Bangladesh University of Professionals

Thesis Proposal on
Managing cultural diversity to increase workplace productivity

Submitted to

Dr. Md Arifur Rahman

Professor
Department of BA in Management Studies
Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP)

Submitted by

MD. AL-Mahmud
ID: 2123032080
Batch: 27th, EMBA
Section: B
E-mail:almahmud143bup@gmail.com

st
Submitted on 1 , April 2 0 2 3
1 April, 2023
Dr. Md. Arifur Rahman
Professor
MBA Professional
Bangladesh University of Professional
Subject: Submission of Thesis paper on “Managing cultural diversity to increase workplace
productivity”.

Dear Sir,
With due respect, I, the graduate student of (MBA Professional, 27th Batch) has propose to
conduct my thesis on “Managing cultural diversity to increase workplace productivity”.

I am planning to start primary research on the thesis topic. I assure you that the thesis will be done
in a clean manner under the guidance of the instructions. I request your kind excuse for the
mistakes that may take place in this paper instead of my best effort.
Sincerely

………………………
Md. AL-Mahmud
Roll 2123032080
MBA Professional
Business Administration

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Table of Contents

Abstract ......................................................................................................................4
Introduction ................................................................................................................4
Conceptual framework and hypothesis development ................................................5
Challenges and benefits of managing cultural diversity ............................................6
Research Objective ....................................................................................................7
Research Question......................................................................................................7
Literature Review .......................................................................................................7
Theoretical and Conceptual frame .............................................................................8
Research Gap .............................................................................................................9
Methodology ............................................................................................................10
Expected Findings ....................................................................................................10
Bibliography.............................................................................................................12

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 Managing cultural diversity to increase workplace productivity

Abstract
A culturally diverse organization surrounds from different cultural backgrounds. According to
(Hofstede, 1999) (luijters, van der Zee, & Otten, 2008). Cultural backgrounds are mainly
characterized by their values. Nowadays, for the tremendous innovation of new technologies
especially in information and transportation sector increase the cultural diversity in different
industries. In Bangladesh, it perceived as homogenous in nature but in terms of religion,
ethnicity, linguistic and language. There are some differences and assumed that the majority of
the groups have the significant effect on workplace and the outcomes. In 21st century and after
the pandemic people are now, more involved in globalization process. To compete in global
economic market, companies have to manage the diversity in the workplace to do better in
future. How much effectively we can manage the cultural diversity inside of the organization and
the wings related to the organization have impact on the work environment and ultimately our
main goal to achieve better workplace productivity.

Introduction
Managing cultural diversity is becoming increasingly important in today's globalized and
interconnected world. In a diverse workplace, employees bring unique experiences, perspectives,
and ideas to the table, which can lead to increased innovation, creativity, and productivity.
However, managing diversity also requires addressing potential cultural barriers and creating an
inclusive environment those values and respects differences.

To increase productivity through effective management of cultural diversity, organizations need

to implement strategies that promote diversity and inclusion. For example, organizations can
provide diversity and inclusion training for employees and managers to help them understand
different cultures, customs, and communication styles. They can also establish employee
resource groups that provide support and opportunities for employees to connect and engage
with each other.

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Furthermore, organizations can take steps to address unconscious bias in hiring and promotion
practices, such as by implementing blind recruitment processes or using diverse hiring panels.
Organizations can also provide flexible work arrangements to accommodate different cultural
needs, such as flexible scheduling for religious observances or remote work options for
employees with caregiving responsibilities.

In addition to these strategies, it is important for organizations to foster an inclusive culture that
values and respects differences. This can be achieved by creating policies and practices that
promote diversity and inclusion, such as promoting diverse representation in leadership positions
and incorporating diversity and inclusion metrics into performance evaluations.

Overall, managing cultural diversity is essential for increasing productivity in today's globalized
workplace. By implementing strategies that promote diversity and inclusion and fostering an
inclusive culture, organizations can tap into the full potential of their diverse workforce and gain
a competitive advantage in the global market.

Conceptual framework and hypothesis development

The study will propose the following conceptual framework which shows the

Relationship between the dependent and independent variables.

H1: Cross Cultural team building.

H2: Diversify the policies according to the diversity of the organization.

H3: different cultural backgrounds and the ability to adapt to different styles of communication,
behavior, and values.

H4: Organige different types of trainings for the employees to understand and adopt the cultural
diversity in the organization.

