Abstract:

This study aims to pave the way of bringing out the thoughts about managing diversity by examining the managers, academic and administrative staff's opinions at Giresun University. In order to have a deeper understanding, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews to find answers for the research questions. The 12 managers and 26 academic and administrative staff's opinions were obtained through semi-structured questions. The data was subjected to descriptive analysis under thethemes defined in accordance with the literature view in the field. The results of the study revealed that there are consensus and clash of ideas in some points. While the academic and administrative staff’s diversity definitions were centered under personal qualifications (cultural, personality, disability, ethnic background), the managers’ diversity definitions cover more of personality. Instead of focusing on physical diversity components, it is recommended to deal with personality and working styles of the individuals, which is believed to help manage diversity of both academic and administrative personnel.

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