Managing Workforce Diversity in Telecom Companies in India A Comparative Study of MTNL and Bharti Airtel

Abstract

With the increase in globalization, there has been a rise in the economic development of different countries and this increase has led to a number of changes in workplaces with respect to the characteristics of people. Workforce diversity can be defined as a broad mix of people from different backgrounds, cultures etc. working together in the same organisation. It mainly includes those differences which can affect the performance of the workforce in an organisation. The different dimensions of diversity have been divided in various ways by many researchers. Loden and Rosener (1991) divide them into two categories primary and secondary, primary include those which have primary influences like gender, ethnicity etc. and secondary are those which are less visible and have a variable influence like language etc. As the workforce diversity can impact the organisation in many ways it becomes important to manage this diversity. Diversity management means creating such an organisational environment where employees can perform well without feeling discriminated (Torres and Bruxelles, 1992). It involves taking deliberate actions in the form of different policies and programs in order to increase inclusion of people with a variety of different characteristics and putting those distinct features of employees to right use so that they result in greater benefits. Organisations around the world are becoming more and more diverse with time, thus the organisational life of the employees depends upon how this diversity based on gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, age, and personality is managed (Shaw and Power, 1998). The different dimensions of diversity may have different effects and outcomes within the organisation, and thus the effect of one dimension cannot be generalized for all the others (Pelled, Eisenhardt, and Xin, 1999). Workforce diversity can be a reason for conflict, but can also improve decision making and can lead to enhanced performance. A number of research studies revealed that having diverse groups in the ...