Diversity in the Workplace

Multi-disciplinary and International Perspectives

Stefan Gröschl

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781317149194
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Most regions and countries in the world are experiencing increasingly diverse populations and labour markets. While the causes may vary, the challenges businesses face due to a heightened awareness of this diversity are often similar. Internally, organisations promote diversity and manage increasingly heterogeneous workforces, accommodate and integrate employees with different value and belief systems, and combat a range of different forms of discrimination with organisational and also societal consequences. Externally, organisations have to manage demands from government, consumer, and lobbying sources for the implementation of anti-discrimination policies and laws. This has generated demand for appropriate higher level teaching programmes and for more diversity-focused research. Diversity in the Workplace responds to the increasing social and political debate and interest in diversity throughout Europe. The contributors discuss the concept of diversity in different social and legal contexts and from the perspectives of different academic disciplines including sociology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy and organizational theory. The book includes a European view and the makings of a conceptual framework to literature on diversity that hitherto has tended to be US orientated and overwhelmingly practice focused. It will stimulate fruitful exchanges of ideas about different approaches to the challenges faced by businesses and organisations of all kinds. With chapters by authors involved in research into diversity issues at leading academic institutions across Europe, this book offers much that will interest academics, researchers and higher level students, as well as practitioners wanting to understand managing workforce diversity; affirmative action programmes; and anti-discriminatory policy and practice in a wider context.

PART I
Conceptualizing Diversity

CHAPTER 1
Introduction

STEFAN GRÖSCHL

Diversity in the Workplace: Multidisciplinary and International Perspectives

Today; most regions and countries in the world are experiencing increasingly diverse populations and labor markets. While the causes may vary, the challenges businesses face due to a heightened awareness of this diversity are often similar. Internally, organizations promote diversity and manage increasingly heterogeneous workforces, accommodate and integrate employees with different value and belief systems and combat a range of different forms of discrimination with both organizational and societal consequences. Externally, organizations have to manage demands from governmental, consumer and lobbying sources for the implementation of anti-discrimination policies and laws, and for attracting and integrating employees from minority or historically disadvantaged groups. These demands and activities affect the review and revision of organizational culture, HR policies and practices and ethical standards.

Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, the US has been a key promoter of the concept of diversity management (DM) as an effective organizational response to the challenges of managing increasingly diverse workforces. Parallel to these developments within the private and public sectors, US academic institutions have created DM programs and courses, offering degrees and certificates in the DM area. The extent to which DM has become an established practice is reflected in the content of textbooks on human resource management in which there is without fail a chapter or section on applications of diversity management.

In addition to such chapters and sections the US diversity management literature includes a variety of textbooks. A number of publications provide an outline of the demographic changes and developments across the US labor market and its workforce, and propose practical recommendations and actions for managing this increasing workforce diversity (for example Kossek and Lobel, 1996; Bell, 2007). Another type of textbook focuses on particular forms of workforce diversity such as cultural diversity, gender, etc. (for example Gentile, 2000; Ely, Foldy and Scully, 2003; Gardenswartz, Rowe, Digh and Bennett, 2003; Carr-Ruffino, 2005). And a number of case study books provide a range of cases on different forms of diversity in organizational settings (Gentile, 1998; Harvey and Allard, 2002; Powell, 2004). Most of these textbooks have been published in the US, have been written by US-based academics, discuss cases set within the US business context, and/or provide US company examples. It can safely be said that most of the workplace diversity-related literature is set within an US legal, social and business context.

Despite the fact that we can observe similar workplace diversity-related challenges across Europe, there are few books which discuss workforce diversity in Europe or from a European perspective (but see Kirton and Greene, 2004, UK; Becker and Seidel, 2006; Germany; Peretti, 2006, France). The few books that do address workplace diversity in Europe are largely hands-on and practice-oriented. Moreover, most of the existing literature has derived from a narrow range of management disciplines such as human resources management. Very few – and mostly US-based – textbooks take a more cross-disciplinary approach and provide perspectives from multiple disciplines and subject areas such as sociology and anthropology (for example Konrad, Prasad and Pringle, 2006).

Most importantly, the majority of textbooks lack a discussion of the very concept of diversity – what it means and what it stands for, taking into account differences in social and legal contexts. This discussion is crucial for the development of a theoretical framework necessary for a strong foundation on which fruitful exchanges on workplace diversity related ideas and approaches can take place.

With contributions by authors from leading academic institutions across Europe discussing the concept of diversity in different social and legal contexts and from the perspectives of different academic disciplines including sociology; anthropology; psychology; philosophy; marketing; and organizational theory, Diversity in the workplace: multidisciplinary and international perspectives provides the basis for theoretical development and framework building on diversity with a European view.

