Pathology of Study the Workforce Diversity in Higher Education

Mokhtari, Soheial; Adli, Fariba; Ahmadi, Parvin

Pathology of Study the Workforce Diversity in Higher Education

Document Type : Scientific - Research

Authors

¹ Graduate of Al-Zahra University

² Faculty member of Al-Zahra University

Abstract

Workforce diversity is regarded as an opportunity for organizations to create innovation and knowledge, but different organizations look at this subject differently. The purpose of this study is to determine the challanges of workforce diversity in higher education from the perspective of academic staff in Tehran. The purpose of this study is practical and the data was collected in a mixed (quantitative - qualitative) method. In the quantitative section, statistical population consisted of the entire employees of Alzahra, Tehran, Shahid Beheshti, Kharazmi and Allameh Tabatabai universities in the 93-92 educational year (N= 6493) from which, using a random stratified sampling method, 363 cases were selected and tested. In this section the 40- item questionnaire of Adli(1388) on “diversity management ”was used. The validity of questionnaire was prooved by surveying academic experts and scholars. The reliability of the questionnaire using Cronbach's alpha was calculated (0.80).In the qualitative section the population consisted of experts in the field of diversity management, from which 6 experts were selected by using a purposeful sampling. In this section according to the literature and questionnaires findings semi-structured interview with experts on diversity management was conducted. For data analysis of questionnaires one-sample t-test and were performed by using SPSS software. The qualitative data analysis was conducted by means of categorization method. The results showed that diversity in higher education is undesirable which was similar to the results of interviews with experts .Therefore, it is recommended that in order to exit from the current situation, attention to four factors of culture, law, education and structure should be paid and major revision to the rules and structure of the higher education system should be made.

Keywords

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