a

Diversity Management, Challenges andOpportunities in Multicultural Organizations

Patrick A. EdeworYetunde A. Aluko

VOLUME 6, NUMBER ()

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TIlE DIVERSITYhltp:llwww.IJiversity-Journal.com

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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DIVERSITY IN ORGANISATIONS, COMMUNITIESAND NATIONS

EDITORS

Mary Kalantzis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.Paul James, RMIT University, Australia

EDITORJ"!, ADVISORY BOARDlen Ang,University of Western Sydney, Australia.Samuel Aroni, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.Duane Champagne, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.Guosheng Y. Chen, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.Jock Collins, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.Bill Cope, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.Heather J\'larion D'Cruz, Deakin University, Geclong, Australia..James Early, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.Denise Egca-Kuehne, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA.Amareswar Galla, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.Barry Gills, University of Newcastle, UK.Margot Hovey, Curriculum Designer and Writer, Toronto and Montreal, Canada.Jackie Huggins, University of Queensland, Australia.Andrew Jakubowicz, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.Ha Jingxiong, Central University of Nationalities, Beijing, China.Peter McLaren, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.Joe Melcher, Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, USA.Greg Meyjes, Solidaris Intercultural Services L.L.C, Falls Church, VA, USA.Walter Mignolo, Duke University, USA.Brendan O'Leary, University of Pennsylvania, USA.Aihwa Ong, University of California, Berkeley, USA.Peter Phipps, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.Ronald Prins, Managing Director, Bos cn Lommer Ncighbourhood Council, The Netherlands.Peter Sellars, Theatre, Opera and Film Director.Michael Shapiro, University of Hawai'i, USA.David S. Silverman, Valley City State University, North Dakota, USA.MartijnF.E. Stegge, Diversity Platform, City of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Geoff Stokes, Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.Terry Threadgold, Cardiff University, Wales, UK.Mililani Trask, Indigenous Expert to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues for the Economic Council ofthe UN Assembly, Hawai'i, USA.Marij l1rlings, Dean, School of Health Inholland University, Amsterdam-Diemen, The Netherlands.Joanna van Antwerpen, Director, Research and Statistics, City of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Grethe l'an Geffen, Seba Cultuurmanagement, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Rob Walker, Keele University, UK.Ning Wang, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.Owens Wiwa, African Environmental and Human Development Agency, Toronto, Canada.

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Diversity Management, Challenges and Opportunities in MulticulturalOrganizations

Patrick A. Edewor, Covenant University, NigeriaYetunde A. Aluko, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria

Abstract: ll1e imperativeness ofthe multicultural olXwlization, with a diverse workfurce, in thef(lce ofglobalization is in­creasing(y being emphasized. As against what obtains in monolithic organizations, corporations are now accepting andvaluing a multicultural workforce comprising employees with diverse ethnic, racial, religious and gender backgrounds.This diversity necessitates adopting appropriate strategiesjur its management. Strategies/iJr managing such diversity inorganizations are discussed together with the impact ofmulticulturalism on organizational behaviour. ll1e challenges andopportunities posed by an increasingly diverse culture as well as how a manager can respond to such diversity arepresented. ll1e paper coneludes that it is imperative for employers and policy makers to undersland changing workjurcedemographics and the impact o{increasing diversity on human behaviour in the workplace.

Keywords: Cultural Diversity, Diversity Management, Globalization, Multicultural Organization, Organizational Behaviour

INTERt'JAIlONAL JOURNAL OF TliF DIVERSITY, VOLUME 6. NUMBER 6, 2007hltr//www Diversity-Jollrnal.col11. ISSN 1447-9532

C0ll11110n Ground, Patrii.:k A. EJcwor. YctunJc A i\luko, All Righls Reserved. Pcnllissions: cg-support(l;corllmongrollndpublishing.com

Introduction

CULTURAL DIVERSITY OR multicultur­alism and its effects on organizational beha­viour is not a new phenomenon, althoughthere has been considerable variation in

terms used to describe societies or organizationswhich include within their boundaries diverse cul­tures, ethnic, racial and gender groups. Historically,monolithic organizations, as opposed to multiculturalorganizations, have been created by many top exec­utives in order to attain their corporate visions andmissions. Such organizations are characterized byleaders who psychologically force the culture of theorganization upon their workers (against theirs).Ilowever, with globalization and the increasing needfor organizations to develop businesses and cooper­ation across their national boundaries, it has becomeimperative for them to solicit for a more dynamiccultural model. Corporations are now accepting andvaluing a multicultural workforce wherein compan­ies' employees include members ofa variety ofeth­nic, racial, religious, and gender backgrounds. Atten­tions are now given to the challenges and opportun­ities associated with the growing trend toward cultur­ally diverse workforces, which is a key factor inoverall business success.

