Cultural values and diversity management perspectives : Testing the impact of cultural values on the diversity management perspectives in Sierra Leone, Germany and Finland

Abstract

Cultural values impact the attitudes towards diversity management perspectives. Therefore they convey critical opportunities and challenges that a country encounters, and which need to be identified for the successful implementation of diversity management initiatives. This thesis discusses the different diversity management perspectives and their motivations and rationales to diversify and the process in which the national culture influences the organizational culture practices. The impacts of Hofstede’s cultural value-dimensions on diversity attitudes are hypothesized and theoretical assumptions about the diversity perspectives for Sierra Leone, Germany and Finland were designed. These were tested by hand of qualitative data analysis in the respective countries.

This study contributes to the existent research by synthesizing the theories of cultural values and diversity management perspectives and finding correlations between them. Moreover the influence of each value-dimension on diversity approaches was identified. It was found that only the “colour-blind” and “access” perspective were implemented, indicating that only a business and profit oriented application of diversity was preferred. Moreover, a low power distance and low uncertainty avoidance were found to be the most supportive of a beneficial diversity climate in Europe, while high masculinity was the prevailing positive value-impact in Sierra Leone. Cultural values and the derived theoretical assumptions, without understanding of socio-historical influences, were found to be insufficient to explain the differences of diversity management approaches across countries. Nevertheless the values suggest certain difficulties a culture might encounter, regarding the implementation of diversity initiatives.