g., differences among workforce members, in terms of language; cultural; referential; or social background), may detract from it (Knight, Pearce, Smith, Olian, Sims, Smith & Flood, 1999; Jackson, 2003; Hamilton, Nickerson, Jackson, & Owan, May 2004)
Demographic characteristics and/or cultural diversity may contribute to or detract from high-performance teams, but these characteristics alone will not determine performance. They may, however, influence it, in combination with other factors, such as shared or common goals; shared values; group commitment and support, and group synergy (Jackson, 2003; Wilbur, 2005)
e., the San Francisco 49'ers controversial diversity training tape that was leaked to the press (Ryan, Sunday June 5, 2005)) painfully illustrates how management attitudes anywhere, with any diverse group of people in any occupation, especially vis-a-vis other groups of people, strongly inflect "accepted" or perceived "normal" workplace attitudes about diversity (be they positive or negative), potentially polarizing, not unifying, workplace group members
I will examine factors that, based on research and anecdotal evidence combined, may inflect corporate workforce compatibility or success, exploring both positive and the negative potential effects of demographic and cultural diversity on global and other workplace behavior and performance. In a telephone interview conducted by this researcher, on October 6, 2005, with a friend who is a human resources assistant manager at Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) based in San Jose, California, a recently-merged company created by the Hitachi-IBM HDD (Hard Disk Drive) company merger of January 2003, "[A lack of] enough good and clear intercultural communications is still contributing a lot, I would say, to lower than expected employee morale" (Sindai)