Diversity is an increasingly important factor in organisational life as organisations worldwide are more diverse in terms of the gender, race, ethnicity, age, national origin and other personal characteristics of their members (Shaw and Barrett-Power, 1998). Today, the workforce comprises people who are different and share different attitudes, needs, desires, values and work behaviours (Deluca and McDowell, 1992; Morrison, 1992; Rosen and Lovelace, 1991).

Thus, diversity, may defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status (Esty, et al., 1995). Put simply, diversity refers to the co- existence of employees from various socio-cultural backgrounds within the company (Wentling and Palma- Rivas, 2000)