EFFECT OF WORKFORCE DIVERSITY ON ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANIES IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Nigeria workforce especially in the telecommunication firms have been faced with several issues such as tribalism, regional identities, nepotism and discrimination both in the public and private organizations due to the different social background of their workforce. Therefore, this study investigated the challenges of workforce management and effect of workforce diversity on the performance of mobile telecommunication firms in Lagos, Nigeria. The survey research was conducted in a cross-sectional design. The study employed a structured questionnaire to collect primary data from the employees of the four major mobile telecommunication firms in Lagos, Nigeria (MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9Mobile). The study selected a sample size of 196 respondents from a population of 397 population. The study sample was selected using a stratified random sampling technique. The collected primary data was analysed using a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23. The data analysis involves the descriptive and regression statistics analysis. The descriptive analysis involved the frequency, mean, median and standard deviation was used to describe workforce diversity and the associated challenges in the mobile telecommunication firms. This was used to achieve objective 1 and 2. The regression analysis was used to analyse the effect of workforce diversity management on performance of mobile communication firms. The findings of the study revealed that workplace politics among the employees (Mean = 4.45) is the major challenge of diversity management in telecommunication firms. In addition, the result showed that Age, Ethnic and Education Diversity have significant effect on the performance of mobile telecommunication firms (P < 0.05). However, Gender diversity did not significantly affect the performance of telecommunication firms in Lagos, Nigeria. Furthermore, the result shows that diversity management has a significant effect on the performance of telecommunication firms in Lagos, Nigeria. Hence, the study recommends that telecommunication firms should implement a strategic plan that will foster better relationship among employees and reduce politics in work in order to enhance the management of diversity among employees and hence, improve their performance.