Three Social Dilemmas of Workforce Diversity in Organizations: A Social Identity Perspective

• Published in: Human relations (New York) Vol. 52; no. 11; pp. 1445 - 1467
• Main Authors: Schneider, Sherry K., Northcraft, Gregory B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA SAGE Publications 01.11.1999; Kluwer Academic; Plenum; Plenum Press, etc; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Costs; Difference; Diversity training; Employees; Farmers; Group behaviour; Group participation; Labour; Managers; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Office supplies; Organizational behavior; Organizations; Performance appraisal; Psychological aspects; Self interest; Social identity; Social psychology; Sociology; Sociology of organizations and enterprises. Bureaucracy and administration; Sociology of work and sociology of organizations; Studies; Workforce; Workplace diversity; diversity; group processes; social identity; social dilemmas; Manpower; Participation; Organization; Personnel Management; Social Conflict; Social relations; Occupational Commitment; Specialization; Firm Management; Cooperation; Social Identity; Differentiation; Social function; Subordinate-superior relation
• ISSN: 0018-7267; 1741-282X
• DOI: 10.1177/001872679905201105

This paper explores the relationship among three social dilemmas faced by organizations wishing to attain and maintain workforce diversity: the dilemmas of organizational participation, managerial participation, and individual participation. Functional and social category diversity offer benefits for organizations (creativity, adaptation and innovation, and access to external networks), but there are costs which deter organizations from pursuing these benefits. The costs associated with organizational participation in diversity initiatives arise because managers and their employees perceive organizational conflicts and organize their interactions along social identity lines, so that temporal traps and collective fences surround diversity. Resolving the subordinate dilemmas of managerial and individual participation provides the key to resolving the dilemma of organizational participation. Social identity theory is used to understand the dilemmas and to develop possible resolutions, which should make the benefits of diversity more immediately accessible to organizations and society.