Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs)

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Author: search.filters.author.Noge, TebogoSubject: search.filters.subject.Inclusion

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    Evaluating the impact of a diversity and inclusion committee on promoting a diverse workforce and building an inclusive environment at Beckman Coulter SA (PTY) Ltd
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Noge, Tebogo; Munkuli, Bongani
    Diversity and inclusion have long been a challenge in many South African corporate workplaces. This is a reality that stems as far back as the pre-1994 apartheid government, which implemented policies of racial and gender segregation. The purpose of this study was to determine how effective Beckman Coulter SA (PTY) Ltd's diversity and inclusion committee was at fostering a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive environment. To address this purpose, this study interrogated research questions centering around the understanding of diversity and inclusion within the company. The questions unearthed perceptions on the state of diversity, the inclusive nature of both the company’s leadership and the human resources practices, and lastly, the questions evaluated the impact that the diversity and inclusion committee had on employee engagement at Beckman Coulter South Africa (PTY) Ltd. The wide field of sociology guided and supported this research study. Furthermore, the study pursued a qualitative case study design with purposive sampling. The data for the analysis was gathered from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data was analysed using the grounded theory method. Overall, this study found that there has been a noticeable improvement since the appointment of the diversity committee. Moreover, it was concluded that the company is working hard to improve its internal diversity and inclusion position. The majority of employees were found to believe that the committee was effective in raising awareness on diversity and inclusion. However, this study also determined three main opportunities for improvement. Firstly, the black respondents felt racially excluded from the company’s promotion opportunities, top management hiring, career development, and also felt there were significant integration gaps. Secondly, it was noted that there was little modelling of desired behaviours and not enough quick wins to get the necessary buy-in of half of the research respondents. Lastly, the respondents reported a prominent culture of retaliation or no action when discriminatory incidents are raised