Effects of Managing Gender of Employees in Enhancing Organizational Performance. A Case Study of Kenya Ports Authority

Abstract

More than ever before managers are finding themselves at the center of managing workforce diversity as they align their business to cope with the fast changing business requirements and people demands. Indeed workforce diversity is top of the mind of business leaders who are keen to positively influence labor productivity and organization success. This is because they see diversity as a significant business risk whose constraints impact the growth and profitability of their organization. Besides a huge percentage of the global Chief Executive Officers expect significant change in the way their organizations manage workforce diversity. This change is expected to go beyond the generally held believe that diversity management deals with fair employment to strategic consideration of the broad effects and hidden potentials of diversity. The aim of this research was to explore the effects of managing gender diversity to enhance organizational performance. This study was a descriptive research. Data was collected from sixty employees of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) which is a profit making public institution in Kenya. Theoretical model and hypothesis in this study were tested using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS). The results indicated that gender, age and marital status greaty impact on organization performance and success. In addition the study recommended that KPA should recruit a more diverse workforce as it will result to improved synergy in decision making, better understanding of customer’s needs, and increased flexibility in staffing. This should however be reinforced through well formulated human resource policies and practices.

Key Words: Gender, diversity, organizational performance, workforce.