This document is a tribute to the American worker. It is the first document of the 21st century that demonstrates how we experience what we experience working in a diverse workforce. There are verbatim descriptions of what it is like to work in some of the most respected companies practicing diversity. Organizations will finally have a document that presents a starting place to managing a diverse workforce. Researchers have an alternative entry point to understanding this topic. Most importantly, the social dilemmas that accompany workforce diversity have been illuminated.
There is an ongoing struggle to manage, sustain, and understand workforce diversity in some organizations. This investigation interprets some of the historical, social, and theoretical perspectives associated with workforce diversity using a conceptual framework derived from social dilemma theory. That application enabled the researcher to test the feasibility of Schneider and Northcraft's (1999) conceptual archetype and employ a sequential explanatory strategy and interpret some of the objective and subjective findings associated with workforce diversity. The results of this mixed-methods inquiry expand some of the knowledge and meanings associated with workforce diversity. These discoveries provide both practitioners and researchers an alternative path in assessing the complexities and challenges this topic holds for modern organizations.
About the Author
Dr. C. Lamar Robinson is a veteran of the U.S. Army [1st SFG (A)]. He also spent over 8 years of service in a Fortune 50 financial services firm where he was responsible for training & development and total enterprise management. His research interests include training motivation and attribution theory in workforce diversity.
He successfully completed the Diversity Management Strategy Certificate Course offered by the University of Houston's - International Institute for Diversity & Cross Cultural Management; located in the C.T. Bauer College of Business; and completed the first professional development program entitled Diversity Analytics offered by the Center for Diversity at the University Center in the Woodlands, Texas.
His most recent work includes the "Diversity Research Science Series"; these investigations include both quantitative and qualitative analysis of workforce diversity. In these documents, Dr. Robinson shares his findings which examine the meanings and essences of the workforce diversity experience. He gives both descriptive and verbatim examples of how employees experience what they experience in a diverse workforce. Further, he offers a theoretical foundation for workforce diversity.
