Diversity

In a business context, diversity is approached as a strategy for improving employee retention and increasing consumer confidence. The "business case for diversity", as it is often phrased, is that in a global and diverse marketplace, a company whose makeup mirrors the makeup of the marketplace it serves is better equipped to thrive in that marketplace than a company whose makeup is homogeneous. Another part of the business case is how well a company utilizes …

…it is important to create an awareness in the group about who has access to what knowledge (see work on transactive memory systems). Second, apart from information sharing it is important to foster debate: critically challenging and defending the unique perspectives of group members. With such deep information processing positive performance consequences are more likely to result (see Simons, Pelled et al 1999). Source: academic papers in Academy of Management Journal and Administrative Science Quarterly 1998-2005.