The effect of cultural diversity on employee productivity in work organizations in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

The thrust of this study is the investigation of the impact of cultural
differences on the productivity of employees within organizations.
Developments in science and technology have made it possible for
modern work organizations to have people of variegated cultural backgrounds working together as employees. This variety in cultural
background or cultural diversity creates challenges in the workplace which lead to conflicts and affect team work when not properly managed. This study sheds light therefore on how differences in cultural orientations can affect the productivity of employees and organizations. This usually arises because organizations channel most of their efforts to improving workers' skills and knowledge to the detriment of employees’ daily organizational experience, in terms of cultural differences. The quantitative research method was adopted for data collection. Chi-square analysis was used to test the hypotheses formulated and the findings presented and discussed.
The findings show that cultural diversity significantly affects the ability of employees to build or work in teams. This consequently affects their productivity. Since conflict arising from cultural differences wastes time and reduces employee morale, this study recommends that organizations should strive to create organizational culture that not only incorporates and enhances the cultural diversity of its workforce composition, but also enables employees to build relationships and acknowledge each other regardless of their differences of origin and background.

Keywords: Culture, Cultural Diversity, Employees, Organizations, Productivity.