Multicultural and diversity management

Multicultural and diversity management is the “recognition and valorization of individual differences”. "The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. Moreover, it is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity in each individual"(Patrick and Kumar, 2012). As seen from a US perspective, ‘Diversity management’ is supposed to represent a break from legislated equality concepts such as equal opportunity and affirmative action (Thomas, 1990 ; Thomas and Ely, 1996).

History of diversity management

Diversity management should be understood as a historically situated concept. Diversity management as a concept appeared and gained momentum in the USA in the mid-1980s. At a time when President Ronald Reagan threatened to dismantle equality and affirmative action laws in the USA in the 1980s, equality and affirmative action professionals employed by US firms along with equality consultants, engaged in establishing the argument that a diverse workforce should be seen as a competitive advantage rather than just as a legal constraint. Basically, their message was : do not promote diversity because it is a legal mandate, but because it is good for business (Kelly and Dobbin, 1998). From then on, researchers started to test a number of hypotheses on the business benefits of diversity and of diversity management, known as the business case of diversity.

The presence of diversity management in the workplace has been depicted as the existence of conceptual and operational policies and programs within the organizations that ensure that the various groups that exists in the societal spectrum are able to effectively participate in the various levels that exists in the organizations.[1]

Research

Undertaken up to the present day provides only modest support to the proposal, that workforce diversity per se brings business benefits with it. Therefore, this idea remains open to debate and further research. In short, whether diversity pays off or not depends on environmental factors, internal or external to the firm. Dwyer, Richard & Chadwyck (2003) found that the effects of gender diversity at the management level are conditional on the firm's strategic orientation, the organizational culture and the multivariate interaction among these variables. Schäffner, Gebert, Schöler, & Kirch (2006) found that if the firm’s culture incorporates the normative assumption or belief that diversity is an opportunity, then age diversity becomes a predictor of team innovativeness, but not otherwise. Kearney & Gebert (2006) found that diversity in age, nationality, and functional background, have a positive effect on team innovativeness in a high transformational leadership context, but no effect in a low one. A curvilinear relationship between diversity and performance was identified by Richard, Barnett, Dwyer, & Chadwick (2004). Kochan, Bezrukova, Ely, Jackson, Joshi, Jehn et al. (2003), found few positive or negative direct effects of diversity on performance. In the cases that came under their scrutiny, a number of different aspects of the organizational context or group processes moderated the diversity-performance relationship. Failing to manage diversity properly or developing diversity per se leads to only mixed results (Bell & Berry, 2007; Klein & Harrison, 2007). Overall research suggests that diversity needs to be properly managed if any business benefits are to be reaped. If properly managed, diversity likely will hold its business promises. This does not preclude that diversity at all levels of society should be a goal 'per se'. Beyond business benefits, research should pay more attention to societal benefits attached to the promotion of more inclusive and diverse workforces.

References

  1. ↑ "Is diversity management related to financial performance in family firms? performance has created the relevance for this concept". Family Business Review. 28.

Sources

  • 1 Roosevelt, 2010.
  • 2 Jones, 2011.
  • 3 Kaminska, 2009.
  • Bell, M.P. & Berry, D.P. (2007). Viewing Diversity Through Different Lenses: Avoiding a Few Blind Spots, Academy of Management Perspectives, November
  • Dwyer, S., Richard, O., & Chadwyck, K., (2003). Gender diversity in management and firm performance: the influence of growth orientation and organizational culture, Journal of Business Research, Dec., Vol. 56 Issue 12, p. 1009-1019
  • Kearney, E. & Gebert, D. (2006). Does More Diversity Lead to More Innovativeness? An Examination of the Critical Role of Leadership, IFSAM VIIIth World Congress, Track 16, Berlin, 28-30 Sept.
  • Kelly, E. & Dobbin, F. (1998). 'How Affirmative Action Became Diversity Management: Employer Response to Anti-discrimination Law, 1961-1996', American Behavioral Scientist 41(7): 960-84.
  • Klein, K.J. & Harrison, D.A. (2007). On the Diversity of Diversity: Tidy Logic, Messier Realities, Academy of Management Perspectives, November
  • Kochan, T., Bezrukova, K., Ely, R., Jackson, S., Joshi, A., Jehn, K., Leonard, J., Levine, D. & Thomas, D. (2003). The effects of diversity on business performance : report of the diversity research network, Human Resource Management, Spring, Vol. 42 Issue 1, p3-21
  • Patrick, H. and Kumar, V. (2012). Managing Workplace diversity: Issued and Challenges. SAGE Open, 2(2).
  • Richard, O., Barnett, T., Dwyer, S. & Chadwick, K. (2004). Cultural diversity in management, firm performance, and the moderating role of entrepreneurial orientation dimensions, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 47, No. 2, 255–266
  • Schäffner, M., Gebert, D., Schöler, N. & Kirch, J. (2006). Diversity, its risk and chances for team innovativeness, IFSAM VIIIth World Congress, Track 16, Berlin, 28-30 Sept.
  • Thomas, R. R. (1990). ‘From affirmative action to affirming diversity’, Harvard Business Review, 68, 107-117
  • Thomas, D. and Ely R., (1996). ‘Making differences matter’, Harvard Business Review, 74(5), 79-90
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