The Influence of Diversity and Inclusion Strategies on the Performance of Employees in the Ministry of Education

Abstract

The last two decades have been marked by massive globalization, which is constantly increasing day by day. This globalization phenomenon has brought numerous benefits to the world of business. Among the key benefits to the business environment has been creation of a more inclusive and diverse workforce. A diverse workforce is critical for enhancing the competitive advantage of a firm and overall efficiency in handling a firm’s operations. However, despite the potential benefits of a diverse workforce, its management may pose negative or positive ramifications on the general performance of employees. It is against this backdrop that this study was grounded. The overriding objective of this study was to investigate the effect of diversity and inclusion strategies on the employee performance by focusing on the case of Ministry of Education in Kenya. In assessing this objective, a cross-sectional descriptive survey design was adopted. Using this research design, the study targeted a population of all the 724 employees working at the Ministry of Education. A sample of 75 employees was then selected through stratified random sampling technique. Data was then collected using questionnaires, drop and pick, technique. The collected data was then input and analyzed using SPSS, where descriptive and inferential statistics were computed. The analytical results revealed that education of employees, equal treatment of employees, support of employees, and their motivation are the best ways of achieving the best inclusion strategy. Additionally, it was found that A unit change in diversity while holding the other factors constant would lead to an increase in performance by a factor of 0.451 and a unit change inclusive strategies while having other factors constant would lead to an increase in performance by a factor of 0.4.19. Therefore, this research concluded that that both Inclusion strategies and Diversity Strategies had a significant effect on the performance of the ministry of education in Kenya. It is recommended that human resource diversity management practices to enhance retention of employees should be encouraged through effective and open communication on diversity issues