Diversity Management and Discrimination

Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities in the EU

John Wrench

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9780754648901
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317149163
• Topic: Scienze sociali
• Subtopic: Antropologia

What can diversity management offer those concerned with ethnic inequality, racial discrimination, and issues of social and economic inclusion and exclusion? In this book John Wrench traces the emergence of diversity management in the US in the late 1980s, and explores its subsequent development in Europe. He outlines the various critiques of diversity management that have been suggested both by academics and equality activists and highlights recent issues and trends that should be monitored by those concerned with racial and ethnic equality in employment. In particular, Wrench examines whether diversity management can be seen as a 'soft option' in terms of combating racism and discrimination, or instead, a new way of mainstreaming anti-discrimination measures. He also addresses the important question of whether the development of diversity management in Europe will follow a relatively uniform trajectory because of common demographic, economic and market pressures, or whether the historical, cultural and institutional differences which exist between EU countries, and between the EU and the US, will have a determining impact on the adoption, content and operation of this particular management practice.

Chapter 1 Introducing the Issues

DOI: 10.4324/9781315577722-1

In response to the growing demographic diversity of the European workforce, both private and public sector organisations have turned to specific policies to facilitate the recruitment, inclusion and retention of employees of diverse backgrounds. Diversity management as a business practice was first seriously discussed in a European context at the beginning of the 1990s. Interest in the practice slowly grew, and ten years later examples of companies operating diversity management policies could be found in a steadily increasing number of EU countries. In this context, the aim of the book is to clarify concepts relevant to the practice, and provide contextual information in order to better understand the development of diversity management in European countries.¹

1 The focus of this book is on the countries within the European Union, and therefore the terms ‘Europe’ or ‘European countries’ is employed only in this restricted sense.

Chapter 1 sets out the parameters of the book and looks at various definitions of diversity management. Chapter 2 looks at the origins of diversity management and the factors which have provided a stimulus to its development in the US, and provides examples of the kinds of activities which take place under the heading of diversity management in US companies. Chapter 3 looks at the background context for the development of diversity management in Europe, and Chapter 4 considers the variables of European difference which may have implications for the form, content and dissemination of diversity management practice. Chapter 5 presents an overview of critiques of diversity management that have been advanced by both academics and equality activists. Chapter 6 explores the relationship of diversity management to the specific issue of combating racial discrimination in the sphere of employment. Chapter 7 concludes with some observations on both positive and negative developments in Europe which may be relevant to diversity management, and highlights a number of issues and trends that should be monitored by those concerned with racial and ethnic equality in employment.

The parameters of this book must be made clear from the outset. Firstly, whilst the practice of diversity management encompasses a wide range of variables of ‘difference’, this book approaches diversity management from the point of view of those who are interested primarily in the dimensions of ‘race’ and ethnic origin, and the related issues of equality and employment integration.

Secondly, there is no attempt to provide an overview of existing North American and European diversity management literature, and nor will there be an attempt to provide a picture of the current state of diversity management practice in Europe. The former would be an immense task, and the latter a research project for the future. Instead the book draws on selected key sources of information with the aim of highlighting some of the relevant issues for those who wish to observe or research the development of diversity management in the European context.

Thirdly, the book makes no attempt to address the sorts of questions which have been asked in many other studies of diversity in organisations, such as ‘what are the effects of demographic diversity on a workforce's creativity or productivity?’, or ‘how can managing diversity techniques contribute to organisational goals?’. Instead, this book is guided by a number of more specific interests:

• What can diversity management ideology and practice demonstrate to those who are concerned with issues of ethnic inequality and racial discrimination, and with the inclusion and exclusion of immigrants and their descendants in the labour market, in organisations and in European societies?
• Is diversity management to be seen as a valuable new way of mainstreaming anti-discrimination measures, or alternatively, should it be regarded with scepticism as being a ‘soft option’, intrinsically weak on combating racism and discrimination in employment?
• Will the development of diversity management in EU member states follow a relatively uniform trajectory because of commonly experienced demographic, economic and market pressures, or will the historical, cultural, political and institutional differences which exist amongst EU countries, (and between the EU and the US) have a determining impact on the adoption, content and mode of operation of this particular management practice in Europe?

It should be noted that this book is more relevant to intranational diversity management, which refers to managing a diverse workforce within a single national organisational context, rather than cross-national diversity management which refers to managing a workforce in different countries (see Mor Barak 2005: 209).

