Developing Country Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-607X (Paper) ISSN 2225-0565 (Online) Vol.5, No.8, 2015 74 Workforce Diversity and Organizational Effectiveness in Nigerian Brewery Industry Anthony Ogomegbunam Odita 1* Solomon Egbule 2 1. Department Of Accounting, Banking & Finance, Faculty of management sciences,Delta state university, Asaba, Nigeria 2. Department of bus. Admin., Faculty of management sciences,Delta state university, Asaba, Nigeria *tonyodita2002@yahoo.com Abstract The study is aimed at assessing the effects of workforce diversity on organizational effectiveness in Brewery industry using selected Breweries. Workplace diversity is a multidimensional and multi-faceted concept that will continue to evolve as more industries move toward the global marketplace. Survey research design method was employed, stratified sampling method as well as simple random sampling was used. Linear regression and correlation analysis was employed for the analytical purpose to review the nature of statistical significance among variables. The findings show that there is a significant positive relationship between the variables of workforce diversity and organizational effectiveness; in particular cultural diversity was found to be more effective, also Team building & group training-which mediates between workforce diversity and organizational effectiveness. The study concluded that any organization-whose leaders and policy makers are pragmatic, perspicacious and pertinacious, Team building & group training in line with good diversity management will act as panacea to the cankerworm of low employee performance that have set the bottom figure of most organizations balance sheet in bracket. We therefore recommend that for breweries to improve in innovation and creativity, managers and organizational leaders should ensure that diversity-related issues are well managed, and that breweries should create diversity managers in their companies, who are saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that organizational effectiveness is maintained. Keywords: Diversity, Gender Diversity, Ethnic Diversity, Workforce Diversity, Organizational effectiveness. 1. Introduction Advances in technology and the advent of a global economy bring the people of the world closer together than ever before. Given this fact, businesses, educational systems and other entities are investigating ways to better serve their constituents. This includes being able to attract and retain the best and most qualified workers. Organizations that can develop and employ the necessary policies and procedures to do this will maintain a competitive advantage among their counterparts and increase their effectiveness. The Breweries recruits its employees from across the country and also foreigners alike. Hence it can be suggested that its work force is diverse. Workforce diversity has important implications toward management practices and policies. Frequently, diversity is viewed in a limited fashion, primarily addressing issues of race, ethnicity, cultural or gender differences. With regard to this study, we used a very broad definition of diversity, to encompass most characteristics that individuals possess that seem to affect the way they think and do things. There are many legally mandated actions that employers must take to minimize employment discrimination. In Nigeria, for example there is the Federal Character Law which stipulates that recruitments in Federal Government Agencies and Parastatals must reflect the Federal character. But many CEOs recruit to favour their own people to the detriments of other Nigerians from other places. This is unethical and tends to negatively affect the performance level of most organizations in Nigeria (Ogbo, Kifordu, and Wilfred, 2014). The 21 st century managers are saddled with the responsibility of both leading employees and responding to the needs of customers who are more ethnically and culturally diverse from each other. Leaders in both the public and the private sectors are focusing more attention on the issue of diversity. Whether the goal is to be an employer of choice, to provide excellent customer service, or to maintain a competitive edge, diversity is increasingly recognized and utilized as an important organizational resource. Leaders and managers within organizations are primarily responsible for the success of diversity policies because they must ensure that the policies are effective. The most important issues of workforce diversity are to address the problems of discrimination in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, education background and culture. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of workforce diversity and performance. Various factors that enhance the relationship between workforce diversity & performance as mediators are also explored. Age, gender & ethnicity are taken as the dimensions of diversity. The discriminatory attitude of some workforce, individual identity, lack of cooperation amongst workers has been extended by workers in same diverse organization beyond limits, which dampens morale with