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Openness to diversity, trust and conflict in multicultural organizations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Jakob Lauring  and
Jan Selmer
Jakob Lauring
Affiliation:
Department of Business Administration, Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Jan Selmer
Affiliation:
Department of Business Administration, Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the relation between openness to diversity in terms of linguist, visible, value and informational heterogeneity and group processes depicted by group trust and group conflict. We collected data using a web-based survey among 498 academics in multicultural departments. The departments were located in four different Danish universities. We found openness to value diversity and informational diversity to have a positive association with group trust and a negative association with group conflict. Openness to linguistic diversity had positive relationships with group trust. The findings of this study suggest that openness to diversity should be highly prioritized by human resource managers in demographically diverse organizations. Possible interventions include organizational culture change programs, diversity training at individual and team levels as well as rewarding group oriented behavior.

Keywords

openness to diversitymulticultural organizationsdiversityacademicstrustconflictgroup involvementheterogeneitydissimilaritygroup processes
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 18 , Issue 6 , November 2012 , pp. 795 - 806
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2012

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