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NAERINGSPH-Nærings-phd

Mangfoldsledelse i tverrkulturelle bærekraftige industriprosjekter

Alternative title: Diversity management in cross-cultural sustainable industrial projects

Awarded: NOK 1.8 mill.

Project Number:

322984

Application Type:

Project Period:

2021 - 2024

Funding received from:

In the competitive landscape of the 21st Century an effective diversity management is a key to success in global business through the concept of sustainable development, which has become a core part of the knowledge based economy and cannot be ignored in order to sustain in the market. It requires new ways of managing, knowledge development and collaboration where professional diversity managers should take all the proactive measures for using advantages of diverse workforce such as increased creativity and productivity, enriched collaboration and a higher efficiency in problem solving. Succeeding with managing diversity in the workplace, attracting and keeping talents from all over the world, can encourage individuals to share their knowledge in order to increase their performance in so many areas, such as innovation, creativity, multicultural competence and collaboration. Moreover it can increase employees productivity which can boost organisational performance in so many ways. At the same time, the ability to motivate employees to work more productively, to share knowledge more effectively, guidance and counseling of the diverse workforce are found challenging. Decision making, mentoring and leading of the diverse workforce became tough for leaders as well. A comprehensive understanding of cultural differences in the applicability of diversity management and presentation of strategic plans on how to use the benefits of the diversity of skills and perspectives are considered to be a necessary tool in order to achieve an effective transcultural knowledge distribution which may lead to success in adapting to the dynamic changes of globalization and sustainable development. At the same time when knowledge is not shared effectively and diverse working groups entail different beliefs, values and ways of thinking about why and how to provide distinctive information, it may cause implications on organisational performance on so many levels. More transcultural, interactive, empirical-based research is needed, as the literature with focus on the relationship between diversity management and knowledge sharing is scattered and does not offer a clear picture of this phenomena. For this purpose, the intention of the first paper is to find more evidence of the importance of effective diversity management in order to enhance transcultural knowledge sharing and show that it is a core aspect for diverse organizations in order to perform successfully. Additionally the aim of the paper is to move beyond the reasons why organisations/management should pay attention to the relationship between knowledge sharing and diversity management in their companies. The purpose is to investigate whether a performance measurement model can enhance knowledge sharing in multicultural organisations and how to use it with the aim of helping the diverse workforce achieve common goals in spite of different approaches, perspektives, ways of thinking and handling the problems. I consider this study to be useful and interesting from both theoretical and practical perspectives. The existing literature about the relationship between knowledge sharing and performance measurements in the diverse working environment is limited. Hence, the papers focus on implementing a performance measurements model as a diversity management tool for the development of an organisational performance can be helpful to close the knowledge gap on the link between these two phenomena. One of the most viable solutions for sustaining the estimated development in the world economy is found in the diversity management practice of the companies. The major focus of various field studies is the impact of diversity management practices on environmental and economical sustainability in society. While a social approach to sustainability with help of meaningful change in group/organisations/society accomplished by successful sharing of knowledge has become a completely new concept for many organisations. Limited literature on this approach makes it difficult for interested researchers and practitioners to find out the key principles of how diversity managers should succeed in cross-cultural sustainability projects. Having expanded the empirical findings about this subject the study aims to inspire a future generation of researchers to further explore the phenomenon/topic of Diversity Management.

Globalisering, internasjonalisering og økt innvandring påvirker norsk næringsliv. Spesielt i vår region opplever organisasjoner at arbeidsstokken i økende grad blir flerkulturell. Dette har bidratt til å styrke oppmerksomheten rundt behovet for mangfoldsledelse. For å utnytte potensialet som ligger i en heterogen arbeidsstokk kreves det, ifølge flere forskere, strategisk og bevisst ledelsesinnsats. Å lykkes med dette kan være en spennende, men en utfordrende og ressurskrevende prosess. Vår hypotese er at vi må gjøre mer for å skape forståelse rundt potensialet som ligger i samfunnets mangfold samt utvikle hensiktsmessige ledelsesstrategier for å tjene på muligheter som ligger i en slik fargerik kompleksitet. Vårt formål er derfor å utvikle kunnskap og innsikt i ledelsestilnærminger slik at flerkulturelle arbeidsfellesskap kan gi gevinster i form av økt innovasjon, kreativitet og tverrkulturell kompetanse. A finne ut hvordan mangfoldsledere tilrettelegger sin måte å jobbe på for å fremme og fasilitere for innovasjon i deres organisasjoner er nyttig både i samfunns-og organisasjonsteoretiske konteksten. Økt kunnskap om mangfoldsledelse kan bidra til målrettet rekruttering av ansatte med ulik kulturell bakgrunn, integrering og effektivisering av arbeidsflyt på flerkulturelle arbeidsplasser i Trøndelag (og Norge forøvrig) og internasjonale prosjekter ledet av norske aktører. Virksomheter opplever at arbeidsstokken i økende grad blir flerkulturell, noe som har bidratt til å styrke oppmerksomheten rundt behovet for mangfoldsledelse.

Funding scheme:

NAERINGSPH-Nærings-phd