Abstract:

Cultural diversity finds relevance in contemporary workplace in the face of increasing workforce migration, women’s participation among other drivers. Contemporary organisations are therefore rarely culturally homogeneous. Workers from different cultural backgrounds necessarily have to interact to attain goals. Effective management of the human resource would therefore involve devising means of ensuring that this diversity yields positive dividends for the organisation. This is the fate of the Nigerian public service that comprises a workforce of highly varied culture going by the huge number of ethnic groups within the country. This paper examines the challenges cultural diversity poses to the Nigerian Public Service which is basically that of diversity management which should be addressed within the context of people’s management both at the governance and managerial levels. It reviewed methods used and efforts made by successive governments to make cultural diversity a blessing rather than a curse. It advocates the complex leadership theory, a leadership framework that recognizes the instability and unpredictability of a diverse workplace such as the Nigerian public service.