This book responds to the increasing social and political debate and interest in diversity throughout Europe. The European Commission and the European Academy for Business in Society anticipate that current societal trends will translate into a greater engagement of higher educational institutions to diversity and diversity management throughout Europe. And national diversity initiatives such as La Charte de la Diversité/ Label Diversité (France) and Charta der Vielfalt (Germany) illustrate the increasing popularity of diversity concepts amongst many European businesses and actors. The selection of essays and perspectives in Diversity in the workplace aims to reach across different disciplinary communities and to stimulate a fruitful discourse and exchange of ideas amongst academics, researchers, higher-level students and practitioners wanting to understand managing workforce diversity and practice in a wider context.

The selection of the contributors to this textbook has been based (a) upon their current works and publications in the diversity field, (b) their different disciplines and perspectives on the concept of diversity, and (c) their geographical location in Europe.

The text is divided into two parts. The chapters presented in Part One deal with the underlying issues of diversity as they provide the basis or theoretical framework for diversity policies, practices and processes. Considering diversity in the context of collective life, in Chapter 2 Laurent Bibard explores the fundamental question of how to impose differences without favouring exclusion. Drawing on critical diversity studies, Yvonne Benschop argues in Chapter 3 that the dominance of the business case has tamed diversity as a critical issue in organizational practice, and examines how power processes in diversity management hinder systemic change of inequalities in organizations. In Chapter 4 Karsten Jonsen, Susan C. Schneider and Martha L. Maznevski examine (workforce) diversity as a potential strategic issue. The authors explore how one company went about making sense of diversity as a strategic issue and present the logics/rationales that were elicited in the discussions and the barriers that evolved when attempting to prioritize it on a strategic issue agenda. Based on a Europe-wide survey of deans and faculty members from business schools and universities, in Chapter 5 Esben Rahbek Pedersen, Gonzalo Sánchez Gardey and Simon Tywuschik analyse to what extent higher education institutions in Europe and beyond are addressing diversity management issues in teaching and research, and provide insights from ‘good practice’ case studies from all over Europe. Junko Takagi (Chapter 6) explores diversity from an individual perspective, and connects the literature on self-verification processes, multiple identities and identity activating mechanisms to elaborate a model of diversity and performance in groups. Based on her keynote address at the 2010 EGOS conference in Lisbon and on her previous works in Chapter 7 Susan C. Schneider draws on systems and psychodynamic theories to examine more closely (at multiple levels of analysis) the tensions that may arise from the conflicting forces for convergence and divergence and from the simultaneous need for differentiation and integration as systems evolve and develop over time. The author explores in depth specific fundamental concerns regarding being different (identity and autonomy) yet being related (interdependence), and suggests implications for the theory and practice of managing differences (both ours and theirs).

The chapters in Part Two show the importance of contextualizing diversity in specific European country contexts, how diversity or different dimensions of diversity require particular treatment and/or local adaptation and how difficult it is to envisage a standardized, global approach to managing workplace diversity. In Chapter 8 Eva Boxenbaum, Monica Gjuvsland and Clarissa Eva Leon examine how a Danish translation of the American management concept of diversity management evolved from 2002 to 2009, and explore how field-level variables influenced this translation process. Anne-marie Greene and Gill Kirton provide a general picture of diversity management in the UK and the prospects for diversity management as a paradigm to advance the equality project within UK organizations in Chapter 9. In reflecting on these aspects, the authors explore the different stakeholder experiences of DM and highlight the tensions and dilemmas that these multiple experiences reveal. Jeff Hearn and Lonna Louvrier’s chapter (Chapter 10) describes how the concept of diversity management frames the naming and non-naming, inclusion and exclusion, of ‘gender’, ‘diversity’ and ‘intersectionality’ in organizations in France and Finland. Based on empirical research in the field of age diversity management in Germany, in Chapter 11 Inéz Labucay explores the possibility of arriving at an integrated theoretical perspective on antecedents and consequences of diversity management. In Chapter 12 Marilyn J. Davidson offers a comprehensive research model of occupational stress and degrees of sexual orientation disclosure of LGBs in the workplace. The multivariable approach also highlights avenues for future mixed-method longitudinal research which in particular considers a number of important intervening variables such as race/ethnicity, age, type of sexual orientation and disability, and details of proactive policies and practices in creating inclusive, supportive organizational climates. In the final chapter (Chapter 12) Cedomir Nestorovic provides insights and a detailed overview of the ethnic and religious diversity of the Balkan area, and describes workforce diversity-related managerial and organizational consequences for companies operating in this region.

