Diversity Management Literature Research Articles

Unveiling Power Dynamics: Diversity Interpretations, Management Practices, and Inclusion Perceptions in the Workplace

The current diversity management literature highlights a lack of empirical investigations into nuanced diversity characteristics within specific contexts, with a predominant focus on the USA, Europe, and Asia. This article addresses these gaps by exploring the intricate relationship between interpretations of workforce diversity dimensions and ensuing diversity management practices, shaping perceptions of inclusion or exclusion. Workplace diversity is viewed subjectively, influenced by contextual factors like industry and location. A case study was conducted in June 2022 within a Japanese automotive company, gathering qualitative data through techniques such as semi-structured in-depth interviews and non-participant observations were made during two guided visits. AtlasTi was utilized for the analysis of results. Findings reveal that socio-economic differences' interpretation is swayed by power imbalances in labor relationships. Diversity management practices aligned with the dominant group exacerbate inequality among demographic groups, establishing metaphorical «glass ceilings» for minorities and fostering exclusion perceptions. Considering the case study’s limitations, the research contributes to the diversity management discourse, prompting a reevaluation of practices to mitigate unintentional inequality perpetuation in the workplace.

Supportive, resistant, or both? A person-centric view on employee responses to diversity initiatives.

Employees' responses to diversity initiatives are critical to understand the effectiveness of such initiatives. However, prior research has largely considered the isolated effects of specific favorable or unfavorable employee responses (e.g., support or resistance) from a variable-centered perspective. This prior focus overlooks the potential (a) coexistence of more complex configurations of cognitive, affective, and behavioral response types within individuals and (b) the existence of subpopulations of employees who may respond both favorably and unfavorably, thus displaying ambivalence. To address these shortcomings, we build on the tripartite response model and adopt a person-centered approach to shed light on a more comprehensive spectrum of employees' responses to diversity initiatives. Using latent profile analysis, our results across three studies reveal (Study 1, n = 605) and replicate (Study 2, n = 503 and Study 3, n = 514) four distinct response types: excited supporters, calm compliers, torn shapers, and discontent opponents. Furthermore, using time-lagged data from Study 3, we provide initial insights into relevant person and situation predictors of profile membership and show how employees across profiles differ on work-related outcomes that can be functional or dysfunctional for their organization. Taken together, we aim to initiate a conversation on the complex nature of responses to diversity initiatives within the diversity management literature and call for more research, specifically on ambivalent responses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The potential of fostering connections: Insights into polycultural organizations

AbstractDiversity in organizations is a recurring and increasing reality of vast importance. The diversity management literature describes different types of organizations based on their treatment and management of diversity, including plural and multicultural organizations. However, recent research suggests the added value of considering polycultural organizations in diversity management. Based on a polycultural ideology that sees values, traditions, and norms inherently and dynamically intertwined and mixed, polycultural organizations emphasize the value for and “connectedness” to diversity among organizational members. Contributing to the diversity management literature, this paper conceptually describes and compares polycultural organizations with other types of organizations in the diversity management literature. It argues the potential benefit of including a polycultural ideology to current perspectives in diversity management to further advance our understanding of how diversity can be effectively managed in organizations. Additionally, practice implications and strategies to foster polycultural organizations are provided.

Incite then Control: Organizational Responses to Managers’ Appropriations of Diversity Practices (WITHDRAWN)

The diversity management literature offers few accounts of organizations that manage to foster diversity, of how diversity policy and practices are enacted in practice, and of managers’ motivations to do so. To close these gaps, this paper reports a 4-year ethnography in a European bank which succeeded in reducing the glass ceiling by inciting managers to appropriate its gender diversity policy and practices. I examine the multiple types of appropriation (e.g., selective appropriation, extension, diversion, misappropriation) as well as managers’ underlying motivations for each of them. I then analyze the continuum of organizational responses to these appropriations, from undoing to appropriation of managers’ appropriations. This paper contributes to a) providing a better conceptualization of appropriation by extending previous typologies and highlighting the organizational repertoire of action to react to managers’ appropriations; b) shedding a new light on the so called ‘resistance to change’; and c) providing insights into the advantages and drawbacks of appropriation as a new model of practice implementation. It thus contributes to advancing and renewing both the diversity and change management literatures.

