The impact of diversity management, management and work group practices, and human resource systems on job satisfaction and work group efficiency

This purpose of this study was twofold. First, to provide a method by which organizations can conduct a diversity management assessment and second, to create a statistical model of the relationship among human resource systems, management and work group practices and the outcome variables of overall employee job satisfaction and work group efficiency. This study was designed to test three hypotheses: (a) human resource systems, management and work group practices influence the degree of overall employee job satisfaction and work group efficiency; (b) diversity management influences the degree of overall job satisfaction and work group efficiency; and (c) diversity management, human resource systems, management and work group practices jointly influence the degree of overall job satisfaction and work group efficiency. It was the intention of the researcher to discuss and interpret the implications of the one model which best represented the data. A systems audit, the Workforce Diversification Survey, was designed to obtain baseline data on the current activities of a company's human resource systems and how the systems relate to diversity management.; Two internationally known corporations were recruited to participate in the study. A total of 964 questionnaires were distributed to a sample population of scientific, technical and administrative employees. Four hundred and two respondents returned the questionnaires.; Three path analytic models were created for each of the hypothesis statements. The general findings support the relationship among human resource systems, management and work group practices and diversity management. They also revealed the predictability of these variables with the criterion variables of overall job satisfaction and work group efficiency. The multiple correlation coefficients for the third path model indicated that it best represented the data.; One-way analysis of variance was conducted to determine whether or not the model had differential validity. The results revealed one unexpected demographic finding, gender bias. The model for male respondents was more accurate in making predictions than for the female respondents.