Diversity is in the eye of the beholder: Diversity perceptions of managers

This paper shows that the way diversity is considered will have different effects in an organizational setting. A pilot study has been performed in order to investigate the relationship between diversity perceptions and organizational performance perceptions by making use of the diversity typology set out by Harrison and Klein (2007) based on variety, separation, and disparity. However, this pilot study has several limitations and more advanced research needs to be conducted in order to show how diversity types can have different effects. The data were gathered by means of a questionnaire filled out by managers from various Dutch organizations (N = 291). The pilot study showed that employee diversity can have different effects in an organization depending on how this diversity is considered; for example, employee diversity considered as levels of status may have a negative effect, while employee diversity considered as different levels of expertise can have a positive effect. The way diversity is perceived by managers in an organizational setting can have important relations with how organizational performance is perceived by those managers. The paper implies to show that employee diversity can have a variety of effects in the workplace depending on how employee diversity is considered. This knowledge may help to increase positive effects of diversity in the workplace when managers need to deal with diversity and improve organizational outcomes.