Against this backdrop, this paper first examinesthe following concepts: culture/organizational cul­ture; diversity/cultural diversity; multicultural­ism/multicultural organizations. Second, it seeks toprovide answers to the following questions: (I) howcan a manager efTectively manage people and organ­izations of diverse backgrounds? (2) How can he or

she respond to new challenges and opportunitiesposed by an increasingly diverse culture? Finally,what are the implications of cultural diversity ormulticulturalism for organizations?

Definition of Concepts

We like to begin with the concept of culture. In orderto understand this concept in our present time, weneed to go back to its origin. Culture as a conceptexpresses an essential element within the classicworld, namely the way in which a man should edu­cate himself in order to be a successful and an excel­lent human being. According to Tylor (I 871), culture"is that complex whole which includes knowledge,beliefs, art, morals, laws, custom and any other cap­abilities and habits acquired by man as a member ofsociety". On the other hand, a 2002 document fromthe United Nations agency, UNESCO, states thatculture is the "set of distinctive spiritual, material.intellectual and emotional features of society or asocial group and that it encompasses, in addition toart and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together,value systems, traditions and beliefs (UNESCO,2002).

With this background, organizational culture is,therefore, the personality of the organization. Itcomprises the assumptions, values, norms and tan­gible signs (artifacts) oforganization 's members andtheir behaviours. According to Schein (1993),

the culture of a group can ... be defined as apattern of shared basic assumptions that thegroup learned as it solved its problems ofextem­al adaptation and internal integration, that has

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190 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE DIVERSITY, VOLUME 6

worked well enough to be considered valid andtherefore, to be taught to new members as thecorrect way to perceive, think, and feel in rela­tion to those problems.

In other words, as groups evolve over time, they facetwo basic challenges: intcgrating individuals into anefTcctive whole, and adapting effectively to the ex­ternal environment in order to survive. As a groupfinds solutions to these problems over time, theyengage in a kind of collective learning that createdthe set of shared assumptions and beliefs we call"culture". Therefore, simply defined, "organizationalculture" is an organization's values, beliefs, prin­ciples, practices, and behaviour (Foldy, 2003).

IJiversily. according to Thomas (1991), meansmore than race and gender in the workplace. Di­versity can refer to lifestyle tenure, position in theorganization, age, sexual preference, functional spe­cialty or geographic location. It is the human ditTer­ences that play an important role in the culture andoperation oforganizations (Brazzel, 1991). With thisin mind, culillral diversily is, therefore, the repres­cntation, in one social system, of people with dis­tinctly di fTerent group affiliations ofcultural signific­ance (Powell and Persico, 1995; Cox, 1994). Re­searchers have gone further to define diversity inprimary and secondary dimensions. Primary dimen­sions being age, ethnicity, gender, physical abilit­ies/qualities, racc and sexual atTection orientation.The primary dimensions shape our basic self-imagcas wcll as our fundamental worldview. Additionally,they have the most impact on groups in the work­place and socicty (Loden and Rosener, 1991). Thesecondary dimensions include educational back­ground, geographic location, income, marital status,religious beliefs and work experience. These second­ary dimensions of diversity affect our self-esteemand self-definition. Numerous studies have estab­lished that culturally diverse teams have difTerentdynamics than homogeneous teams (Williams andO'Reilly, 1998). These groups are broadly seen ashaving both increased challenges and opportunities:diversc groups often experience miscommunicationand disabling conflict (Shaw, 198 I; Tsui, Egan, andXin, 1995); yet under the right circumstances, theycan be synergistic and creative (Cox, Lobel andMcLeod, 1991; McGrath, 1984).

