Effective Human Resource Management Practices Research Articles

Managing a Culturally Diverse Staff

Effective human resource management practices with an increasingly diverse work force must include consideration of relevant employment law. But leading organizations will venture beyond simply avoiding discriminatory practices. Managing staff differences that emerge from cultural diversity begins with awareness, moves toward sensitivity, evolves into understanding, and concludes with respect.

FUNCTIONS OF LIFE INSURANCE AGENCY MANAGERS and RELATIONSHIPS WITH AGENCY CHARACTERISTICS and MANAGERIAL TENURE

A questionnaire completed by 1282 male life insurance agency managers from 50 companies was used to develop (via factor analysis) six behavorial functions of agency managers. The relationship between the frequency of activity in each function and five variables–number of agents, number of supervisors, tenure, type of agency and origin of agency–was examined using zero order and multiple correlation procedures. The two measures of size, number of agents and number of supervisors, were the most consistent correlates of behavior. The degree of shared variance among management functions and the five variables, though significant statistically, did not exceed 9%. Reasons cited for these results included: (1) policies and practices particular to individual companies; (2) the discretion managers have in choosing task activities; (3) the limited number of variables examined as correlates of managerial functions; and, (4) individual differences among agency managers. It was concluded, for practical reasons, that management research should include efforts to develop taxonomies that cut across technological categories of managers as well as defining the specific behavior functions of managers in particular technological categories. Such specific taxonomies are required for effective human resource management practices at managerial levels in organizations.