Impact of Diversity and Inclusion Within Organisations

The available evidence on the impact of diversity on individual/team/organisational effectiveness in organisations is inconclusive and mixed as to its beneficial and negative outcomes. The majority of the literature seems to focus on private firms; who have reaped business benefits from equality and diversit y, but not all firms, in all contexts, at all times. Knowledge about how, when, and why diversity and diversity management affects effective performance and organisational outcomes is limited.

The available evidence on the impact of diversity on individual/team/organisational effectiveness in organisations is inconclusive and mixed as to its beneficial and negative outcomes. The majority of the literature seems to focus on private firms; who have reaped business benefits from equality and diversity, but not all firms, in all contexts, at all times. Knowledge about how, when, and why diversity and diversity management affects effective performance and organisational outcomes is limited. The report aims to focus on diversity in terms of ‘protected characteristics’ defined in the Equality Act 2010, including: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Much of the available literature seems to focus on gender and race/ethnicity rather than the other protected characteristics.