,'vluiliculillrulism is more of a policy response forcoping with cultural and social diversity in societiesand organizations. Inglis (1994) has noted that thereare three interrelated but distinctive referents of theconcept 'multiculturalism', namely, the demograph­ic-descriptive usage, the ideological-normative, andthe programmatic-political usages. The demograph­ic--descriptive usage occurs where 'multicultural' isused to refer to the existence of ethnically or raciallydiverse segments in the population of a society or

organization. It represents a perception that suchdifferences have some social significance, primarilybecause of perceived cultural differences thoughthese are frequently associated with forms of struc­tural differentiation. In the programmatic-politicalusage, 'multiculturalism' refers to specific types ofprogramme and policy initiatives designed to respondto and manage ethnic diversity. The ideological­nonnative usage of multiculturalism is that whichgenerates the greatest level of debate since it consti­tutes a slogan and model for political action basedon sociological theorizing and ethical or philosoph­ical consideration about the place of those with cul­turally distinct identities in contemporary societies.

Multiculturalism emphasizes that acknowledgingthe existence of ethnic diversity and ensuring therights of individuals to retain their culture should gohand in hand with enjoying full access to constitu­tional principles and commonly shared valucs pre­vailing in the society or organization. It has beenused interchangeably with cultural diversity.

In the light of this, organizations and societies arebecoming increasingly diverse in teons of gender,race, ethnicity, and are being charged to create themullicullural organizalion. Primary characteristicsof this kind of organization include integration ofminorities in all structural levels of the company,including management/executive positions; integra­tion of in formal/social networks of thc business; ab­sence of prejudice and discrimination; and a mindsetthat not only accommodates diversity but also valuesthat diversity. An organization which simply containsmany dilTerent cultural groups is just a plural organ­ization, but it is considered multicultural only if theorganization values this diversity (Sales and Mirvis,1984). This change in attitudes, strategies andmethods on differences and diversity has led to anew and emerging school of thought on how tomanage people and organizations as well as how torespond to new challenges and opportunities posedby an increasingly diverse culture. This is discussedin the next section.

Strategies for Managing Diversity inOrganizations

A combination ofworkforce demographic trends andincreasing globalization of businesses has placed themanagement of cultural ditTerences on the agendaof most corporate leaders. Moreover, literature isboth consistent and clear in demonstrating the powerand potential of the culturally diverse organization.The key to tapping the advantages of multicultural­ism and avoiding its pitfalls is to create an organiza­tion in which members of all socio-cultural back­grounds contribute and achieve their full potential.To achieve this, leaders face a dichotomy in main-

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/ tall1l11g a balance between meeting the object­ives/goals of the organization, on one hand, and re­taining the individual cultures of employees, on theother. However, since the goal ofdiversity is not justto identify people of different backgrounds, ratherto treat people as individuals - mutual respectbetween the various groups in an organization forone another's culture - this problem can be over­come.

Experts (Fernandez, 1993; Rice, 1994; Carnevaleand Stone, 1994) indicate that business owners andmanagers who hope to create and manage an elTect­ive, harmonious multicultural workforce should re­member the importance of the following:

Settil/K a Kood example: This basic tool can beparticularly valuable lor small business owners whohope to establish a healthy environment lor peopleof difTerent cultural backgrounds. This is becausethey are generally able to wield significant controlover the business basic outlook and atmosphere. Theleaders must exhibit strong commitment to address­ing issues like myths, stereotypes, and real culturaldilTerences, as well as organizational barriers thatinterfere with the full contribution of all employees.

Communicate in writing: Company policies thatexplicitly forbid prejudice and discriminatory beha­viour should be included in employee manuals,mission statement, and other written communica­tions. Diversity must be part of an organization'sstrategic business objectives. It should be a superor­dinate goal rather than a goal ascribed to individualgroups.Ji'ail/inK programmes: Training programmes de­signed to engender appreciation and knowledge ofthe characteristics and benefits of multiculturalwork forces have become ubiquitous in recent years.Two types of training are most popular: awarenessand skill-building (Cox (1994). The former intro­duces the topic of managing diversity and generallyincludes information on workforce demographics,the meaning of diversity and exercises to get parti­cipants thinking about relevant issues and raisingtheir own self-awareness. The skill-building trainingprovides more specific infonnation on cultural normsof different groups and how they may affect workbehaviour. New employee orientation programmesare also ideal for introducing workers to the com­pany's expectations regarding treatment of fellowworkers, whatever their cultural or ethnic back­ground.

