The Overlooked Variable in Managing Human Resources of Iranian Organisations: Workforce Diversity – Some Evidence

The primary aim of this paper is to examine the nature and extent of equality of opportunities and diversity policies in employment in the novel context of the Middle East - with a particular focus on Iran. HRM and diversity management specialists argue that equal opportunity practices help organizations capitalize on the benefits of a diverse workforce in terms of reducing turnover and absenteeism, attracting the best workers, increasing sales and marketing efforts, enhancing creativity and innovation, and improving decision making. While such benefits might be true in the context of developed countries, we are critical of their existence in the context of less developed nations. The findings, based on a qualitative study of six cases across two industries, indicate that, in contrast to existing theories, economic evaluations such as cost-minimization of the diverse work groups are the major driving forces behind adopting equal opportunity and diversity practices in employment. Specifically, mutuality of matching the needs of the worker with the needs of the manager is seen to be a major factor influencing the workers' impression towards equality of opportunities and diversity policies.