Integration of refugees with the help of Diversity Management (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,7, Northern Business School, language: English, abstract: Every society is characterized by a certain diversity. The first distinction is in gender, female or male. But that's not the way to describe all people. Adults, children, the elderly, people with different occupations, experiences, interests and backgrounds, they all belong to the society. No one is alike and that makes Europe a continent of diversity.

The refugee crisis, the stream of refugees, the wave of refugees is currently contributing to this diversity. These are all terms which we encounter in press, political discussions and social discourse. All of the above words point to difficulties and problems. Especially the term 'refugee wave' associates the image of a natural catastrophe that targets Europe and it's impossible to do anything. This association happens not only in Germany, but also in Europe. In many cases, opinions about this topic are negative and in discussions in social networks these are distributed happily. These views are supported by current violent incidents and led to also violent riots during demonstrations of right- and left-wing groups in Chemnitz.

However, these negative associations do not fully describe the situation by only focusing on the negative or threatening aspects and not looking at the positives. Despite many possible conflicts, companies and society can benefit from the refugee crisis. Among other thing, this means for example, that immigration could be a way to reduce the declining number of workers. That such an integration is not always easy and smooth, should be known by all involved. Every company knows the challenges that can arise when it comes to team building, even if it's a homogeneous group with same opinions, same skills and the same background.

For this reason and also the timeliness of this topic, I have chosen this subject. The aim of my work is to show companies a first measure of how to not only successfully implement the integration of refugees and thus create more openness and tolerance, but also create a basis for the future use of diversity management.