l<ecognize individual d{fferences: There are vari­ous dimensions around which difTerences in humanrelationships may be understood. These include suchfactors as orientation towards authority; acceptanceof power inequalities; desire for orderliness andstructure; the need to belong to a wider social group,etc. Differences should not be assumed to be cultural

PATRICK A. EDEWOR, YETUNDE A. ALUKO 191

alone. Other sources are personality, aptitude orcompetence (Goffee, 1997).

Actively seek inputji'Oll/ minority W'oups: Solicit­ing the opinions and involvement of minority groupson important work committees, etc., is beneficial notonly because of the contributions that they can make,but also because such overtures confinn that theyare valued by the company. There must be an im­provement in its supply of diverse workers throughaggressive recruiting. It must break the "glass ceil­ing" and increase the number of women and minor­ities in the management levels through career devel­opment, mentoring, and executive appointment. Itmust empower all of its employees to use their fullcapacity (Schauber, 200 I).

Revamp reward systems: An organization's per­formance appraisal and reward systems should rein­lorce the importance of elTective diversity manage­ment (Cox, 1994).

Make roomfor social events: Company sponsoredsocial events - picnics, softball games, volleyballleagues, bowling leagues, Christmas parties, etc ­can be tremendously useful in getting members ofdifferent ethnic and cultural backgrounds togetherand providing them with opportunities to learn aboutone another.

Nexible work environment: Cox (1994) indicatedthat flexible work environments- which he charac­terized as a positive development for all workers ­could be particularly beneficial to people from non­traditional cultural backgrounds because their ap­proaches to problems are more likely to be dilTerentfrom past norms.

Continuous monitoring: Experts recommend thatbusiness owners and managers establish and maintainsystems that can continually monitor the organiza­tion's policies and practices to ensure that it contin­ues to be a good environment for all employees.Jorgensen (1993) further opines that this should in­clude research into employees needs through periodicattitude surveys.

From the foregoing, it can be seen that diversitypresents challenges to business leaders who mustmaximize the opportunities that it presents whileminimizing its costs. The question, therefore, is whatare the impacts of diversity and multiculturalism onorganizational behaviour? To this we turn in the nextsection.

Impact of Diversity and Multiculturalismon Organizational Behaviour

There have been so many changes in the culturalmake-up oforganizations that it becomes imperativetor leaders to understand cultural diversity and howit can affect or impact their organization. The effectsare complex and very powerful. To identify and

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192 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE DIVERSITY, VOLUME 6

measure these efTects, it is necessary to examine anorganization's culture. As shown in our earlierdefinition, organizational culture encompasses val­ues, beliefs, principles, practices, and behaviours ofthe organization's members. However, becausemembers are of various backgrounds and possessdifTerent attitudes, values and norms, this has resultedin distinctions in their attitudes and performance atwork (Cox, Lobel, and McLeod, 1991).

One area of cultural differences researched extens­ively is the contrast between individualism and col­lectivism. Compared to individualist cultures, collect­ivist cultures emphasize the needs of the group, socialnOlms, shared beliefs and cooperation with groupmembers (White, 1999). People from cultures thatview relationships in terms of hierarchy prefer highlystructured teams. On the other hand, those from cul-

tures that see relationships in temlS of groups wantteamwork to be the norm, while those from culturesthat emphasize the individual, feel most comfortablewith voluntary and infonnal teams. Mixing theseculture types will have significant impact on an or­ganization.

Cox (1994) has provided a conceptual model (Fig.I) showing the impact of diversity on an organiza­tion. He ties together his research and uses informa­tion on gender, racio-ethnicity, nationality, age andother areas ofdiversity like job function, backgroundand values, to create this model. However. the modelignores how the individual identifies with the cultureof the group. It proposes that the impact ofdiversityon an organization is an interaction of the environ­ment and individuals.

