Examining workgroup diversity effects: Do group-retention rules help or hinder?

AbstractAssessing the overall performance of ecosystems requires a quantitative evaluation of multifunctionality. We investigated plant species diversity effects on individual functions and overall multifunctionality in a grassland experiment with sown monocultures and mixtures comprising four key grass and legume species. Nitrogen fertilisation rates were 50, 150, and 450 kg N ha−1 yr−1 (N50, N150, N450). Ten functions were measured representing forage production, N cycling, and forage quality, all being related to either productivity or environmental footprint. Multifunctionality was analysed by a novel approach using the mean log response ratio across functions. Over three experimental years, mixture effects benefited all forage production and N cycling functions, while sustaining high forage quality. Thus, mixture effects did not provoke any trade-off among the analysed functions. High N fertilisation rates generally diminished mixture benefits. Multifunctionality of four-species mixtures was considerably enhanced, and mixture overall performance was up to 1.9 (N50), 1.8 (N150), and 1.6 times (N450) higher than in averaged monocultures. Multifunctionality of four-species mixtures at N50 was at least as high as in grass monocultures at N450. Sown grass–legume mixtures combining few complementary species at low to moderate N fertilisation sustain high multifunctionality and are a ‘ready-to-use’ option for the sustainable intensification of agriculture.

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Managing Work force Diversity: Key Successful factors

Nepalese Journal of Management Research ◽

10.3126/njmgtres.v1i0.37326 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 76-86

Author(s):

Basu Dev Lamichhane

Keyword(s):

Organizational Change ◽

Problem Solving ◽

Human Resources ◽

Work Force ◽

Diversity Management ◽

Workforce Diversity ◽

Effective Management ◽

New Thinking ◽

New Ideas ◽

Diversity Effects

Human capital is an important asset for any organization. Physical and capital resource can be mobilized properly through human resources. Physical and capital resources by themselves cannot improve efficiency or contribute to increased rate of return on investment. The efficiency of capital and physical resource can be achieved through combined efforts of human resources. This paper is descriptive design. The study tackled areas of workforce diversity effects on diversity of performance of employees and how workforce diversity can be managed to the positive outcomes of an organization. Workforce diversity is combination of different caste, gender, age, attitude, religion, ability, skills, region, perception, race, sex, experience and cultural differences. It is the differences and similarities between the employees of any organization. It is the process of bringing verity of people in the same workplace. Effective management of diversity recognizes that people from different backgrounds, culture and experience can bring new ideas to the workplace. Workforce diversity leads an organization in to creativity, innovation, able to retain talent workforce, energize people and boosts them and reduced grievances. Workforce diversity promotes creativity, innovative problem solving, productivity and increase cultural diversity, increase in enterepreneural behavior and values within employees. Diversity management emphasizes on building specific skills, creating policies and drafting practices that get the best from every workers. So, diversified workforce provides various advantages to organization (i.e. creativity, change adoption, problem solving, new thinking and thought, flexible adoption to organizational change and beliefs). The study reveals that there is a positive correlation between good workforce diversity and organizational change.

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Diverse perennial crop mixtures sustain higher productivity over time based on ecological complementarity

Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems ◽

10.1017/s1742170511000135 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 317-327 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

Valentín D. Picasso ◽

E. Charles Brummer ◽

Matt Liebman ◽

Philip M. Dixon ◽

Brian J. Wilsey

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Species Diversity ◽

Biomass Production ◽

Cropping Systems ◽

Individual Species ◽

Selection Effects ◽

Complementarity Effect ◽

Change Over Time ◽

Diversity Effects ◽

Over Time

AbstractCropping systems that rely on renewable energy and resources and are based on ecological principles could be more stable and productive into the future than current monoculture systems with serious unintended environmental consequences such as soil erosion and water pollution. In nonagricultural systems, communities with higher species diversity have higher productivity and provide other ecosystem services. However, communities of well-adapted crop species selected for biomass production may respond differently to increasing diversity. Diversity effects may be due to complementarity among species (complementary resource use and facilitative interactions) or positive selection effects (e.g., species with higher productivity dominate the mixture), and these effects may change over time or across environments. Our goal was to identify the ecological mechanisms causing diversity effects in a biodiversity experiment using agriculturally relevant species, and evaluate the implications for the design of sustainable cropping systems. We seeded seven perennial forage species in a replicated field experiment at two locations in Iowa, USA, and evaluated biomass productivity of monocultures and two- to six-species mixtures over 3 years after the establishment year under management systems of contrasting intensity: one or three harvests per year. Productivity increased with seeded species richness in all environments, and the positive relationship did not change over time. Polyculture overyielding was due to complementarity among species in the community rather than to selection effects of individual species. Complementarity increased as a log-linear function of species richness in all environments, and this trend was consistent across years. Legume–grass facilitation may explain much of this complementarity effect. Although individual species with high biomass production had a major effect on productivity of mixtures, the species producing the highest biomass in monoculture changed over the years in most environments. Furthermore, transgressive overyielding was observed and was more prevalent in later years, in some environments. We conclude that choosing a single well-adapted species for maximizing productivity may not be the best alternative over the long term and that high levels of species diversity should be included in the design of productive and ecologically sound agricultural systems.

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