Abstract
Abstract : The engineering industry in South Africa is one that has previously excluded marginalised groups of people. This has resulted in the industry being undiversified and leaving these people feeling disenfranchised. Diversity is a word that is increasingly discussed in boardrooms to eradicate this exclusion and invite the participation and contribution of different people into the industry. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential benefits of diversity on an engineering workforce. Diversity in engineering organisations is currently work in progress as managers work towards redressing the social injustices of the past and transforming their organisations. The main problems with diversity in the workplace is that it is not always considered as beneficial to the performance of an organisations. Instead, diversity in some organisations is seen as a numbers game that needs to be completed for the sake of compliance. The value of diversity is not noticeably understood and as a result organisations are not diversifying. This lack of knowledge on the potential benefits of diversity has contributed towards the slow transformation of the industry. Researchers have uncovered significant information on the topic of diversity. Diversity has shown to be beneficial and has a positive impact on the performance of an organisation. However in practice, diversity has disadvantages and can negatively affect teams and organisations. These negative effects require adequate diversity management by engineering managers, human resource managers and the organisation workforce at large. In-depth knowledge was attained from completing focus group discussions with employees of an engineering firm. The focus group discussions display the opinions and experiences of people in the real world of engineering, and their thoughts on diversity in the workplace. This understanding was used to develop a theory on diversity in the workplace and the reasons behind the slow adaptation and sometimes resistance shown by certain individuals. The aim of the development of this theory is to encourage engineering managers to overcome the struggles around transformation and diversity in the workplace. Overcoming the challenges through diversifying a workforce has the potential to improve the performance of an organisation. The social injustices that remain because of the legacy of apartheid can be confronted by understanding the value that lies with a diversified workforce.
M.Ing. (Engineering Management)