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Fig. I: Interactional Model of the Impact of Diversity on Individual Career Outcomes and Organizational Ef­fectiveness, Source: Loden, M. and J. B. Rosener (199 I),

Workforce In /lmerica: ,'vlanaging Fmployee Diversity as (J Vilal Resource, Homeward: Business One Irwin.

The logic of the model shows that a person's groupaffiliations such as age, gender and race can be ana­lyzed on three levels: individual, group/inter-groupand organizational. These collectively will definethe diversity climate of the organization. This climatemay influence individual and organizational out­comes as either affective outcomes or achievementoutcomes. These individual outcomes may influenceorganizational factors such as work quality and pro­ductivity (Cox, 1994).

Additionally, a set of individual, group and organ­izational factors interact to influence a set of individu­al outcomes that in turn influence organizationaloutcomes. Cox (1994) defines affective outcomes as"how people feel and think about their jobs and theiremployers ....What people believe about their oppor­tunities in the work environment is of vital impol1­ance regardless of whether or not these beliefs areconsistent with the facts". Ifan individual feels val­ued by the organization, he/she will contribute moreto meeting the goals of the organization. Achieve-

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ment outcomes are the "tangible measures that are,at least theoretically, indexes of the employee'scontribution to the organization" (Cox, 1994). Thesecan include performance ratings and promotion rates.Therefore, according to the model, by understandingthe diversity climate we can predict elTects on indi­vidual outcomes and, ultimately, efTects of diversityon organizational elTectiveness.

There are direct effects of diversity on organiza­tions. Processes such as problem solving, creativityand communications will be affected by diversity.These processes are critical to any organization anddiversity can either complement these processes orprovide challenges to overcome. This is reflected inCox's model by the arrow that extends from the di­versity climate to the organizational outcome.

Problem solving in a diverse group will providedifferent perspectives, provide more critical analysesof the alternatives, and lower the probability ofgroupthink (Cox, 1994). It is necessary for the groupto understand the differences of the other membersof the group; otherwise, the group may have conflictsin trying to solve problems. Creativity may also beenhanced by a diverse group. Nevertheless, the con­tributions ofall members must be recognized so thatindividuals will want to share their creative ideaswith the group. Finally, communications can posean obstacle to a diverse group. Communication dif­ferences related to culture may become the sourceof misunderstandings and ultimately lower work­group elTectiveness (Cox, 1994). Once this is recog­nized, action can be taken to try to overcome thesedifficulties. This, therefore, leads to the next ques­tion, what are the new or today's challenges and op­portunities posed by an increasingly diverse culturein organizations?

Today's Challenges and Opportunities

Managing a diverse or a multicultural organizationis a broad and complex issue. Leaders face fonnid­able challenges in building a multicultural organiza­tion that truly values diversity. This is because notall people in organizations value diversity. As a rule,people arc most comfortable with those like them­selves and emphasizing diversity may underminethat comfort level. Diversity tends to breed new ap­proaches to old practices and long-standing problems.Individuals in organizations may find such changetroubling. Moreover, individuals with strong preju­dices against certain groups may find rapidly chan­ging demographics in the workforce threatening be­cause either they find change itself disquieting orbecause they hold a position they feel they might notbe able to maintain if groups historically excludedfrom their work palace are allowed to compete in anunhindered way for their positions.

PATRICK A. EDEWOR, YETUNDE A. ALUKO 193

Given such realities, organizations need to gobeyond simple recognition of cultural diversity toactive diversity management. Managing diversity isa comprehensive managerial process for developingan environment that works for all employees. Di­versity management is an inclusive process since allemployees belong to a culture, including those fromthe organization's traditionally dominant culturalgroup. Thomas (1991) indicated that diversity man­agement must not be viewed as an "us/them kind ofproblem to be solved but as a resource to be man­aged". Also, Carnevale and Stone (1994) have em­phasized that valuing diversity involves "recognizingthat other people's standards and values are as validas one's own", and note that lor most organizations,valuing and managing diversity requires nothing lessthan cultural transformation. This is a prodigioustask, for it requires people - especially those of thedominant culture - to let go of their assumptionsabout the universal rightness of their own values andcustomary ways of doing things and to become re­ceptive to other cultures.

