iso-NEWS - Institut für Sozialforschung und Sozialwirtschaft eV

Ingrid Matthäi: ’Managing Diversity’
__________________________________________________________________________________________
der to improve equal conditions for both
genders. The more comprehensive concept
of ‘managing diversity’, indeed, goes
far ‘beyond race and gender’ (Thomas
1992) - it reflects the social process of individualization
and pluralism in society as
well (Beck 1986) when valuing individuality
as a resource. Meanwhile ‘homogenous’
oriented personnel policies interpret individuality
as a ‘deficiency’ individuals must
overcome and adapt to the (‘monocultural’)
organization. ‘Managing diversity’
means re-defining personnel policies
switching from a ‘homogenous’ ideal to a
‘pluralistic’ view.
Therefore it is no surprise that nowadays
the definition of ‘diversity’ includes a
broader approach with more dimensions
of variety, especially the soft factors. But
there is no unique or global definition of
diversity. Besides the ‘hard factors’ that are
‘observable differences’ like age, gender,
race or disabilities it focuses the so-called
‘soft factors’ or ‘unobservable differences’
like educational or social background,
religion, language, life styles, work status,
sexual orientation, diversity in values or
diversity in skills and knowledge. Diversity in
general refers to any mixture of items
characterized by differences and similarities
between human beings. Therefore
diversity is not synonymous with differences
but encompasses both differences and
similarities. This is a crucial distinction. It
means that when you are making managerial
decisions, you no longer have the
option of dealing only with the differences
or similarities present in the situation, instead
you must deal with both simultaneously.
But a very broad or extensive definition
often is not very useful for implementation
56
iso-Mitteilungen Nr. 3/August 2004
in companies (Sepeheri/Wagner 2002,
Thomas 1996). Before they adopt this concept
managers have to define the goals
and must specifiy the dimensions in question.
Which kinds of diversity exist in the
company and which of them are worthiest
of attention - gender, race, nationality,
age, skills or others? A diverse workforce
does not inevitably generate advantages
over homogenous groups. There might be
even some risks because differences on
some dimensions could probably lead to
fragmentation or segregation. Excessive
orientations on heterogeneity might also
lead to an ‘overshooting’ unable to be
managed efficiently any longer. Too much
diversity could lead to conflicts, confusion
and social segregation because an increasingly
diverse workforce is variously
viewed as opportunity, threat or problem.
Therefore the need for diversity must be
balanced with the need for organizational
coherence and unity in action to provide
competitive edge. A good balance is best
when neither excessive diversity nor excessive
homogeneity is present (Cox/Blake
1991). ‘Managing diversity’ is the ability of
the company to manage a diverse workforce
so that the potential advantages of
diversity are maximized while its potential
disadvantages are minimized. Using ‘managing
diversity’ as a management concept
requires instruments, practices, tools
and systems that are flexible to respond
the individual as a focus of organizational
change. The following chart (fig. 3) shows
the different levels of ‘doing diversity’, the
specific goals and the tools for implementation
in a company (Cox 1991; Krell 2002).