Team Leadership and Diversity Management in Information Systems Development Project Teams

Background: The interplay of diversity and leadership produces mixed findings in the literature. Based on the categorization-elaboration model (CEM) and diversity management (DM) literature, this study investigates the role of team leadership in a diverse ISD team. Further, this study examines the moderating roles of DM practices in the relationships between group diversity, team leadership, and project performance. Method: This study selected a paired survey method to test the hypotheses. Eighty-two valid paired questionnaires were received from project managers and team members in ISD projects. In addition, this study used partial least squares (PLS) with a bootstrapping technique to examine the proposed model. Results: The results show that group diversity has mixed impacts on team leadership. Furthermore, DM practices positively moderate the effect of value diversity on team leadership, as value diversity is positively related to team leadership when DM practices are more robust. At last, DM practices negatively moderate the relationship between team leadership and project performance as the effect of team leadership has weaker effects on project performance when DM practices are strong than when the practices are weak. Conclusion: This study adds to the literature by examining team leadership in a heterogenous ISD team and providing empirical evidence for the moderating roles of DM practices in team leadership processes.

How Incentive Compensation can Persuade Managers to Foster Gender Diversity in their Organization?

The diversity management literature underscores the critical role played by managers. However, the determinants of their commitment to diversity management have been overlooked so far. This paper aims to contribute to closing this gap. It reports a 4-year ethnography in “BeBank” the main subsidiary (6,000 employees) of a European retail bank which implemented a new reward system: 10% of senior managers’ incentive compensation depended on their actions in favor or gender diversity. BeBank succeeded in dramatically advancing women’s careers after the implementation of this incentive plan. This paper focuses on the mechanisms explaining how incentive compensation can persuade managers to foster gender diversity. This paper contributes to closing the research-practice gap by providing insight into how to persuade managers to reduce gender inequality. It also extends the theory of inequality remediation in the workplace and contributes to integrating change management and the attention-based view of the firm in the diversity management literature.

Dynamic structures of inequalities: Intersectionality in higher education

Intersectional inequality in organizations is usually conceptualized in an idiosyncratic way, focusing on specific inequalities experienced by specific groups of employees. Such an idiosyncratic focus hinders understanding the generic mechanisms underneath organizational inequalities. This paper contributes to organization studies and diversity management literature by conceptualizing intersectionality as a dynamic structure of inequality, where mechanisms of inequality at the level of organizational structure and organizational culture, social interactions and identities may interact and affect different groups in different ways. To be able to grasp the complexity of such dynamic structures we propose the use of qualitative systems dynamics modeling. During participatory action research in a Dutch University, we involved 47 managers and employees in building a qualitative system dynamics model of the intersection between gender, nationality and ethnicity. In visualizing the dynamic structures of intersectional inequalities, we showed not only how intersectional inequalities added to each other, but also how they intersect and interact in time. Variables such as the diversity of selection committees and the perceived deviation of candidates from the norm visualize the intersection between gender, national and ethnic inequality. Gender and nationality intersect in the feeling of belonging of faculty, while the informal networks of international students connects nationality and ethnicity. Dynamic structures of inequality allow both dynamic equilibrium and dynamic change in an organization, explaining why change is difficult, but also showing how change could come about.

Theorizing Status Distance: Rethinking the Micro Theories of Representation and Diversity in Public Organizations

Through bringing the concept of status distance to representative bureaucracy and diversity management literature, this article develops new hypotheses that can guide future studies on representation and diversity in public organizations. First, including status distance brings consideration of the tensions that minority representation creates between integration within the workforce and the pressures on minority bureaucrats to actively represent clientele. Second, the way status distance plays out in the interaction of bureaucrats with co-workers and citizen-clients depends on characteristics of the national and organizational environment and type of service.

