Managing diversity in academic organizations: a challenge to organizational culture

The purpose of this paper is to look at the way higher‐education institutions are responding to the challenges of an increasingly diverse academic force and the extent to which organizational culture welcomes and values diversity, thus allowing the university to benefit from talented people with diverse backgrounds.

The study was conducted in a Portuguese university. Data were collected from 45 interviews with faculty members from different backgrounds and affiliations.

The organization studied is failing to promote equal opportunities policies and to manage the increasingly diverse academic workforce. Behavioural pressures to conform and parochial and inward looking attitudes appear to prevail. Values‐in‐use and artefacts seem to reflect the assimilation ideals. National origin came out as the key diversity issue. The integration of foreign academics is left to the individuals concerned and little effort is made to accommodate and to take advantage of their unique contribution.

The paper provides an in‐depth account of subtle discriminatory mechanisms faced by non‐native academics in a university that does not value diversity.