The impact of organisational culture as a context of interpersonal meaning on the management of organisational diversity

Abstract

Changes in the South African business environment is placing South African businessorganisations under increasing pressure to move toward democratic, non-racial andfully representative organisational structures. In an attempt to accelerate this process,companies are embarking on affirmative action and black empowerment programmes inorder to develop previously disadvantaged groups and to assimilate these groups intoexisting organisation cultures. The results of these efforts are viewed with interest andscepticism. This article explores the link between organisational communication andsuccessful diversity management. An overview of existing literature indicates thatsuccessful diversity management is facilitated by communication processes throughwhich sufficient shared or negotiated meaning and agreed upon language and behavioursappropriate to the workplace are constructed. This article explores the importance ofinterpersonal communication in organisational sensemaking through the framework ofthe Schemata Model of Interpersonal Communication in Organisational Contexts. Theresults of the empirical research indicate that individuals’ experiences of theorganisational culture as a context for the construction of meaning, are more importantto diversity management than individual value differences as a result of diversity interms of age, gender or race.