Fostering innovative behavior in the aviation industry: The role of perceived supervisor support and work group diversity

The research primarily seeks to understand how supervisor support can directly and indirectly enhance the service innovative behavior (SIB) of flight attendants via work engagement. Moreover, although there has been some research on the effect of group diversity on organizational performance, the results have not been consistent. Thus, this study addresses this gap by investigating how work group diversity can make variance in the relationship between work engagement and innovative behavior of flight attendants. The sample size of 242 flight attendants working at the central airport in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, has been taken for the study. To test hypotheses, structural equation modeling and bootstrapping were employed. This study provided an evidence for the positive nexus between perceived supervisor support and SIB. Additionally, the results shed light on a mediation mechanism of work engagement for the association between flight attendants’ perception of their supervisor and innovative behavior. Furthermore, tenure diversity and job position diversity in a work group were proved to play a moderating role in the relationship between work engagement and service innovative behavior. Specifically, flight attendants are more willing to exhibit innovative behaviors when working in a homogeneous group in terms of tenure and job position rather than in a heterogeneous group. The empirical results contributed to the diversity management literature and broadened the understanding of how to activate the service innovative behavior of employees. From a managerial perspective, managers should pay attention to the characteristics of employees when organizing teamwork. AcknowledgmentThe authors are grateful to the anonymous referees of the journal for their extremely useful suggestions for improving the quality of this paper.

Performing to secure cultural hegemony: mediators' impact on the integration process

PurposeThe article takes its point of departure in the current labor market debate on immigration policy and attempts to explore the way private labor market mediators involved in the integration of immigrants contribute to reproducing cultural stereotypes reminiscent of colonial ideas.Design/methodology/approachFindings are based on respondent-driven interviews with nine labor market mediators (seven women and three men) from eight private labor market agencies in Sweden.FindingsThe findings showed that the private labor market mediators put their trust in the neoliberal system and rely on the colonial discourses when convincing immigrants to assimilate into the dominant culture. At the same time, the findings also show that there is no evidence that the assimilating activities they offer will lead to long-term employment.Research limitations/implicationsGiven that migration across national borders has become a common phenomenon, the author suggests a call for critical reflections on the taken-for-granted notions of both self and others and the influences colonial discourses have on integration.Practical implicationsThe author would suggest a shift of focus from immigrants' cultural adjustment to society's and employers' responsibilities and readiness to adjust to prevailing conditions.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the labor market literature and the diversity management literature by adding insights from public labor market mediators' experiences of the help they offer immigrants to enter the labor market. It shows how mediators make use of dominating discourses to secure cultural hegemony.

A moderated mediation model of employee experienced diversity management: openness to experience, perceived visible diversity discrimination and job satisfaction

PurposeThis study developed and tested a moderated mediation model on workplace diversity management. The analysis examined whether diversity management affects job satisfaction via perceived discrimination, depending on employees' openness to experience.Design/methodology/approachBuilding upon the assumptions of social identity theory, social cognitive theory and Big-Five theory, this study proposed and tested a model that analyzes the process through which diversity management influences perceived visible diversity discrimination and job satisfaction, depending on employees' openness to experience.FindingsThis study found support for the proposed moderated mediation model, which suggests that diversity management interacts with employees' openness to experience personality to influence their job satisfaction through perceived visible diversity discrimination. The results indicated that diversity management increased employees' job satisfaction in the workplace and that the relationship between diversity management and job satisfaction was further mediated by employees' perceptions of being discriminated against because of their age, gender and racial identities. The effect of diversity management on job satisfaction through perceived visible diversity discrimination was stronger when employees had high levels of openness to experience.Practical implicationsThe results of the study suggest that the diversity management is an important organizational intervention to improve job satisfaction by providing a scientific explanation of its underlying psychological process and identifying the factors associated with the process, such as personality and perception of being discriminated.Originality/valueThis study contributes to extend the diversity management literature by applying the assumptions of social identity theory, social cognitive theory and Big-Five theory together to identify the relationship between diversity management and job satisfaction and the effect of perceived discrimination and openness to experience in the relationship.

Diversity Management During the Internationalization Process for Early Internationalizing Firms

An important body of literature has focused on the antecedents of the internationalization process for early internationalizing firms (EIFs) and few studies unraveled the potential role of human resource diversity. Drawing on diversity management literature and developing its argument with insights of the resource-based view, this study explores the role of human resource diversity management during the EIFs internationalization process. This exploratory qualitative study analyzed the internationalization process of eight French EIFs at different phases of the internationalization process and adopting different diversity management perspectives. Findings show that human resource diversity can become a strategic, ordinary or negative resource depending on the way it is managed. Three perspectives of diversity management and their contrasting effects are therefore discussed. Finally, this study highlights the importance of a transition phase between the entry to the post-entry phase during internationalization process for EIFs, especially when considering human resource diversity.

