CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

With an increasing globalisation, people from diverse cultures, beliefs and backgrounds are required to interact more nowadays (Mazur, 2010). For years, an effective diversity management has been utilised as a support and as a defence against discrimination (Shen et al., 2009). It became interesting to study diversity at a workplace, as the authors of this paper have noticed the growth of diversity over the years. Also, attending an international business school which consist of diverse community becomes another interesting factor to see how diversity is being managed. In recent years, diversity has become a significant part for the management. In addition, due to differences increasing in the population, diversity is expected to become even more significant in the future. People are now a part of a worldwide economy that involves competition from all around the world and therefore diversity is needed in organisations. Diversity in organisations is required to accept and adapt easily to change, and to increase creativeness (Shen et al., 2009). Furthermore, Shen et al. (2009) adds that diversity issues are becoming more important and a relevant issue, and especially for the future, since the differences in the population is increasing in many countries.

Every organization is influenced by the existing culture which varies from organization to organization. Corporate culture and reputation are intangible assets organizations use to create a competitive strategic advantage to differentiate themselves from other firms to enhance firm performance (Njugi, 2014). When you walk in different companies, one will experience a certain atmosphere, feeling, style personality, a charm, a feel that is unique to it, this as a result influences the way the employees relate to their clients. The employee performance would be considered as backbone for organization as it leads to its development effectively. The loyalty of employee relies upon knowledge and awareness of culture that improves behavior of organization (Brooks, 2006).

People no longer live and work in an insular market place, they are now part of a worldwide economy with competition coming from nearly every continent. For this reason, organizations need diversity to become more creative and open to change. Therefore, maximizing and capitalizing on work place diversity has become an important issue for management today. Ewanlen, Ogendengbe & Rebman (2012), posit that the way of doing things in one culture may not always be the same in another country. Hence, what is good in one culture may be bad in another. Ewanlen et al (2012). Further asserts that cultural differences do affect managerial
behaviour and practices such as planning, organizing, staffing and controlling. In line with this view Dasanyaka and Mahakalanda (2008) note that there is greater need to adapt to external and internal changes of organizational culture because it has become imperative today as the world is moving towards knowledge based economy.

Humans as social beings basically have the nature to socialize, work together, and need the presence of other humans. For this reason, the existence of an organization is needed as a forum that can gather or facilitate humans in socializing and working together (Abdullahi et al., 2021). Culture is the result of human creation that is produced and has been used as part of the order of everyday life. A culture that is applied and used in life during a certain period will influence the pattern of formation of a society. Because of that, it is not impossible to change a culture, as long as there is a strong will and enthusiasm to make that change, and the only people who can change it are the humans themselves (Fahmi, 2016).

Cultural diversity is a term that defines different aspects of cultural or ethnic groups that exist within the society. Cultural diversity focuses more on ethnicity, customs, religious, backgrounds, languages and nationality Whereas, diversity has a broad dimension such as age, gender, race, disability, maternity, ethnicity, religious, customs etc., where people should respect other cultures. Having cultural diversity in society is one of the ways to reduce any discrimination that may happen, especially at workplace. Moreover, cultural diversity leads to the success of the university if the diversity is managed in a positive way. In case the diversity is not managed properly, then it will reduce the morale and performance of the employee and will increase conflict and misunderstanding. Therefore, because of this, many universities pay great attention on how to manage and maintain cultural diversity at workplace. Many universities are encouraging to hire diverse workers that are from different nationalities, backgrounds, ethnicity and languages to run their universities more effectively, because having cultural diversity will help the universities to be in global basis, increasing productivity and innovation which can be done through teamwork.

Most organizations in their own perspective, adopt diversity at their workplace or organisation to become more creative and open to change. Increasing and improving workplace diversity has become an important issue for management in the recent years due to the recognition of how the workplace is changing. Since managing diversity still remains a challenge in organisations, managers tend to learn managerial skills needed in a multicultural working environment and prepares themselves to teach others within their organizations to value cultural differences and treat all employees with dignity. For some business leaders and managers point of view, diversity is a big challenge to them although it knows no organizational boundary and has no limitations.

Teamwork is one of the ways that leads to reduce conflict and misunderstanding and encourage others to be open to other cultures. Also, cultural diversity has many advantages for the people as well as to the university as a whole. It improves the knowledge and performance of employees, increase mutual respect of others, ability to speak different languages which lead to better universities reputation and students satisfaction. Besides, it increases the value of the university and job promotion. Eventually, cultural diversity should be managed properly to gain it benefits and respect other cultures and helps to reduce conflict and encourage people to be open and innovative.

