ABSTRACT
The innovation zeitgeist is all encompassing, with scientific and technological breakthroughs transforming societies at all levels of interaction. In an atmosphere of constant demands for new technologies and innovation in public and private arenas, jobs based on science and technology (S&T) knowledge and related skills are increasingly the sine qua non for productivity and mobility. Emphasis is placed on developing a systemic understanding of diversity and meaning in S&T innovation against a backdrop of structural bias and hierarchically delineated workforce relationships. Investigating diversity outcomes in terms of education, hiring, and career pattern differentials requires addressing labor market conditions that can affect information technology and communications workforce participation and representation. National and organizational differences in views and pressures for diversity are useful for understanding labour divergences. Workforce diversity is a relational concept referring to the composition of organizational or work units in terms of demographic or cultural characteristics held to be salient and symbolically meaningful in relationships among group members.