Organizational Justice and the Inclusion of LGBT Federal Employees: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis Using Coarsened Exact Matching

Inclusiveness occurs when employees are considered a part of critical organizational processes, which means that they have access to information (including information that may be passed around through informal networks), a connectedness to coworkers, and the ability to participate in and influence the decision-making process. With an organizational justice framework, this study examines the level of inclusion federal lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) employees perceive, compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Using a quasi-experimental method, coarsened exact matching, we find expected differences in perceptions of procedural and informational justice but no perceived differences in distributional justice between LGBT and heterosexual federal employees. The implications of our methodology and findings for the diversity management literature are discussed.

Diversity management: a systematic review

PurposeDiversity management plays a significant role in the organization’s outcomes. This study seeks to provide a brief review of the history of diversity management and to identify the articles published on diversity management since 1991. A systematic review of the literature has been carried out to understand the literature in more detail to know the future scope of research.Design/methodology/approachThis study provides a comprehensive systematic review of quantitative, qualitative and theoretical studies published in leading peer-reviewed management journals from 1991 to 2018 and identifies 123 articles that fall within its established search inclusion criteria.FindingsThe literature review highlighted several aspects related to diversity management. The findings of the study revealed that there is a high concentration of researches in the USA and most number of articles published in the Academy of Management Journal. Although diversity management is a very emerging topic across the globe in management literature yet there is a lack of research in developed countries. Furthermore, most studies are found empirical in nature and the majority of the studies were published during the period of 1996–2000. This finding suggests that age, gender and racial diversity have been repeatedly discussed in diversity management research while other forms of diversity have given less attentionOriginality/valueThis study is one of the first systematic studies that describe the in-depth analysis of diversity management literature. The significant contribution of this study is to propose the integrated model with contemporary trends and patterns of results reported in diversity research, as well as contextual factors that have received more attention to date.

Assessing the support of health leadership for increased Indigenous participation in the health workforce.

Objective The aim of this study was to assess the strength of leadership statements in Australian state and territory policy documents supporting increased representation of Indigenous people in the health workforce. Methods Document analysis of leadership statements, prefacing state and territory Indigenous health workforce plans, from a relevant Minister or Head of Department was undertaken to detect the presence and level of 'dependency messaging': did the leadership statement clearly state that an Indigenous health workforce was needed to improve Indigenous health outcomes? Results Australian health leaders do not routinely use dependency messaging in state and territory Indigenous health workforce plans. Conclusion Greater alignment of state and territory Indigenous health workforce plans with contemporary diversity management knowledge could improve recruitment and retention of Indigenous peoples and, ultimately, Indigenous health outcomes. What is known about the topic? The diversity management and change management literature highlights the importance of demonstrated leadership. Dependency messaging is the clear articulation of the benefit that members of minority and diversity groups bring to an organisation's performance; this is regarded as highly influential for diversity recruitment and retention. What does this paper add? Strong 'dependency messaging' in health policy leadership statements could increase the Indigenous health workforce, and ultimately improve health outcomes, but is currently not uniformly used across jurisdictions. State and territory Indigenous health workforce plans were analysed using the diverse literature of change management, diversity management and strength-based approaches to provide recommendations for policy improvement that could lead to better Indigenous healthcare outcomes. What are the implications for practitioners? The use of dependency messaging by health leaders could enhance recruitment of an Indigenous health workforce.

“I’ve found it extremely draining”

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address a significant gap in the line manager, HRM and the diversity management literature, that of exploring the role and significance of emotional labour (EL) in relation to the lived experienced of line managing neurodiversity. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach was used to explore lived experiences of line managers responsible for managing neurodiverse employees. Interviews were conducted with line managers employed in the UK transport industry. Findings The findings provide rich insights into line managing neurodiversity. A key overall finding is reasonable adjustments deemed essential to support neurodiverse employees require a myriad of hidden, complex, time consuming and often emotionally draining interactions with disabled employees, the employee’s wider team, and HRM and occupational health (OH) practitioners. Research limitations/implications This is an exploratory study and therefore limited by nature of the research design, industry focus, scope of study and sample size. Practical implications The findings have the potential to inform HRM and OH practitioner support for line managers responsible for managing neurodiverse employees. Social implications The study contributes to wider societal attempts to make employment more inclusive to a range of historically disadvantaged groups. Originality/value The study fills an important gap in the HRM literature on line managing neurodiverse employees. The study makes a specific and unique contribution to extensive literatures on line management, disability and EL.

