Straws and Bundles: Reviewing the Diversity Management Agenda at the Strategic Level

Abstract

Diversity management as a research domain has led to the emergence of a rather mixed bag of studies with conflicting findings. This review article seeks to synthesize these insights and then uncover the major theoretical perspectives that guide the crafting of the strategic human resource (HR) function specific to promoting diversity praxis in organizations. Eighty papers are reviewed using thematic review and content analytic methods. There are three sequential parts. First, we spend some time on how diversity has been conceptualized in academic literature and how it came to be linked to organizational performance. Second, we attempt to understand the definition of ‘diversity management’, review its implications for the strategic HR function and locate it with regard to functional HR practices. In the final part, we actually look at the black box contents, i.e., we review organizational HR activities that have been documented by scholars and the theories that have informed these activities at firm level and extra-firm level. Extensive research directions are suggested. A critique of praxis is offered, and how it is currently limiting academic inquiry is discussed.