Managing Workforce Diversity: An Antidote to Ethnocentrism in Higher Educational Institutions
This is a conceptual paper that reviews ethnocentric practices among employees and the need for the implementation of workforce diversity management in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The main objective of the paper is to re-emphasize how effective workplace diversity management can be an antidote to ethnocentric practices in Higher Educational Institutions. The paper highlights the introduction, capturing the various perspectives held by scholars over the years on workplace ethnocentrism and workplace diversity management. The Social Dominance Theory (SDT) has been discussed as the theoretical framework that underpinned the paper. The method used was purely scholarly publications. From the discourses, it is apparent that the prevalence of ethnocentric behaviours in universities weakens human relations, leads to conflict, prejudice, breeds bias, racism, hate, and increases the risk of holding flawed assumptions about people’s ethnicity and cultures. The paper recommends that universities implement and manage workforce diversity initiatives that are more tolerant of different behavioural styles and wider views among staff members. University managers and policymakers need to prioritise ethnic and cultural sensitivity and inclusiveness as core university values.
Keywords: Ethnocentrism, Diversity, Management, Workforce, Institutions.
