ORCID

https://orcid.org/ 0000-0001-9980-4946

Document Type

Conference Object

Disciplines

Business | Human Resources Management

Publication Details

This paper was presented at the Irish Academy of Management Conference, held at Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland, on 25th & 26th August 2021.

Abstract

Globally, diversity in the workplace has become more prominent than ever before and continues to rise (Shukla et al., 2019). To strategically manage the diverse workforce, a significant number of organisations have embraced the practice of diversity management. Diversity management refers to the formal and informal structures, methods and programs implemented by an organisation to promote organisational equality for employees (Sukalova and Ceniga, 2020). Diversity management programs have been introduced with a range of ostensible aims, including: increasing the rates of participation of women and ethnic minorities, improving career prospects for such groups, incorporating wider perspectives into the decision-making processes and helping organisations reach new and formally untapped markets (Lorbiecki and Jack, 2000). Originally gaining popularity at the turn of the millennium, diversity management is proclaimed to provide paybacks such as financial, market access, innovation, productivity, creativity and motivation, to the organisations and the individual. The infancy of the practice of diversity management and the dearth of evidence-based research in the area however, has resulted in a deficiency of evidence on how to design and implement effective diversity management (Bendl et al., 2015; Janssens and Zanoni, 2014; Kalev et al., 2006; Rivera, 2011; Williams and O’Reilly, 1998). It has been proven evident that employee support is paramount to the success of diversity management; however, there is a lack of research on how employees perceive such practices and the impact the practices have on fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace.

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