Drishtikon: A Management Journal

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Employee Perceptions of Gender and Diversity in India:Do Men and Women Think Differently About Diversity?


Affiliations
1 Adjunct Professor, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, United States
2 Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


Purpose: We seek to address a research gap by exploring individual (managers and employees) perceptions of a variety of issues surrounding diversity, in the Indian context. We focus specifically on how people perceive diversity and its influence on diversity management and its effectiveness. Design: The objective is to identify broad diversity issues and understand their organizational implications. We contribute by qualitatively exploring differences in perceptions of diversity by conducting in-depth interviews with 46 managers working in different sectors. Findings: We identify six broad themes: multifarious experience, mindset versus characteristics, managerial characteristics, prudent versus human strategies, few versus many challenges, and misconceptions about diversity that are likely to be useful in theorizing diversity issues, critical to organizations. Research Limitations: This study was conducted with one executive per company. Future research should include more employees of different age, gender, hierarchy, region, and religion from the same organization to crosscheck experiences and identify variances. Practical Implications: The discussion about broad diversity issues in India, and their analysis to understand organization challenges, facilitate management in developing diversity management strategies at workplace. Originality/Value: Although researchers have emphasized the value of diversity and equality management practices to firm performance, much of this research has been restricted to western nations. Despite its importance to organizational performance, very few studies have addressed diversity in India. This paper presents a specific approach that may be useful for top management to develop strategies to overcome challenges to diversity for better organizational performance.

Keywords

Diversity, Employees, Gender, India, Perceptions.
Subscription Login to verify subscription
User
Notifications
Font Size


  • Andrevski, G., Richard, O. C., Shaw, J. D., & Ferrier, W. J. (2011). Racial diversity and firm performance: The mediating role of competitive intensity. Journal of Management, 40(3), 820-844.

  • Budhwar, P. S., Saini, D. S., & Bhatnagar, J. (2006). Women in management in the new economic environment: The case of India. Asia Pacific Business Review, 11(2), 179-193.

  • Cooke, F. L., & Saini, D. S. (2010). Diversity management in India: A study of organizations in different ownership forms and industrial sectors. Human Resource Management, 49(3), 477-500.

  • Gupta, N. (2017). Gender inequality in the work environment: A study of private research organizations in India. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 36(3), 255-276.

  • Eisenhardt, K. M., & Graebner, M. E. (2007). Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 25-32.

  • Haynes, M. C., & Lawrence, J. S. (2012). Who’s to blame? Attributions of blame in unsuccessful mixed-sex work teams. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 34, 558-564.

  • Heilman, M. E., & Haynes, M. C. (2005). No credit where credit is due: Attributional rationalization of women’s success in male-female teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 905-916.

  • Konrad, A. M., Yang, Y., & Maurer, C. C. (2016). Antecedents and outcomes of diversity and equality management systems: An integrated institutional agency and strategic human resource management approach. Human Resource Management, 5(1), 83-107.

  • Kundu, S. C., Mor, A., Bansal, J., & Kumar, S. (2019). Diversity focused HR practices and perceived firm performance: Mediating role of procedural justice. Journal of Asia Business Studies. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-02-2018-0032

  • Lakshman, C. (2015). Doing business in India: A framework for strategic understanding, Elsevier Publishing, UK.

  • Palrecha, R., Spangler, W. D., & Yammarino, F. J. (2012). A comparative study of three leadership approaches in India. The Leadership Quarterly, 23, 146-162.

  • Panicker, A., Agrawal, R. K., & Khandelwal, U. (2018). Inclusive workplace and organizational citizenship behavior. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 37(6), 530-550.

  • Ryan, M. K., Haslam, S. A., Hersby, M. D., & Bongiorno, R. (2011). Think crisis-think female: The glass cliff and contextual variation in the think manager–think male stereotype. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(3), 470-484.

  • Schein, V. E., Mueller, R., Lituchy, T., & Liu, J. (1996). Think manager-think male: A global phenomenon? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17, 33-41.

  • Sowell, T. (2002, March 11). Those who gush about "diversity" never want to put their beliefs to the test. The Enterprise, p. 22.

  • Thomas, D. (2003). A general inductive approach for qualitative data analysis. School of Population Health. University of Auckland. Retrieved from http://www.frankumstein.com/

  • Venkata Ratnam, C., & Chandra, V. (1996). Source of diversity and the challenge before human resource management in India. International Journal of Manpower, 17(4/5), 76-108.

  • Yin, R. K. (1994). Case study research: Design and methods (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.


Abstract Views: 508

PDF Views: 1




  • Employee Perceptions of Gender and Diversity in India:Do Men and Women Think Differently About Diversity?

Abstract Views: 508  |  PDF Views: 1

Authors

Sangeetha Lakshman
Adjunct Professor, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, United States
C. Lakshman
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, India

Abstract


Purpose: We seek to address a research gap by exploring individual (managers and employees) perceptions of a variety of issues surrounding diversity, in the Indian context. We focus specifically on how people perceive diversity and its influence on diversity management and its effectiveness. Design: The objective is to identify broad diversity issues and understand their organizational implications. We contribute by qualitatively exploring differences in perceptions of diversity by conducting in-depth interviews with 46 managers working in different sectors. Findings: We identify six broad themes: multifarious experience, mindset versus characteristics, managerial characteristics, prudent versus human strategies, few versus many challenges, and misconceptions about diversity that are likely to be useful in theorizing diversity issues, critical to organizations. Research Limitations: This study was conducted with one executive per company. Future research should include more employees of different age, gender, hierarchy, region, and religion from the same organization to crosscheck experiences and identify variances. Practical Implications: The discussion about broad diversity issues in India, and their analysis to understand organization challenges, facilitate management in developing diversity management strategies at workplace. Originality/Value: Although researchers have emphasized the value of diversity and equality management practices to firm performance, much of this research has been restricted to western nations. Despite its importance to organizational performance, very few studies have addressed diversity in India. This paper presents a specific approach that may be useful for top management to develop strategies to overcome challenges to diversity for better organizational performance.

Keywords


Diversity, Employees, Gender, India, Perceptions.

References