Essay --

The increasing number of strategic alliances in the era of globalization of business economy set a complex business environment. The current organizational landscape is characterized by inter-disciplinary, inter-departmental, inter-cultural workgroups or teams working towards a common cause. These workgroups constitute a key element for organizational effectiveness. Workgroup diversity has gained more scholastic attention off late in the wake of internationalization leading to people from different cultures, communities and other demographic socio-economic-political backgrounds participating at a common platform in the workforce. The last three decades, have witnesses significant legislations coming up in different countries as a growing number of organizations promote equality and diversity at work (Knippenber & Schippers, 2007; O'leary & Weathington, 2006; Dickens, 2005). Previous research studies have proved that group diversity may influence group processes positively as well adversely. Therefore the present attempts to answer the question regarding the processes that underlie the consequences of group diversity and how its challenges can be managed to exploit the advantage of the potential benefits. The effects of the changes in the workforce across the world are yet to be comprehended fully and the concept of diversity is still under different paradigms and meanings in both academic and organizational contexts (Franca et al. , 2010; Passos & Caetano, 2005; Herriot & Pemberton, 1995; Williams & O'reilly, 1998; Stahl et. al.2009,Syed & Murray, 2008). Appropriate management of diversity offers a mean to create a competitive advantage for organizations (Kramar,1998; Cox & Blake, 1991) as it is associated with advantages like bro... ...e suited for catering to the diverse customer group. The group of call centre managers interviewed in the study exhibited limited awareness regarding the issues related to the diversity management. Consultancy services may be engaged to gain a deeper understanding of the subject and to assist in the formulation of diversity management policies. CONCLUSION The goal of this study was to analyze the perspective of call centre managers on the issue of workplace diversity. It is clear from the procured information from the managers that the industry needs to travel a long road to embrace diversity as a source of competitive advantage. The industry is witnessing the increase in the diversity of customers and it can reap significant rewards from diversity management by tapping the increased capacity for creativity and innovation to cater to the needs of these customers.