Diversity or heterogeneity, in its broadest sense, is considered a double-edged sword, because it increases the opportunity to improve the productivity and satisfaction of the team members while at the same time increasing the probability that they will be dissatisfied and unable to identify with the team (Milliken & Martins, 1996). However, the diversity of a team can be considered and analyzed from many variables (Bell, 2007): surface-level composition variables, such as age, gender, education, religion; and deep- level composition variables, such as personality factor, individual values, and national values.

Valuing and as well as managing diversity is a key element for an effective people management, which in turn can improve workplace productivity (Mazur, 2010). Internationalisation of business, growing workforce flexibility, world market development and increasing the awareness of diverse individuals, results in how diversity management can take advantage of the increasing multiculturalism. In this regard, multiculturalism is a process where different culture or groups have same rights and opportunities and no one is considered unimportant. By having an equality in a workforce, leads to an organisation that can attract and maintain a qualified workforce.

One of the main challenges facing organizations is having committed and competent employees, who give of their best towards the achievement of organizational objectives. Andrew (2017), asserts that when a bond is developed between employees and the organization, employees will perform better as they are more committed, and this commitment is important for organizations to remain competitive. Tompos and Ablonczy-Mihályka (2018) claimed that studying culture in the workplace has become relevant, due to the fact that culture within organizations has become common. Today’s competitive business environment, creating a positive and strong culture has become the main focus of the company to improve employee performance (Jufrizen et al., 2021). A strong organizational culture can significantly affect employee performance. Employees who feel connected to a positive organizational culture and in line with their personal values tend to be more actively involved in their work, have high levels of job satisfaction, and contribute productively to achieving organizational goals. Busro (2018) stated that performance is a work result achieved by employees both individually and in groups in an organization. Employee performance is the work of employees in fulfilling obligations in accordance with their duties and responsibilities (Kustono, 2020). This is following the organization’s authority and responsibility to achieve their vision, mission, and goals, including the ability, perseverance, and independence within the time limit, which does not violate the law, and in accordance with morals and ethics.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Employees are seen as part of an organization that are involved in the organization day-to-day actions to ensure that the organization continue to survive or exist (Abdullahi et al., 2020). Wambugu (2014) claimed that employees are vital component of an organization, and organization success depends on employee performance (EP). It cannot be overstated that workers are the main thrust of every organization since they manage any other factors that keeps it running. Cultural diversity has been identified as an important intangible. Organisations globally are faced with challenges that require developing their capability to sustain and overcome the forces and factors that affect their performance and gaining competitive advantage by the developing a culture of sustainability and success. Culture is a concept with different meaning to different people which embraces almost all factors process and behaviour, and it also influences preferences, decisions and general perspective about the world considering the fact, that most human behaviors are not innate but learned and acquired in an environment over time and it is also combination of tangible and intangible attributes which influence and shape personality and behaviour over time (Adegbite, 2018).

As the importance of productivity in the university’s context increases, Universities invest large resources in improving the skills and aptitudes of their workers. By so doing, other aspects of the work environment that affect a worker’s performance are relegated to positions of insignificance with little or no regard as to their impact on workers morale and efficiency. Hence, the existence of cultural differences in the work place, Universities still concentrate on human capital development activities that do not incorporate the need to address the issues of cultural diversity. It points out that, countless studies have been conducted on work place diversity. This study is provoked by the gap left unfilled by a substantial number of research works that has been conducted on workplace diversity and its significance on the corporate culture. In recent years Diversity Management and workforce diversity have been substantial and as such have forced companies to embrace these concepts in their companies with the aim of increasing productivity and profit. This forced integration has created divergence and uncertainty in the workforce, as management is not skilled enough to control the concept of diversity management and its ethics, and so managers are finding it difficult to effectively practice diversity management, which in turn has become an albatross on their neck

According to Cox (1994), there are many problems and misunderstandings occurring due to different cultural diversity such as: nationalities, religion, ethnicity, languages, backgrounds and customs. Which all these factors have an effect on workers performance and productivity. This work aims to review the role of cultural diversity on the ability of workers to retain high morale and produce optimally. The focus is on the staff of the University of Bamenda.

1.3 Research Questions

The main research question is: what is the role of cultural diversity on workers performance; case of the University of Bamenda, Cameroon?

The following specific questions are formulated to aid in this investigation. These include:

1. What is the role of cultural differences on workers performance; case of the University of Bamenda, Cameroon?
2. Is there any role employee’s belief on workers performance; case of the University of Bamenda, Cameroon?

• How does employee’s behaviour affect workers performance; case of the University of Bamenda, Cameroon?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to examine the role of cultural diversity on workers performance; case of the University of Bamenda, Cameroon.

Specific objectives of the study include:

1. To ascertain the role of cultural differences on workers performance; case of the University of Bamenda, Cameroon.
2. To investigate the role of employee’s belief on workers performance; case of the University of Bamenda, Cameroon.

• To examine how employee’s behaviour affect workers performance; case of the University of Bamenda, Cameroon.