Abstract:

Diversity is a common theme in 21st century European society, the theory being that diverse backgrounds and cultures bring different viewpoints, once shared and considered, work to the betterment of all. To many, diversity is looked upon as a tool that is necessary for the continued well being of Europe as it embraces a competitive global economy. Education is a cornerstone of succeeding in such economy with educational institutions bearing a heavy burden to prepare students for an environment that is at least as challenging as any time in history. Because schools and universities create their own learning environments geared toward workplace competence, the belief is that diversity should play an important role in education.

Diversity should be a major concern in any organization, especially in the educational ones, and valuing diversity in all aspects (cultural, ethnical, demographical, etc.) of operations as well as with all participants (teachers and students) should be a top priority. With diversity comes differences, and with differences comes the great potential for new perspective, creativity, and expanded problem solving that can be important in meeting the demands of our complex and dynamic educational environments. The educational organizations that best understand and best deal with employee and students diversity are poised to achieve better results. In such organizations they may increase innovation, creativity and motivation of all participants, lower costs and negative employee and students’ attitudes, as well as increase group problem solving. In the paper, the emphasis is on employee diversity in educational organizations.

In the paper at first, the term ED (employee diversity) is defined. Then the ED elements, like various types of personality, values and attitudes of employees, their family issue, and demographic trends that employees should know in order to manage their ED in the educational organization successfully, will be discussed. Different ways and methods of ED management will also be presented. As the effective ED management influences organizational costs and employee attitudes, recruitment of human resources, sales, market share and corporate profits, group problem solving and productivity, innovation and creativity, the relationship between ED management and each of these outcomes will be explored, too.

Keywords:

diversity, education, differences, employees, organization.