Diversity management in German and Indian manufacturing companies

Abstract

Medium sized manufacturing German companies are expanding their operations to emerging industrial economies in India. As cross-cultural research studies involving German and Indian organisations are rare, this paper focuses on diversity management in manufacturing companies. The research explored German and Indian managers’ differences in perception of the diversity management practices in their companies. Sixty four German managers and seventy seven Indian managers employed in manufacturing companies, most of them in the automobile industry, responded to the Diversity survey. Conclusions and interpretations are based on both quantitative and descriptive analysis of mean scores whereas hypothesis testing was undertaken using Chi-Square calculations. The results of the quantitative analysis show no significant differences of perceptions among the two manager clusters and thus suggest, in general, the acceptance of the null hypothesis concerning diversity management in these contexts. Further qualitative analyses noted several trends in the perceptions of managers regarding diversity status and diversity related problems in the sampled companies. The findings highlighted that diversity is not viewed as problematic, although the managers’ perceptions regarding diversity climate and diversity management competences of their companies diverge to a certain extent. The study shows that these differences are of a subtle nature and not as deep-rooted as it may be assumed to be.