Meeting the Needs of Business: Assessing Market Need and Demand for a Graduate Level Diversity Concentration

AbstractThis paper notes current workforce trends and considers how future leaders will be faced with managing multi-cultural work environments. The authors discuss the skills required for future leaders and propose a graduate level diversity concentration for equipping graduate business students to lead the organization and workforce of tomorrow. With this in mind, a research study was designed to discover the relationship between students' perceptions and inclinations of pursuing a concentration within a Master of Arts in Management program while simultaneously assessing which concentrations potential and current students would desire. In order to evaluate students' perceptions, survey research was utilized to evaluate perceptions of current graduate and undergraduate business students towards three incentives (influence of job market outcomes, cost of required courses, and motivational factors) to pursuing a concentration. The goal is to statistically evaluate which construct is most responsible for students' decisions to pursue a concentration, and further to determine the interest in obtaining a diversity concentration from the students' perspective.Introduction\As we enter the 21st century, effective management of multicultural working environments has become an important tool for business improvement and success in both national and international organizations. Numerous research studies have demonstrated that diversity in the workforce can better position employees and organizations to differentiate themselves in the marketplace and create innovative solutions to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse customer base. Further, skilled diversity management can improve firm performance through increases in productivity and creativity and decreases in employee turnover. Consequently, an urgent need exists for organizations to hire and retain professionals prepared with the requisite intercultural competence and process skills to lead in diverse environments.One approach to meet this urgent need is to encourage business schools to offer a diversity concentration as an integral part of its curriculum. However, a study of business schools in Southern California universities by Helm-Stevens, Hunt and Wallace (2009), found only one institution with a diversity concentration and no institutions offering diversity degrees.Given this lack of diversity concentrations and degrees, a private tuition-driven university based in Southern California embarked on a study of demand for various graduate concentrations in its Master's of Arts in Management degree program. Specifically, a study was designed to discover the relationship between student's perceptions and inclinations of pursuing a concentration within the Management program while simultaneously assessing which concentrations potential and current students would desire. In order to evaluate student's perceptions, survey research was utilized including a sixpoint Likert scale. The survey consisted of twenty questions separated into three constructs and a section of demographics. The student population participating in this study was enrolled at the University during the Spring 2010 semester. The Office of Institutional Research at the University (2010) claims 4163 full time undergraduate students, 63% female and 37% male, and 1915 graduate students, 60% female and 30% male. The 101 subjects who participated in this research repre- sented current and prospective School of Business and Management graduate students. By evaluating perceptions of current graduate and undergraduate business students towards three measurable incentives of pursuing a concentration, the goal is to statistically evaluate which construct is most responsible for students' decisions to pursue a concentration. And, further to determine the interest in obtaining a diversity concentration from the students' perspective.We provide context for our study with a brief outline of the legal and demographic and market trends that motivated businesses to address diversity from a legal compliance perspective, moved to a focus on effective employee relations, and recently has become a necessity for those firms that aspire to success in the global marketplace. …