Making cultural differences matter? Diversity perspectives in higher education

Abstract

Purpose The higher education sector has become increasingly aware of how the increasing diversity in society affects their institutions. The student population has become more diverse and future employers increasingly require trained students who are able to meet the demands of dealing with a more diverse market/clientele. In this regard, education institutions need to align their strategic approach to diversity within their organization. The purpose of this paper is to examine strategical reasons to diversify in different education teams in relation to two different diversity practices: attraction and selection of culturally diverse lecturers and utilization of cultural differences in team interaction. Design/methodology/approach In a qualitative study the authors conducted 19 interviews with educational professionals in six different education teams in a university of applied sciences. Findings Interviews with 19 members of six educational teams revealed that some teams acknowledge they need more diversity and exchange of knowledge and skills in order to meet the requirements of the labor market. Especially teams that prepare students for international careers foster this “Integration and Learning” perspective. Other teams, e.g. the Law team, notice less changes in labor market requirements. Still, these teams were open for recruiting diverse lecturers and found it important, especially to meet the needs of the diversity in students (access perspective). They also found value in the interaction and mutual learning in their team, but saw no extra value of diversity (colorblind perspective). Labor market demands for diversity seem to have more influence on the diversity perspective of teams than the diversity in the student population. Practical implications Since earlier research has shown that the diversity practices of organizations are more effective when they are in line with their diversity perspective, the differences between teams suggest that when dealing with diversity issues, universities can best work toward a common understanding of the importance of diversity but leave room for team differences in diversity practices. Originality/value Most studies on diversity management assume or argue that organizations adopt one diversity perspective. The present study shows that intra-organizational differences may exist with regard to the specific needs or concern for diversity management practices.

Aiming to connect: the business case for diversity in public organizations in The Netherlands

“…Increasingly, academic HRM literature has focused on managing differences in the organization, thus introducing the concept of diversity management (Pitts, 2009;Groeneveld and Van de Walle, 2010), which is defined as the deliberate and conscious effort to stimulate a diverse workforce and manage differences in order to achieve better organizational results (Ely and Thomas, 2001;Pitts, 2009;Groeneveld, 2011). Like the I&L perspective, and in line with Cox and Blake (1991), diversity management is based on the idea that differences between employees should be effectively exploited to foster creativity and innovation in the teams and the organization (Çelik et al, 2014;Meerman et al, 2016;Vos et al, 2016).…”

Cultural aspects of future specialists training in modern conditions

“…In general, teacher teams have been open to recruiting different teachers and consider this important to meet the needs of student diversity. The study found the value of interaction and joint learning within teams, but did not reveal the value of diversity (VOS, ÇELIK, DE VRIES, 2016).…”

“…This is due to the need of employers to have the skill of working with different team members. The needs of the labor market for diversity have a greater degree of influence on the perspective of multiculturalism of teams than just the diversity of the student body (VOS, ÇELIK, DE VRIES, 2016). Therefore, educational institutions need to coordinate strategies, teaching methods for managing cultural diversity (VOS, ÇELIK, DE VRIES, 2016).…”

Transformational Leadership and Organizational Culture: Keys to Binding Employees to the Dutch Public Sector

“…Part of the cause is the higher outflow among employees of non-Western origin from public organizations than their colleagues of Dutch descent. One popular argument is that employees with a migrant background do not feel at home in these organizations, while another is the lack of transfer possibilities to higher positions in public organizations [6][7]. Binding with the organization they work in is, therefore, considered to be an important objective of the diversity policy of the Dutch public sector.…”