Relationship Between Diversity and Organisational Performance of State Corporations in the Coastal Region of Kenya

Abstract

Diversity is generally defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing & celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, and ethnicity, and gender, physical & mental ability. A state corporation is an organization formed and owned by the government to meet both its commercial and social goals and that they exist for various reasons including correcting market failure, exploiting social and political objectives, providing education, health, redistributing income or developing marginal areas. Diversity in the workplace should be a concern of every organization. In order to survive, a company needs to be able to manage and utilize its diverse workplace effectively. Diversity in the workplace should be a part of the culture of the entire organization. Valuing and recognizing diversity is imperative to maintaining competitive advantage. Organizations that promote and achieve a diverse workplace will attract and retain quality employees. The objectives of this study were to establish the level of diversity and determine the relationship between diversity and organizational performance of state corporations within the coastal region in Kenya. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. The population of the study was all the twelve (12) state corporations that are headquartered in the Coastal region of Kenya. The findings revealed that diversity is positively correlated to organizational of the state corporations. The results also indicated that gender diversity was more influential followed by ethnic diversity. The study recommends that the state corporations address issues of the other diversity dimensions such as special needs, age and education so as to improve their organizational performance