Diversity management and organizational development among private health providers in Kenya: a case study of the Nairobi Hospital /

Abstract

The development of health organizations is the ultimate goal for any country, especially in the 21st century. However, this is not always the case as health organizations fail to drive their mandate. TNH has been aspiring to attain superior performance and quality health care provision. However, the hospital continues to face organizational development challenges. This study investigated the effects of diversity management on organizational development with a special focus on The Nairobi Hospital, TNH. The study specifically examined the effects of gender diversity, personality diversity, generational diversity, and ethnicity diversity on organizational development goals at TNH. Two theories were employed: Social Identity Theory and Critical Race Theory. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design that utilized both qualitative and quantitative data. The study's target population was employees of TNH, comprising 50 in top management, 80 medical doctors, 137 nurses, and 250 support staff. Stratified sampling was employed to select a sample of the population for participation in the research. Subsequently, simple random sampling was used to obtain a sample from each stratum, consisting of 5 top management, 12 doctors, 36 nurses, and 120 support staff. Structured questionnaires and interviews were used to collect information from the selected respondents, with questionnaires providing quantitative data and interviews collecting qualitative data. Upon data collection, quantitative data was cleaned and entered into SPSS Software Version 28.0, where it was coded and prepared for analysis. The data was analyzed using statistical software for social science, generating descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics entailed frequencies and percentages. A pilot study was conducted at Nairobi Women's Hospital, and face-to-face and content validity were used to ensure the validity and reliability of the study. The study found that diversity management is crucial in organizational development, as the data showed that employees believed that diversity in gender, ethnicity, generations, and personality plays a significant role in organizational development in terms of client satisfaction, financial growth, and employee satisfaction and retention. From the results, the study established that there exists a strong positive and significant relationship (r = .641, P=0.000) between gender diversity on organizational development at TNH, Kenya. The findings show the correlation coefficient (r=0.597, P=0.018) indicates that there exists a strong, positive and significant relationship between generational diversity on organizational development in TNH, Kenya. The findings indicate that there exists a moderate, positive and significant relationship (r=0.504, P=0.026) between ethnicity diversity on organizational development at TNH, Kenya. Finally, the findings indicate that there exists a moderate, positive and significant relationship (r=0.504, P=0.026) between effects of personality traits on organizational development at TNH, Kenya. The findings show that organizational development at TNH, Kenya is 54.6% as explained by gender diversity, generational diversity, ethnicity diversity and personality traits while 45.4% is the variation due to other factors which have not been covered in this study. From the findings, the researcher concluded that there is a significant awareness and concern regarding gender pay gaps and disparities at TNH. The study concluded that a significant majority of respondents believe that age diversity is considered during recruitment and hiring and that retention strategies are effective across age groups. The study recommends that TNH should continue to enhance its focus on age diversity in recruitment and hiring while addressing the concerns of those who are undecided or disagree. The researcher suggested that further studies should be conducted on the effectiveness of diversity policies and programs in organizations and diversity initiatives related to customer satisfaction and encourage more studies on diversity critical approaches, discursive approaches, practitioner/consultant approach and diversity theories to build up more scholarly work in this field.