Bachelor thesis, 2009

1. Management and Communication in Multicultural Organisations in Latvia Vaira Avota Academic advisor: Mg.psych. Vineta Silkāne Vidzeme University College Faculty of Social Sciences Study program Communication and Public Relations Bachelor thesis Valmiera 2009

4. Purpose of the research and research questions T o query the management and communication of multicultural organisations in Latvia within their work with diverse workforce , possible problems and solutions What are the management and communication processes within multicultural organisations in Latvia and how the actual practice and experience correlates with the guidelines of diversity management ?

5. Theoretical insight I Diversity management incorporates organizational policies to „ embrace and leverage all employee differences to benefit the organization ” (Jayne, Dipboye, 2004:410). Business strategy, not only issue of human resources! Multicultural organization in terms of this research is defined as organization based in one country but employs people that come from other countries. Diversity - „a mixture of people with different group identities within the same social system” (Nkomo, Cox, 1996:338) Diversity management competency : „ Awareness and knowledge of how age, gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language, and socioeconomic status are crucial to an informed professional understanding of human behavior and clinical skills necessary to work effectively and ethically with culturally diverse individuals, groups, and communities” (Hansen, Pepitone-Arreola-Rockwell, Greene, 2000:652-653)

6. Theoretical insight II Diversity management aproaches : equal opportunity, affirmative action, employment equity, human rights and non-discrimination (Wilson, 2004:12) Advantages of diversity management : opportunities for growth, flexibility and adaptation in the marketplace for both the employee and the organization, increased organizational performance, use in public relations and organizational image, attracting and retaining the best talent, positive organizational climate, expanded diverse customer base, improved team work and communication. Diversity capital advantage refers to an organization’s superior composition of different demographic groups that can ensure the organization outperform its competitors in terms of the availability of a variety of knowledge, skills and perspectives. Diversity process advantage consists of superior problem solving and superior social integration and communication processes deriving from different demographic groups that can help an organization to execute operations more quickly, efficiently and effectively, and thus outperform its competitors. (Yang, 2005:4)

13. Vaira Avota Vidzeme University College Faculty of Social Sciences Communication and Public Relations study program Contact information: vaira.avota [at] va.lv