce is one of the most extraordinary and significant challenges facing United States' organizations today. Our society is changing quickly and the demographic changes within the American workforce have the potential to affect many aspects of organizational management. By the year 2000, more than 90% of the new entrants into the workforce will be women and minorities (the words minorities and people of color will be used in this report interchangeably). Many of these workers will be immigrants, which may pose a communication challenge in the workplace. People from many different racial groups will be working together to keep businesses running competitively (Griggs, 1995). It is expected that the extent to which these demographic workforce shifts are effectively and efficiently managed will have an important impact on organizations' competitive and economic outcomes (Caudron, 1990; Johnston & Packer, 1987). Organizations that recognize that they need to fully develop all members of their workforce to remain competitive are responding by implementing a variety of different approaches to managing diversity (Jamieson & O'Mara, 1991).
The main focus of this report is to describe in detail the literature on diversity in the workforce to bring about an understanding of the complexity and breadth of workplace diversity issues. The report also intends to provide insights on the trends that have emerged in the field of diversity, and information that can be used to develop new and unique approaches that fit the specific needs of particular organizations. To accomplish this, the authors will present a summary of the workforce diversity issues and also review the key points from research studies, books, reports, and journal articles written for business and human resource professionals, and related magazines and newspaper articles on diversity in the workforce. The sources of information used in this review range in date from 1961 to 1997. This literature review also attempts to expose the reader to the current writings on diversity in the workforce to provide a knowledge base in the area of workforce diversity. A basic understanding of previous research is required not only to develop further studies to expand the knowledge base for diversity in the workforce, but also to advance human resource practices related to diversity in the U.S. organizations. Cox (1990) stated that the knowledge base for diversity issues is appallingly limited. Similarly, Armitage (1993) stated that organizations are scrambling to develop diversity programs but there is little concrete guidance.
The information provided in this report can be used by leaders and decisionmakers to strengthen and support diversity efforts. The information can be of value to several different audiences. First, decisionmakers, such as human resource managers, training and development specialists, and line managers can learn or develop an awareness of what diversity is, its benefits, and how it is affecting the workplace. Second, educators can learn about the differences in organizational responses to diversity. The information on workforce diversity can help educators revise their curricula and illustrate to their students the impact of diversity in the workplace. Third, students interested in diversity in the workforce can use the information provided in this report to become more knowledgeable about the topic and to identify needed research related to diversity in the workforce. Essentially, the information provided here can be of value to anybody who has an interest in the area of diversity in the workforce.
One of the important factors in understanding diversity is how the changes in society are affecting the workforce. Therefore, a whole section is devoted to this topic in the report. The report also presents a variety of perspectives different authors have regarding the reasons organizations have for managing and valuing diversity. To develop an awareness of the difficulties of managing diversity, an analysis of the barriers to managing diversity is also presented. To address different viewpoints, many writings were analyzed in this discussion. A variety of strategies for managing diversity are also presented. However, special emphasis was placed on diversity training and its components because it is one of the primary and most widely used initiatives to address diversity issues in organizations (Baytos, 1995; Carnevale & Stone, 1995; Tomervik, 1995; Wheeler, 1994). In the diversity training section, the following areas are addressed: benefits of diversity, types of diversity training, needs assessment, content, selecting a trainer, training methods and techniques, challenges and obstacles of diversity training, characteristics of an effective diversity training program, and evaluation.