Managing Diversity

Managing Diversity

Jessica L. Brundige

Western Carolina University

Diversity was legally introduced into the workplace with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sex or race in hiring, firing or promoting an individual. Affirmative action laws in the following years took it even further and prohibited discrimination due to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, pregnancy, age and disability. “These laws, along with affirmative action programs established to provide incentives and guidelines for developing a diverse workforce, have generally been successful in providing access to a variety of jobs for minority persons, women, immigrants, older adults, and people with disabilities” (Barak, 2000). In the late 80’s, “the diversity approach began to be discussed as a means of providing both a business and social-justice incentive to drive equality within organizations. Diversity was not only seen as a solution to the increase of women and ethnic minorities…but it also complemented the growth of practices such as total quality management and HRM where organisational success was aligned with people management” (Riach, 2009).

While the premise behind diversity has not changed in organizations, the definition of diversity has broadened. Diversity has gone beyond protecting minorities and women. Johnson (2003) states that there are three major dimensions of diversity: internal, external and organizational. Internal dimensions are characteristics that are genetically chosen and include age, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, ethnicity and race. External dimensions are characteristics that influence our lives and value systems and contribute to the development of our personalities. These include geographic location, income, personal habits, recreational habits, religion, educational background, work experience, appearance, parental status and marital status. Finally, organizational...