In this regard, cultural diversity in the work placemirrors many of the same issues at play in the rcalmof international business. In international businessinteractions, people who have learned differingconceptions of normative behaviour are forced tosuspend judgement of one another. Cultural normsshift relative to language, technological expectations,social organization, face-saving, authority concep­tion, non-verbal behaviour and the perception oftime.

In addition, since the ability to compete success­fully in the "new" global economy depends on theability to tap the skills and insights of increasinglydiverse workforce allover the world, organizationsmust, therefore, be involved. Owing to mergers andinternational cooperation as well as migration !lowswhich lead to multicultural societies, companies andinstitutions will increasingly have to take into ac­count the foreign personnel, foreign laws and foreignmarket parties. They must recognize that diverseemployees possess cultural competencies, for ex­ample, language skills and cross-cultural expertisethat represent a sustainable source of competitiveadvantage. Organizations that continue to focus onwhat worked in the past and do not pay allention tocurrent and future market demographics are exclud­ing significant sources of profit.

Internationalization and international business re­lations require that the modern manager possessesor acquires specific skills in order for him/her to beable to cooperate adequately with colleagues, man­agers, or partners in other countries. The managerneeds those skills to deal with a range of personswho have been influenced by another background,education, training and culture - a culture, at least,

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194 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE DIVERSITY, VOLUME 6

in which one can recognize similarities as well asdifferences with one's own culture (Burggraaf,1998). After establishing this, the organization standsto enjoy the following benefits: the full utilizationof her human resources; reduced interpersonal con­flict among employees of all backgrounds as respectfor diversity increases; enhanced work relationshipsbased on mutual respect and increased employeeknowledge of multicultural issues; a shared organiz­ational vision and increased commitment among di­verse employees at all organizational levels andacross all functions; greater innovations, and flexib­ility as employees of all cultural backgrounds parti­cipate more fully in key decision-making and prob­lem-solving groups; and finally, improved productiv­ity as more employee eflort is directed at accomplish­ing tasks and less energy is spent managing interper­sonal conflicts and cultural clashes.

Conclusion

From the foregoing, it can be concluded that it isimperative for employers and policymakers to under-

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About the Authors

Dr Patrick A. r.'deworPatrick A. Edewor, 47, is currently a Senior Lecturer and Head of Department of Sociology, Covenant University,Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. He was formerly the Acting Dean of the College of Human Development in the sameUniversity. He holds a Ph.D in Sociology from the University of [badan, Nigeria, specializing in SocialDemography. His topics of research include fertility, the value of children, adolescent reproductive health, andhomelessness among children and youth. He has many publications to his credit which have appeared in localand international journals as well as chapters in books. He is a member a number of professional bodies andassociations including: Population Association of Nigeria (PAN), Nigerian Anthropological and SociologicalAssociation (NASA), Union for African Population Studies (UAPS), [nternational Sociological Association(lSA), [nternational Union for the Scientific Study of Population ([USSP), [nternational Society for Quality ofLife Studies (ISQOLS), [nternational Institute of Sociology (l[S), Educational Research Network for West andCentral Africa (ERNWACA), and African Sociological Association (AfSA). He has participated in many inter­national conferences in Germany, Sweden, South Africa and Nigeria. He is married to Kehinde and blessedwith three children.

/),: (Mrs.) Ye/unde A. AlukoYetunde A. Aluko teaches Sociology at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago- lwoye, Ogun state, Nigeria. Sheholds a Ph.D in Sociology from the University of [badan, Nigeria, specializing in Gender and Labour Studies,Industrial Sociology and Development. Her topics of research include women in management, women in aca­demics, women in informal sector, girl-child education, old age and retirement, and globalization and women.She has many publications to her credit which have appeared in both local and international journals as well aschapters in books. She is a member of a number of professional bodies and associations including: InternationalIndustrial Relations Associations (lIRA), Nigerian Anthropological and Sociological Association (NASA),Nigerian Institute of Personnel Management (N[PM), Nigerian Industrial Relations Association (N[RA),African Sociological Association (AFSA), and Pan-African Gender and Peace Research Group (PAGPRG).She has participated in some international conferences/workshops in South Africa, Senegal and Nigeria. Sheis married to Ola and blessed with three children.