Workforce diversity benefits the organisations in myriad ways amidst spate of challenges. In fact, organisations have made a business case for diversity, arguing that diversification of the workplace is a necessity for increasing workplace innovation and creativity (Cox and Blake, 1991; McLeod, Lobel, and Cox, 1996).
As globalisation is increasing, diversity will help organisations to enter the international arena (Cascio, 1998). The underlying idea (argument) appears to be that the firm will better be able to serve increasingly diverse customers, meet increasingly severe and diverse competitors, and deal with increasingly complex business and management problems by actively seeking and managing a diverse workforce. Organisations with a diverse workforce can provide superior services because they can better understand customers' needs (Wentling and Palma-Rivas, 2000). For instance, hiring women, minorities, disabled, etc. will help organisations to tap these niche markets (Mueller, 1998) and diversified market segments (Henry and Evans, 2007). It is believed that employers who hire minorities may increase their appeal to these markets (Hays-Thomas, 2004). Organisations that are open for women increase the pool of talented applicants, leading them to acquire and retain competitive workforce (Sabeen 2007).