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 Cross Cultural Diversity of
team building policies and
Practices

Managing
cultural
diversity to
increase
workplace
productivity

communication Organize cross

cultural trainings

Challenges and benefits of managing cultural diversity

Challenges of Managing Cultural diversity

1. Stereotypes and biases
2. Lack of understanding
3. Ineffective management
4. Resistance to change
5. Different work ethics

Benefits of Managing Cultural diversity

1. Employee turnover rate will decrease and also the satisfaction level will increase. If we
can manage the differences among the employees of an organization and convert that in a
positive direction it will make positive impact overall all the employees.
2. A better workplace human environment. Where everyone is comfortable, feel secure, and
consider a part of the company that ensures the better workplace culture.
3. Increased creativity and innovation: A diverse workforce brings together people with
different perspectives, experiences, and skills. This diversity can foster creativity and

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 innovation as individuals bring their unique viewpoints to problem-solving and decision-
making.
4. Increased market reach: A diverse workforce can help the organization to better
understand and reach different markets. With employees who come from different
backgrounds and speak different languages, the organization can develop a better
understanding of cultural nuances and preferences that are important in different regions.

Research Objective
1. To explore the relationship between managing cultural diversity & workplace
productivity.
2. To examine the mediating relationship of work environment between managing
cultural diversity & workplace productivity
3. To explore the challenges of managing diversity in Bangladesh.
4. To analyze the prevailed strategy for managing cultural diversity.

Research Question
1. What is the connectivity between managing cultural diversity & workplace
productivity?
2. What type of mediating relationship of work environment between managing cultural
diversity & workplace productivity?
3. What are the challenges to manage cultural diversity in an organization face belongs
to Bangladesh?
4. What are the prevailed strategies for managing cultural diversity?

Literature Review
Diversity is critical predictor of employee behavior and outcome

After 1950s diversity was introduced on the work sector in United States. IBM is one of the
mostly diverse companies in USA in 1953. (I.Amaram, 2007) In 21st century diversity is not just
a matter of choice, it is now the requirements by law and the part of an organizational strategy, in
some research and theories, researcher mentioned cultural diversity in a positive way in

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organization and on the other side some organizations face consequences for not properly uses
diversity and manage the workforce. Joel; Augustus Daddlie(2015): Mismanaged diversity can
cause employee dissatisfaction which can affect productivity, leading a lower job performance.
(B.Santhiya, 2020) The impacts of cultural diversity are new idea generation in organization,
wisdom, flexibility and conflicts as well. So in the previous research we saw different aspects of
cultural diversity, some organization take it positively and some are not. But the matter is if
organization wants or not the diversity of employees will still be existing. So in this research
how we have to manage the issues regarding diversity, and how will it create impacts on the
attitude, behavior and outcome of a company we will explore it.

Theoretical and Conceptual frame

Social and labor relations have experienced significant transformations in the time of COVID-19.

In the cognitive diversity hypothesis based on the cultural diversity workforce aspects where
suggested that cultural difference between groups and the organizational members results in
innovation and creative problem solving. (Rashidat Abidemi, 2018) On the other side the
similarity –attraction paradigm and social identity theory expressed diversity have the negative
effect on groups and organizational goals. (Rashidat Abidemi, 2018) To ensure the better
workplace for the employees, industries have to follow the labor law 2006 and further revised
laws strictly for better outcome. The work adjustment theory that advised us to the individual
requires compensation for work performance and certain preferred conditions, such as a safe and
comfortable place to work. (Psychology, 2023).

Global Competence Model: This model was developed by the Association of American Colleges
and Universities. It identifies the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that individuals need to be
effective global citizens, including intercultural knowledge and empathy. (Association of
American Colleges and Universities. (2018).

Diversity and Inclusion Maturity Model (DIMM): This model was developed by Tariq Jan
and Sandra Watkins. It outlines a four-level maturity model for organizations to assess their
diversity and inclusion practices and identify areas for improvement. (Jan, T., & Watkins, S.
(2019).

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 • Level 1: Compliance - Organizations at this level have policies and practices in place to
ensure compliance with legal requirements related to diversity and inclusion. However,
these practices are often reactive and not integrated into the organization's overall strategy.

• Level 2: Diversity Management - At this level, organizations actively manage diversity

and inclusion through practices such as recruitment and retention programs, diversity
training, and employee resource groups. However, these practices are often focused on
representation and may not address systemic barriers to inclusion.

• Level 3: Inclusion - Organizations at this level focus on creating a culture of inclusion,

where all employees feel valued and supported. This may involve practices such as
unconscious bias training, inclusive leadership development, and the establishment of a
diversity and inclusion council.

• Level 4: Integration - At the highest level of the model, diversity and inclusion practices
are integrated into all aspects of the organization, from strategy and decision-making to
day-to-day operations. This requires a commitment from leadership and ongoing
evaluation of diversity and inclusion initiatives.