References

Becker, M. and Seidel, A. (2006). Diversity Management. Stuttgart: Schäffer Poeschel.

Bell, M. (2007). Diversity in Organizations. Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western.

Carr-Ruffino, N. (2005). Making Diversity Work. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Gardenswartz, L., Rowe, A., Digh, P. and Bennett, M. (2003). The Global Diversity Desk Reference. San Franscisco, CA: Pfeiffer.

Ely, R., Foldy, E. and Scully, M. (2003). Reader in Gender, Work, and Organization. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Gentile, M. (1998). Managerial Excellence through Diversity. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

Gentile, M. (2000). Differences that Work. Waveland Press.

Harvey, C. and Allard, M. (2002). Understanding and Managing Diversity. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Kirton, G. and Greene, A.M. (2004). The Dynamics of Managing Diversity. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Konrad, A. Prasad, P. and Pringle, J. (2006). Handbbok of Workplace Diversity. London: SAGE.

Kossek, E. and Lobel, S. (1996). Managing Diversity. Oxford: Blackwell Business.

Peretti, J. (2006). Tous Differents. Paris: Editions d’Organisations.

Powell, G. (2004). Managing a Diverse Workforce. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

CHAPTER 2
Integrating Diversity: Identities Replayed

LAURENT BIBARD

Introduction

The current discussion about managing diversity in organisations illustrates the continued organisational challenges faced by firms in their attempts to integrate groups of diverse backgrounds into the workforce. Organisations often operate spontaneously and in an ad hoc manner without fully considering and integrating all types of individual differences. While much of the responsibility for better integration lies with the organisation, I would like to stress that the person seeking to be integrated also needs to be held accountable for their successful integration – even if the organisation is structurally more powerful than the individual.

Based on this notion of responsibility-sharing, I explore the question of whether organisationally led integration policies and actions are possible, effective or relevant from the standpoint of the individual seeking to be integrated. In addition, I explore what ‘wanting to be integrated’ or ‘being part of an organisation’ means in light of the diversity the individual represents. It is important to conceptualise what such a desire implies, and how its objective can be achieved (if necessary).

In the following section I present a brief phenomenology of the daily operations that define organisational and individual identities, and the implications of integrating the concept of diversity in a general sense within the organisation. I proceed to examine the integration of employee diversity from the standpoint of the individuals seeking to be integrated – illustrated by the example of persons with disabilities. Based on this dual review, I draw a number of conclusions and put forward recommendations critical to the integration of diversity in organisations.

Organisational and Individual Identities

The organisation as a concept covers a broad palette of possible entities ranging from the family to nations or even the world. However, in terms of cities, associations and businesses, their operating methods can be described as follows: an organisation generally has a purpose, is aware of the allocation of tasks necessary to carry out the operations required to serve that purpose, has one or more persons to do so and is a place where decisions are made and conflicting priorities may arise, especially regarding the resources needed for smoothly operating the entity. Operations are considered efficient once a certain level of performance is attained that meets organisationally set criteria. Similarly, when a person takes on a function – following a certain phase of learning – the person executing the function must reach the desired skill level required to be considered a good performer. When everything runs smoothly with no problems (or questions asked), each person contributes to the collective achievement of the intended organisational goal through their function, role or position.

It is the everyday nature of work that progressively forges the organisational culture with its tasks and duties. The daily job routines define the conditions against which these tasks and duties are benchmarked. The day-to-day answers and solutions to the questions and problems encountered at the workplace create routines and processes that form the yardstick against which the quality of the work is assessed. In other words, when the expected job requirements or goals are met or exceeded, daily work routines become the adopted pattern or blueprint for evaluating employees’ contributions. Once this ingrained level of routine has been reached, questions are no longer asked – or more precisely, the act of questioning is no longer needed. Actions and behaviours become invisible and unconscious. The organisation and its processes become silent. Everything runs smoothly and all ‘goes without saying’.

When a modus operandi ‘goes without saying’, its underlying layer of self-evidence is self-perpetuating and forms the basis for its own daily justification and repetition. Within such a cultural context, an employee who is required to perform better will focus solely on increasing the quality of their work routines instead of questioning or challenging their work routines and/or the very patterns and blueprints on which those work routines are based. In such a silent organisation, ‘what works well’ becomes synonomous for ‘what should work’. Unchallenged job routines and unquestioned repeat behaviours become organisational and indivi...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• About the Editor
• About the Contributors
• Preface
• Front Matter
• Part I Conceptualizing Diversity
• Part II Contextualizing Diversity
• Index