Challenges of Managing Workforce Diversity at the Ministry of Mining, Kenyan Civil Service
Abstract
Diversity is a commitment to recognizing and appreciating the variety of characteristics
that make individuals unique in an atmosphere that promotes and celebrates diversity.
Managing diversity is considered important for every organization as it is a requisite
component that a company needs to be able to manage and utilize its diverse workplace
effectively. The objective of the study was to determine the challenges of managing
workforce diversity in the Ministry of Mining. The study adopted a case study design.
Primary data was collected from 16 respondents out of 17 respondents using a semistructured
questionnaire and this gave a response rate of 94%. Data was analyzed using
qualitative and quantitative methods. It was established that the Ministry has policies on
gender and disability mainstreaming, training but none on ethnic inclusivity, age
consideration and attraction and retention policies and the Ministry relied on the
Constitution of Kenya 2010, Government circulars and Human Resource Manual. It can
be concluded that the Ministry needs to have in place policies on ethnicity, attraction and
retention and age consideration. The recommendations were that the Ministry should
make diversity management, a strategic matter and each employee made to account for
their involvement in diversity improvement programs as part of continuous performance
assessment. Stakeholder involvement was found to be important. Challenges of managing
workforce diversity are diverse and should therefore be addressed at both strategic and
managerial level. The Ministry needs to drive all components of diversity at the same
level and not to leave behind other critical components such as ethnic inclusivity, age
consideration and attraction retention which were cited in the study as lacking
policies.The Ministry is encouraged to have a more radical approach to mitigate the
challenges related to diversity management. The study also recommends that diversity
programmes should be proactive, adequately funded, top-management commitment for
the success of diversity practices, capacity building of employees on diversity issues and
stakeholders engagement. Further studies should be undertaken in other government
ministries and agencies in Kenya to establish whether there is consistency.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Description
Thesis