Multiculturism Advantages And Disadvantages

Advantages of Diversity and Multiculturism

What is the behavioral impact of an increasingly diverse culture? Recent multicultural literature argues diversity issues will impact individual career outcomes as well as organizational effectiveness. Among the determinants of behavioral impact are (1) individual factors, such as identity, prejudice and stereotype, (2) intergroup factors such as cultural differences, ethnocentrism and intergroup conflict, and (3) organizational factors such as organizational adjustment processes, structural integration, and institutional bias. When combined, these factors depict the diversity climate of an organization. There is substantial literature arguing diverse groups and organizations have performance advantages

With the benefits of diversity come organizational costs. Too much diversity in problem-solving groups can be dysfunctional (Shephard, 1964). Diversity increases ambiguity, complexity, and confusion. Diverse organizations may have difficulty converging meanings, may find it hard to reach a single agreement, and have difficulty agreeing on courses of action (Adler, 1991).

In many organizations, diversity can produce negative dynamics such as ethnocentrism, stereotyping and cultural clashes. These negative dynamics can in turn combine with imbalanced power structures to create work disadvantages for women and minorities. In traditional, assimilationist-oriented organizations, cultural differences between majority and minority group members create barriers to full participation of minority members. For example, Tsui, Egan & O’Reilly (1992) analyze 151 workgroups and find increasing work-unit diversity to be associated with lower levels of psychological attachment among group members. If leaders ignore or mishandle diversity, it may detract from performance. Poorer work outcome includes affective and achievement outcomes and these in turn adversely influence first-level organizational measures such as productivity, absenteeism, and turnover (Adler,

The negative consequences of diversity can reduce creativity and innovation, problem solving, and workgroup cohesiveness (Ziller, 1973; Lott & Lott, 1965; Randolph & Blackburn, 1989; Jackson, 1991). As a result, these negative consequences can reduce market share, profitability, and achievement of organizational goals (Cox, 1993, p.