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Workforce Diversity in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Is Social Identification Stronger Than the Business Case Argument?

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Managing Organizational Diversity

Abstract

Historically, workplace diversity has not been considered an intuitive practice. At different times it has been viewed as a moral issue, a legally mandated requirement, or as a combination of both. Today, workplace diversity is usually presented in terms of a rational and pragmatic economic advantage: the so-called business case argument. However, the implementation of diversity always takes place within a social and cultural context and raises question of self-identification and social categorization for those who are in, or who are coming into, the organization. Because of the numbers of employees involved, questions of identity and the impact of diversity are perhaps most acutely encountered in small- and medium-sized enterprises. This chapter considers the business case argument, the paradoxes associated with diversity, and the potential challenges that result when increasing shifts toward diversity are pursued in micro- and small-sized business ventures .

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of New York in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    David Starr-Glass

  2. Empire State College, State University of New York, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA

    David Starr-Glass

  3. P.O. Box 1154, 91000, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Starr-Glass

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  1. School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Carolina Machado

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    J. Paulo Davim

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Starr-Glass, D. (2017). Workforce Diversity in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Is Social Identification Stronger Than the Business Case Argument?. In: Machado, C., Davim, J. (eds) Managing Organizational Diversity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54925-5_5

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