Increasing diversity in management is good for productivity, a study suggests

Allana Akhtar

Racial diversity in upper and lower management results in greater employee productivity, per a June 9 study in the Academy of Management Journal.
Researchers Orlando Richard, María del Carmen Triana, and Mingxiang Li analyzed 201 high-tech firms' EEO-1 data — a federally mandated survey that requires categorizing employment data by race/ethnicity, gender and job category.
The report found that a 1% increase in racial diversity in management increased a tech firm's productivity by $729 per employee and a Fortune 500 firm's productivity by $1,590 per employee.
Additionally, the study suggested that firms with less diverse upper and lower management were also less capable of "making good business decisions, absorbing information, and obtaining a competitive advantage," HR Dive reported.
Read more on HR Dive.