Relationship Between Diversity and Organisational Performance of State Corporations in the Coastal Region of Kenya
Abstract
Diversity is generally defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing &
celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, and ethnicity, and
gender, physical & mental ability. A state corporation is an organization formed and
owned by the government to meet both its commercial and social goals and that they
exist for various reasons including correcting market failure, exploiting social and
political objectives, providing education, health, redistributing income or developing
marginal areas. Diversity in the workplace should be a concern of every organization. In
order to survive, a company needs to be able to manage and utilize its diverse workplace
effectively. Diversity in the workplace should be a part of the culture of the entire
organization. Valuing and recognizing diversity is imperative to maintaining competitive
advantage. Organizations that promote and achieve a diverse workplace will attract and
retain quality employees. The objectives of this study were to establish the level of
diversity and determine the relationship between diversity and organizational
performance of state corporations within the coastal region in Kenya. Data was collected
from both primary and secondary sources. The population of the study was all the twelve
(12) state corporations that are headquartered in the Coastal region of Kenya. The
findings revealed that diversity is positively correlated to organizational of the state
corporations. The results also indicated that gender diversity was more influential
followed by ethnic diversity. The study recommends that the state corporations address
issues of the other diversity dimensions such as special needs, age and education so as to
improve their organizational performance
Publisher
University of Nairobi