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This article reports on a study of gender and race issues in the regional office of a federal agency. After setting their own research agenda of salient issues, employees completed a long, closed-ended questionnaire; a smaller sample also responded to ten open-ended questions. The results suggest that men, women, and people of color in the agency do not share a common culture of organizational life; instead, each group organizes its experience in the agency in different ways. The authors suggest that a theoretical perspective in which gender and race are viewed as cultures provides a useful framework for understanding cultural diversity in the workplace and a necessary starting point for managing a diverse workforce.

In the changing demographics of American society, workplace diversity is today's reality. Organisations that refuse to recognise this fact risk failure in the future. Managing diversity is a business issue, not a moral, social, or legal concern. The challenge is not creating a diverse workforce, but empowering one. It is about enlightening managers to persuade a diverse workforce to raise its productivity by utilising all members to their fullest potential, thereby increasing profitability or effectiveness. Diversity refers not just to race and gender, but encompasses differences such as ages, merged companies, union/non‐union, exempt/non‐exempt, organisational newcomers and organisational oldtimers. The goal is to get the level of performance from a heterogeneous group that was formerly attained by the homogeneous group. Learning to manage diversity makes companies more competitive. In order to effectively manage diversity, organisational culture change is usually necessary.

Diversity, according to the Webster College Dictionary, is defined as: [a] quality, state, fact, of instance of being diverse; different.

The purpose of this study was to explore the diversity climate in a large teaching military hospital by assessing the perceptions of employees regarding the organizational climate, including aspects of the climate related to ethnicity, gender, age, physical ability, sexual orientation, and job level. All 3,176 eligible employees based in the medical center were invited to participate, 1,252 did so (RR = 40%). Participants were 37% minority, 57% females, 25% officer, 30% enlisted, and 45% civilian. Twenty-four percent were at the managerial level. Perceptions of the diversity climate were measured using the Diversity Survey Instrument (the reliability and validity of this instrument has been established in previous studies). Overall, 28% of the organization rated the overall climate as less than favorable on diversity issues; in particular, 16% rated the climate as less than favorable for ethnic minorities, 13% rated the climate as less than favorable for women, and 51% rated the climate as less favorable for people in lower job levels. Males had significantly more favorable perceptions toward organization climate, ethnicity climate, gender climate, and job level climate, than females. Whites had significantly more favorable perceptions toward the organization climate, ethnicity climate, job climate, and gender climate than non-Whites. There is a significant difference in the perceptions of civilians, officers, and enlisted staff members toward organization climate, based on salaries, with officers and civilians in the pay categories of 05-07 and GS 13-15, having the most favorable perceptions, and civilians in the paygrades of GS 5-8, W2-W3, WG 5-8, WG 9-12, and WD/WL 5-8, having the least favorable perceptions. Qualitative data also indicate that White males may feel left out or excluded from activities aimed at increasing acceptance of diversity in the organization. The formal overall diversity climate ratings on all dimensions measured are favorable (except job level and sexual orientation), but answers to questions about the informal climate reveal that there are problem areas that must be addressed. Such as, 45% rated the organization climate as less than favorable concerning hearing offensive remarks about women, 38% rated the organization climate as less than favorable for hearing offensive remarks about minorities, 81% agreed that some (employees) are given preferential treatment and 75% believe that favoritism is shown toward some job levels. Before health care organizations devise effective diversity management strategies, it is necessary to determine the diversity climate of the organization. Surveying employees' perceptions about management's current effectiveness allows an understanding of the needs and dissatisfactions of employees within different organizational subgroups. Using the results from the assessment of the diversity climate may allow for effective management strategies and policies.

Increasing diversity in the workforce has several sources: (a) the changing demographic structure of the U.S., (b) the increased importance of globalization to profits and long term survival in many companies, and (c) changes in the structure of how work gets done. People bring with them into organizations the patterns of behavior and thinking, the networks, the social pressures, the habits, and strategies of action that they learned before joining the organization. Further, people are shaped by the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of others in regard to them. Although many organizations in the past have tried to homogenize behavior and attitudes by developing their own organizational cultures, the reality in most organizations is the existence of distinct subcultures and microcultures, as each group tries to find its own place, often in competition with others. This volume of the Sociology of Work addresses a number of issues that are brought to the fore because of diversity in the workforce: the structure, impact, and mechanisms of social networks; the policies and political dynamics around trying to redistribute benefits among social groups; issues regarding work and family, especially for professional workers in male dominated jobs; and the link between diversity in the workforce and broader issues of inequality. This set of papers address many of the emerging empirical and theoretical work in the study of diversity in the workforce and create an agenda for future work in the area.

Powerful self-awareness activities and real-life case studies make this new information fascinating, practical, and easy to apply to the workplace. Seeing the world through the eyes of a person from another group is a potent process for shifting perspective and gaining multicultural people skills." ... an informative, comprehensive, and practical book. It is easy to read and is a must for everyone who is seriously interested in learning about and working more effectively with diverse people. I highly recommend it." James P. Grey, Centre for Organization Effectiveness, Inc. Norma Carr-Ruffino is Professor of Management at San Francisco State University. Author of the bestselling book, The Promotable Woman, and a well-known lecturer, she has made presentations throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. She has facilitated seminars and courses in managing cultural and gender diversity since the 1970s. As an entrepreneur, she helped to found and expand a chain of food stores. Her research has focused on helping organizations successfully compete in local and global markets by utilizing the talents of a diverse range of people. Shows how to move beyond stereotypes in order to forge powerful relationships with all types of people Highlights people skills that bridge differences and build successful alliances with people from diverse backgrounds