Reflecting the discussions above, at the strategic level, what is required is a
management philosophy that recognizes diversity is critical for organizational success.
Top management commitment to diversity should be reflected in the organizational vision,
mission and business strategy in order to remove psychological and operational barriers to
managing diversity. If such commitment is inconsistent with the current organizational
culture, then a significant culture change may be necessary in order to create an
atmosphere of mutual respect of all employees. At the tactical level, a range of HRM
diversity policies can be formulated in order to support this management philosophy.
Measuring the employees’ perception of the existing HRM diversity practices and their
expectations may be conducted to facilitate policy development. HRM diversity policies at
the operational level are implemented at the workplace, involving mainly educating
employees, identity-based networking groups, targeting communications to different
affinity group members, flexible employment and support for generating a work – life
balance.
At all levels, line managers should play a more important role in diversity manage-
ment. Devolution of responsibility for people management is a central theme of HRM
(Storey 1992) and of diversity management as well (Kandola and Fullerton 1994). Sanglin-
Grant and Schneider (2000) found that line managers’ iterations of organizational policy
on racial equality are sometimes at odds with employees’ views of organizational practice.
Hence, line management should be involved more in the decision-making process in order
to fully understand and effectively implement diversity management.
Based on the above discussion, a conceptual framework of HR diversity management
is proposed and shown in Figure 1. This model indicates that diversity management
includes EEO/AA as well as appreciating and making use of diversity. Diversity
management should occur at the strategic, tactical and operational levels through a range
of different activities involving managers at all three levels. The model also highlights the
ultimate objectives of diversity management. These objectives include benefits to
organizations and individuals which can result from good diversity management.
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