6-D Model

Geert Hofstede, assisted by others came up with six basic issues, that every society faces and
also the organizations. These Sis issues addressed at the name of dimensions of culture. Where
we talked about the cultural diversity among the organization, we should know about the factors
that define and determined the cultural differences from one another. So that we can handle the
multicultural workforce in an efficient way.

Individualism, Power distance, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, Long term Orientation

and indulgence are the six criteria’s’, by which we can understand and know about particular
groups of people’s behavior, attitudes and the culture they belong to. (Hofstede, 2011)

Research Gap
Many researchers have been found on my topic. But they are not directly linkage between the
cultural diversity increasing the workplace productivity factor, and how it also has impact on work
environment that’s why I choose this topic to remove the limitation.

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Methodology
This research will have contained both quantitive and qualitative data. This study will base on
primary and secondary data collection process. From primary data collection, we will survey total
of 400-450 participants, that included 200-220 different industries employees and 220-23
employees from the cultural minority groups and also the freelancers whose works count as
outsourcing. The data will collect using a well-designed survey questionnaire that will post online
for the different industries employees, employees from the cultural minority groups and also the
freelancers whose works count as outsourcing to provide their opinions concerning the reason of
cultural diversity and workplace productivity. For using these respondents will base on the fact
that employees from different organization, minority groups of people and outsourcing employees
possess the best knowledge and real-life scenario that can be based on establishing the current
nature of the cultural aspect situation of our country and also the workplace situation for different
industries and how can we reach to a better place in terms of productivity. For secondary data we
will focus of different researchers and authors publications about this topic and also the different
journals, conference papers book chapters also. For quantitive data we will go for different
websites and world data sites.

Data analysis tool will be Excel and SPSS. The results were presented in form of tables and
charts and consequently interpreted base on frequencies and percentages. This method of
presenting and interpreting results will apply for this survey since it helps to comprehensively
explain the narratives and opinions of respondents towards giving a more conclusive response to
the main research question of the study.

Expected Findings
Humans are now not the citizen of a single country; we belong to different countries development
and betterment. By the help of new technologies in the field of communication and AI, we are
called the global citizens. People from the different parts of the world now can work any
organization they want. The organizations are also wanted different countries and different
cultures citizens in their organization to improve the innovation and decision-making process to
sustain for a long run in the business. Face book, apple, Microsoft the giant companies recruit the
employees from different parts of the world. Employees from different parts even same country
from different cultures, make the cultural differences in the organization. Different culture has

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different norms, morals, ethics, behavior and working patters. These factors can affect in the
organization activities. If the employees have not the coordination, empathy, understating among
them, the goal to do better in the relevant business field will not be accomplish. In our research,
we focus on the fact that how we can manage the cultural diversity into our organization based
on Bangladesh to increase the overall organization’s productivity. In our study we will find the
real-life experience of the employees concern and perception in different organization about the
cultural diversity and how they handle the thing. On the other side based on the secondary
analysis, and models we provide some logical and effective solution to manage the cultural
diversity into an organization. We also make a theoretical hypothesis, where four major elements
mentioned that will manage the diversity and also the increase the productivity the Bangladeshi
concept.

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Bibliography
1. Psychology, D. o. (2023, January ). University Of Minnesota. Retrieved from
https://vpr.psych.umn.edu/theory-work-
adjustment#:~:text=The%20work%20environment%20requires%20that,and%20comfort
able%2 0place%20to%20work

2. (2022, July 22nd). Retrieved from workland: https://wrkland.com/blog/why-is-

the-work-environment-important-to-employees#

3. B.Santhiya, D. B. (2020). Cultural Diversity among the employees and its Effect in
Organizational Climate. International Journal of Engineering and Management Research
, 3.

4. Rashidat Abidemi, A. A. (2018, May). Managing Cultural Diversity at Workplace.

JonkopingUniversity .

5. Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimentionalizing Cultures:The Hofstede Model in Context. Online

ReadingIn Psychology And Culture , 26.

6. luijters, k., van der Zee, K. i., & Otten, S. (2008). Cultural diversity in organizations.
international journal of intercultural relations , 11.

7. Burton, J. (2010). WHO Healthy Workplace Framework and Model. Sw: WHO press.

8. Felicity Lamm, C. M. (2007). Is There a Link Between Workplace Health &Safety

& Firm Performance & Productivity? Massey University , New Zealand , 15.

9. I.Amaram, D. (2007). Cultural Diversity: Implications for Workplace Management .

Journal Of Diversity Management , 6.

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