Diversity Management is generally defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status (Etsy, et al., 1995)

Challenges of Diversity in the workplace include perceived notions, communication styles, and resistance to change. Diversity not only involves how people perceive themselves, but how they perceive others. Those perceptions affect their interactions. For a wide assortment of employees to function effectively as an organization, it is important to deal effectively with issues such as communication, adaptability and change.

Diversity is beneficial to both associates and employers. Although associates are interdependent in the workplace, replacing individual differences can increase productivity. In an era when flexibility and creativity are keys to competitiveness, diversity is critical for an organization’s success. Also, the consequences (loss of time and money) should not be overlooked.