Methodology

This book draws heavily on literature searches on diversity management, both published and on the Internet. Most of the literature was American, with other sources coming from Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Where possible, use has been made of already existing surveys and overviews of practices and literature relating to diversity management.

The book has not sought to provide new primary data on the development of diversity management in Europe, but has drawn on existing evidence of the development of diversity management in organisations across EU member states, often from material published by the European Commission. In particular, much information has been taken from the data gathered annually by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) and made available in its publications and on its website. The aim has been to provide an analysis of secondary data which can help to clarify the issues for future research and policy-making. As part of this process the book modifies or creates from new a number of typologies covering discrimination, anti-discrimination and organisational activities. These serve as points of reference for understanding and classifying practices, and as bases for comparison of these activities between national contexts within Europe. These typologies may then be refined and modified by further research.

Further material has come from interviews carried out since 2000 with people who have direct experience of diversity management and related issues, who were able to provide an insight into diversity management developments in their respective EU countries. Eight of these were formal semi-structured interviews lasting between one and two hours. The eight respondents came from four countries: Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. Most acted for at least part of their time as diversity management consultants, and the others worked in NGOs or agencies concerned with the promotion of ethnic equality and/or diversity management at work. A great deal of further information was gleaned from more informal interviews carried out with participants in conferences or workshops on the subject of diversity management or related issues of employment equity strategies between 2000–2006 in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US.

What is diversity management?

Diversity management is the latest development in a sequence of strategies which have aimed to get excluded minorities better represented in employment. However, diversity management is said to be characteristically different from previous employment equity approaches directed at under-represented minority ethnic groups, such as equal opportunity and affirmative action approaches, in a number of ways. For one thing, its rationale is primarily one of improving organisational competitiveness and efficiency, driven by business purpose and market advantage. In relation to this it emphasises the necessity of recognising cultural differences between groups of employees, and making practical allowances for such differences in organisational policies. The idea is that encouraging an environment of cultural diversity where peoples’ differences are valued enables people to work to their full potential in a richer, more creative and more productive work environment. An advantage of diversity management is said to be its more positive approach, rather than the negative one of simply avoiding transgressions of anti-discrimination laws. It is said to avoid some of the ‘backlash’ problems associated with affirmative action, as unlike previous equality strategies, diversity management is not seen as a policy solely directed towards the interests of excluded or under-represented minorities. Rather it is seen as an inclusive policy, and one which therefore encompasses the interests of all employees, including white males.

A multiplicity of metaphors

Advocates of diversity management have a tendency to draw on metaphors to explain its advantages, and these metaphors are different from those of previous approaches. For example, the earlier analogy of the ‘melting pot’, with its overtones of assimilation and ‘sameness’, is replaced with that of the ‘mosaic’, where ‘Differences come together to create a whole organisation in much the same way that single pieces of a mosaic come together to create a pattern. Each piece is acknowledged, accepted and has a place in the whole structure’ (Kandola and Fullerton 1998: 8). An American food company's commitment to diversity used the metaphor ‘A stellar meal requires contrasting and complementing textures and tastes.’ Other examples are ‘A winning sports team depends on the different talents of its members. A first-class orchestra needs many varied instruments. And a successful business team requires a variety of thought, energy and insight to attain and maintain a competitive edge’ (HR Magazine November 1998). The American diversity writer and consultant R. R. Thomas chooses a ‘jar of jelly beans’ to illustrate what he wants to say about diversity:

…. consider a jar of red jelly beans and assume that you will add some green and purple jelly beans. I suggest that diversity … is represented by the resulting mixture of red green and purple jelly beans. When faced with a collection of diverse jelly beans, most managers have not been addressing diversity but, instead, have been addressing how to handle the last jelly beans added to the mixture ….

(Thomas 1996, quoted in Mor Barak 2005: 209)

More recently, another American diversity author, Michàlle Mor Barak, suggests:

In depicting diverse management, I propose an image from the art world – the painter's palette. Like colors, when people are forced to blend and give up their unique characteristics, the result is a dull gray. Allowed to display their true colors, they shine brightly and together create an inspiring work of art. (Mor Barak 2005: 292)

Metaphors such as ‘the salad bowl’ and ‘the patchwork quilt’, like ‘the mosaic’, are all part of what one American critic called the ‘celebratory and harmonious imagery’ which aim to convey how the whole is ‘enriched by the differences of its component parts’ (Kersten 2000: 242).

