Diversity Management: An Organisational Culture Audit To Determine Individual Differences

Ophillia Ledimo

doi:10.19030/jabr.v31i5.9388

Abstract

<p class="Default">The purpose of this study was to conduct an organisational culture audit to determine individual differences of employees within the South African army. A quantitative study was conducted with a random sample size n=238. The participants completed the biographical questionnaire and the Organisational Culture Inventory (OCI) which was used to measure organisational culture. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to identify the existing culture type in this organisation and the statistically significant individual differences of the employees regarding their perception of the organisational culture. The findings of this study are valuable for organisational development practitioners and managers who are responsible to manage diversity in their organisation because it enables organisations to understand the culture of their diverse workforce and to propose relevant measures for improving employee performance using individual differences. These findings also provide opportunity for future research. This study also adds knowledge regarding organisational culture diagnosis and the nature of individual differences, especially within the South African work context.</p>

Highlights

A diverse workforce is a reflection of a changing world and marketplace (Mazur, 2010)
These findings on race and age differences support the results of a study conducted by Martins and Von der Ohe (2006) indicating that the various race and age groups experience the organisational culture dimensions differently; they seem to modify the values in the organisation to reflect their own distinct situation
This study was motivated by the need to manage diversity resulting from the organisational landscape where a diverse workforce is the rule rather than the exception

Summary

Introduction

A diverse workforce is a reflection of a changing world and marketplace (Mazur, 2010). Managing diversity is an important aspect of leadership in today’s multi-cultural work context. Preissing and Loennies (2011) indicate that the culture of an organisation tends to view the individual employee as an important component as there is a dynamic and reciprocity of its development within and outside the organisational context and the development of an organisational culture. Organisations that are faced with the challenge of managing a diverse workforce would need to assess their organisational culture in order to develop knowledge of the existing organisational culture differences among their employees. Managing and valuing diversity is a key component of effective people management, which can improve the productivity of the organisation (Gilbert et al, 1999; Mazur, 2010). As a result maximizing and capitalizing on workplace diversity has become an important issue for management today

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