Informal diversity management practices and their effectiveness: In the context of ethnically diverse employees in hotels

Managing ethnically diverse employees is a key challenge for managers, and research shows that managers often use informal diversity management practices. Yet we do not know enough about the relationship between informal diversity management practices and organizational outcomes. To address this challenge, the present study examined the relationship between informal diversity management practices and two organizational outcomes – innovation and financial effectiveness. The study also examined the moderating role of ethnic diversity in the above relationships. Data were collected from Australian hotels at organizational level, and hierarchal regression was used to analyze the data. Results indicated a significant positive direct relationship between informal diversity management practices and organizational outcomes. However, ethnic diversity moderates only the relationship between informal diversity management practices and innovation. The study advances the hotel diversity management literature and offers practical implications for how to sustain the benefits of informal diversity management in the long term.

Translating Culture in the Global Workplace: Language, Communication, and Diversity Management

In the highly multicultural workplace of today’s multinational corporations (MNCs), translating across different cultures becomes a crucial issue. But what precisely counts as culture in the global workplace of the MNC? What does it exactly mean to be able to translate across cultures under the regimes of evaluation adopted by MNCs? In this article, I consider these questions through a discussion of the corporate discourse of diversity management, in which the cultural diversity of the workforce is understood as a resource for maximizing profit. Based on a critical review of diversity management literature and a study on Korean managers working for non-Korean MNCs in Singapore, I first show how diversity management’s claim of openness and inclusivity actually works to reproduce unequal relations in the workplace. I then argue that attention to the politics of translation, where the ideological nature of evaluations of cultural (in)commensurability is highlighted, is needed for applied linguists’ engagement with language and communication in the multicultural workplace.

Diversiteit in bestuurskundig perspectief

In practice, diversity interventions do not always appear to be effective. One argument is that there is little or no match between the perspectives of public organizations on diversity and the interventions used. This article provides an overview of the underlying rationales for diversity policy and discusses the perspectives on diversity from the diversity literature, HRM, and management literature and how these overlap, complement each other and differ from each other. What these perspectives have in common is that they all emphasize the added value of diversity. In the diversity literature, the emphasis is on the four perspectives equality, legitimacy, creativity, and the labour market. HRM literature focusses on managing differences. In public administration, there is a shift from active representation by individuals to connecting by all employees. Furthermore, the binding perspective is gaining more and more importance in the public domain because it may be possible to close the gap between the government and its citizen. This perspective emphasizes the importance of the long-term relationship with citizens to strengthen the trust of citizens in the government for realizing social tasks and responsibilities. It makes diversity an issue for all employees. For Hassan and Havva, and also for Hans and Hanna.

RETHINKING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY RESEARCH THROUGH CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES: EMERGING PATTERNS AND RESEARCH AGENDA

This paper aims at highlighting the theoretical development of diversity management by providing an integrated understanding of how diversity management has made progress and evolved in organisations. The current article adopts a conceptual and critical review to demonstrate the changes and shifts in diversity management research. This study reveals that there are four stages of workforce diversity within the business and management field. These stages are equal employment opportunity/affirmative action, valuing differences, diversity management and global diversity management. Each stage is discussed in greater details within the article. This study contributes to the broader diversity management literature in three main ways: firstly, by shedding some light on the conceptual clarity of the diversity notion itself; secondly, by foregrounding the holistic view of diversity management; thirdly, by reflecting the recent developments in diversity research. The review consistently points to the fact that the current literature on diversity management has been predominantly shaped by a mainstream managerial discourse and neoliberal logic which has mostly a discrimination focus rather than an inclusiveness perspective. The paper also suggests that further research is required on workforce diversity particularly with an emic, an intersectional, a contextual and a relational approach rather than reproducing the existing knowledge by an etic framing of diversity from an instrumental point of view that dominates the extant literature.