However, the creativity exhibited in the generation of diversity metaphors masks a frequent conceptual slackness around the use of the concept of diversity management. There is some genuine confusion about what the term covers, particularly in the European context, where the term ‘diversity policy’ is in some cases simply employed to refer to any policy at all which relates to the employment of immigrants and minorities. Yet some commentators insist that a ‘diversity policy’ must contain something different from already existing practices of combating discrimination in the organisation. There must be a ‘managing for diversity’ element which is more than furthering equal access to employment opportunity, and certainly more than just employing immigrants. It should refer to particular techniques of actively managing the diverse mix of people within the organisation in ways to contribute to organisational efficiency or business advantage (Wise 2000: 3).

Something else which causes confusion is the way that the word ‘diversity’ is sometimes used in practice. Instead of referring simply to the demographic mixture of people within an organisation, the term ‘diversity’ is becoming a shorthand for the practice of dealing with this mixture, i.e. the approach itself. This can be seen in the replies to a 1997 US survey where respondents were asked to define diversity in their organisations. Replies included ‘Diversity today is valuing the differences among people and ensuring that the work environment is representative of the variety of people that represents our country’, ‘Diversity fosters an environment where all employees have the opportunity to reach their full potential’ or ‘Diversity is the full utilization of all the talents and energies of all our people’ (Wentling and Palma-Rivas 1997c). In each of these cases it would have been more accurate to replace the word ‘diversity’ by a term such as ‘diversity management’ or ‘managing for diversity’. In this book the conceptual distinction will be maintained between ‘diversity’ as the condition of heterogeneity, and ‘diversity management’ as the management of that condition.

There is also wide variety in what are seen as the important dimensions of diversity that should form the focus of organisational policies. Some prioritise the main ‘primary’ dimensions – sex, age, ‘race’ and ethnicity – whereas others see the term as encompassing every dimension of human difference within the organisation. For a more focused definition of diversity we can turn to Mor Barak (2005: 132). She defines workforce diversity as the division of the workforce into categories of distinction that have a perceived commonality within a given cultural or national context and that have an impact on potentially harmful or beneficial employment outcomes such as job opportunities, treatment in the workplace and promotion prospects, irrespective of job-related skills and qualifications. Such a definition emphasises the consequences of the distinction categories, which for Mor Barak overcomes the problem of over-broad definitions of diversity that include ‘benign and inconsequential’ characteristics in their diversity categories. (For further discussion of this problem see Chapter 5.)

As stated earlier, this book approaches the topic primarily from the point of view of the ‘racial’/ethnic dimension, which includes a consideration of the implications of locating ‘ethnic equality’ practices within such an all-encompassing policy.

The ethnic dimension

Although the practice of diversity management in the US is by definition multidimensional, the dimension of ‘race’/ethnicity is generally near the top in priority for managers in organisations. This is also the ‘angle’ which has perhaps most stimulated interest in the subject by practitioners and politicians in Europe. European governments are becoming increasingly concerned about issues of the social inclusion and exclusion of immigrants and ethnic minorities² within their borders, and the important role that integration into employment plays in this. The communities established by post-World War II labour migrants in western European countries have long been over-represented in long-term unemployment or in poorly paid, insecure and generally less desirable work. There has been a tradition of media, politicians and public discourse emphasising ‘supply-side’ factors in this – immigrants are seen as having a weak command of the local language, or as having a poor educational history and fewer qualifications and skills. ‘Integration policies’ therefore try to reduce these supply-side disadvantages by encouraging immigrants to take language courses, improve their education and attend vocational training courses, or perhaps courses in the host country's culture and institutions. However, in recent years in Europe there has been an increasingly vocalised concern that this emphasis is flawed. Certainly an education and training approach can be relevant for many newly arrived immigrants and refugees, or in cases where economic restructuring and organisational changes have put new demands on longer-established immigrant workers (Wrench 1998: 37). However, they are less relevant for many long-settled migrants and their children. The problems faced by these groups are less easily explained by supply-side arguments. Even with fluency of language and parity in educational attainment, members of minority ethnic groups suffer labour market exclusion and marginalisation in comparison with their majority national peers. Here, demand–side factors are more importa...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• 1 Introducing the Issues
• 2 Diversity Management in the USA
• 3 The Background to Diversity Management in Europe
• 4 Convergence and Constraints in European Diversity Practice
• 5 An Overview of Critiques of Diversity Management
• 6 Diversity Management and Anti-Discrimination
• 7 Diversity and the Future
• Bibliography
• Index