Diversity Management in a Danish Context: Towards a Multicultural or Segregated Working Life?

Abstract

Since diversity management was introduced in Europe in the late 1990s, it has been debated whether this new concept would act as a catalyst of organizational change in favour of underprivileged groups. This article argues that diversity management is interpreted in a specific societal and organizational context, and indicates how strong institutions make their impact on Danish versions of diversity management. On the basis of a case study of the implementation of diversity management in a specific organization, the authors analyse how discourses of diversity management and corporate social responsibility are combined. The study suggests that this version of diversity management potentially leads to changes in the positions of ethnic minorities, primarily in the form of assimilation, as it maintains a focus on the sameness of people, not on the value of difference or otherness.