Psychosocial factors determining the creation of human capital through diversity management

Abstract

Intensive development of knowledge-based economy is making human capital building an important element in creating competitive advantage in enterprises. One of the challenges faced by the modern manager is demographic change, which is increasingly starting to affect specific companies rather than being just announced as a general problem. It is associated, on the one hand, with population aging, and consequently with an aging workforce, while on the other hand with migrations. The demographic structure of the workforce is becoming more diverse, which increases the need for searching new sources of human resources. This article takes up the problem of managing diversity, which is one of the ways of coping with the situation, and psychosocial factors in determining the effectiveness of its use in building human capital. Despite a number of advantages, implementation of diversity management may encounter a number of problems, not just legal or organizational, but also psychosocial. These include stereotypes and prejudices, including ethnocentrism, fear of change, comparisons and tension arising from facilities applied to addressing certain groups, lack of understanding of the benefits of adequate diversity management for all employees and misunderstandings resulting from unexpressed expectations which are part of the psychological contract. Therefore, implementation of strategies for managing diversity requires the manager to manifest high motivation, ability to sense impending changes, flexibility, but above all, accurate selection of staff and skills to support their diversity, in such a way as to make best use of their resources while ensuring good cooperation between them.