Challenges of Managing Workforce Diversity at the Ministry of Mining, Kenyan Civil Service

Abstract

Diversity is a commitment to recognizing and appreciating the variety of characteristics that make individuals unique in an atmosphere that promotes and celebrates diversity. Managing diversity is considered important for every organization as it is a requisite component that a company needs to be able to manage and utilize its diverse workplace effectively. The objective of the study was to determine the challenges of managing workforce diversity in the Ministry of Mining. The study adopted a case study design. Primary data was collected from 16 respondents out of 17 respondents using a semistructured questionnaire and this gave a response rate of 94%. Data was analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methods. It was established that the Ministry has policies on gender and disability mainstreaming, training but none on ethnic inclusivity, age consideration and attraction and retention policies and the Ministry relied on the Constitution of Kenya 2010, Government circulars and Human Resource Manual. It can be concluded that the Ministry needs to have in place policies on ethnicity, attraction and retention and age consideration. The recommendations were that the Ministry should make diversity management, a strategic matter and each employee made to account for their involvement in diversity improvement programs as part of continuous performance assessment. Stakeholder involvement was found to be important. Challenges of managing workforce diversity are diverse and should therefore be addressed at both strategic and managerial level. The Ministry needs to drive all components of diversity at the same level and not to leave behind other critical components such as ethnic inclusivity, age consideration and attraction retention which were cited in the study as lacking policies.The Ministry is encouraged to have a more radical approach to mitigate the challenges related to diversity management. The study also recommends that diversity programmes should be proactive, adequately funded, top-management commitment for the success of diversity practices, capacity building of employees on diversity issues and stakeholders engagement. Further studies should be undertaken in other government ministries and agencies in Kenya to establish whether there is consistency.