Date of Award

1994

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Business Administration

Department

Business

First Advisor

Daniel W. Kemper

Second Advisor

Bernard Weinrich

Third Advisor

Joseph Ancona

Abstract

This thesis will focus on the changes that are occurring in the composition of the population of the U.S. - how diverse it has become - and diversity's impact on the U.S. business entity.

Research has indicated that the largest percentage of new growth in the labor market will minorities and women. By the year 2000 the workforce will become more heterogeneous from a race, skill and experience standpoint. With the population of the U.S. shrinking, the pool from which employers have to select prospective employees from is also shrinking. The issue is employer demand. Companies that strive to remain as they have in the past - majority white males- will find their pool of competent workers falling short of demand. The composition of the work1orce is changing in unison with the overall U.S. population and because of these changes there must be an adoption by managers and workers to deal with women and minorities, not only on a business level, but on a personal level as well. Through the next decade managers must, out of social and economic necessity, direct its efforts at the creation of a work environment and culture that will support these demographic changes.

Managing a diverse workforce is not easily attained, that is the problem that American businesses face and must resolve if they wish to remain competitive in a global business environment. Awareness about others is not innate it is learned. This educational process requires concentration, in depth listening, personal reflection and on-going interaction with others. Managing diversity is not affirmative action, it differs in that affirmative action is used to achieve a "quota," diversity is designed to get women and minorities in the door and up the ladder.

The purpose of this culminating project is to explore how the American business structure emulates society in its racial and social composition and how these business entities must work with a diversified workforce from a social and economic standpoint. It is hypothesized that managing and valuing a diversity is what is needed to educate existing and new managers on how to utilize what women and minorities have to offer and to assist them in their ascent up the corporate ladder.

As indicated by the majority of the authors studied and investigated, as the workforce grows into the next decade, it will become more female, more minority and more immigrant. Only fifteen percent of the new entrants to the workforce form 1985 to the year 2000 will be native white males, as compared with forty-seven percent in 1984. These changes mean that managers must adapt and change how they manage and value their increasingly diverse workforce. These results indicate that the hypothesis is valid and should be accepted and that what is occurring with regards to the composition of the business environment mimics what is happing to the overall population of the U.S.

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