Understanding Organizational Diversity Management Programs: A Theoretical Framework and Directions for Future Research

Introduction

This article focuses on diversity management, which is an organizational process designed to promote diversity in the workplace. The authors introduce a framework that both outlines various approaches to diversity management and illustrates the relationship between those approaches and diversity outcomes in an organization.

Jesse E. Olsen is a Senior Lecturer of Management in the Department of Management and Marketing at the University of Melbourne and a Research Associate at the Centre for Asian Business and Economics. His research focuses on hobbies and work, improvisation in organizations, diversity and inclusion, international/cross-cultural management, and leadership. Luis L. Martins is a Professor and the Director of the Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. His research focuses on the cognitive underpinnings of strategy, entrepreneurship, innovation, organizational change, team dynamics, and work performance.

Methods and Findings

The authors analyzed existing research on diversity management to develop their framework regarding diversity management approaches. The first theme that emerged from this research is the importance of values in an organization’s approach to diversity management. There are three variations of values described by Olsen and Martins: instrumental, terminal, and both. Whether an organization holds instrumental values or terminal values (or both) will determine diversity outcomes for the organization. 

Values around Diversity Management and their Outcomes

• Instrumental Values: Guide behaviors related to diversity in order to achieve positive organizational outcomes (such as competitiveness, for a business).
  • Outcome: These values are shown to have a positive impact on culture and environment in the workplace for majority and minority group members because values of diversity are perceived as fair and reasonable. 
  • Outcome: They also help identify and manage potential negative effects of diversity, such as intergroup conflict, and leverage diversity for organizational objectives, leading to better performance outcomes.
• Terminal Values: Referring to valuing diversity for its own sake, without considerations for organizational outcomes.
  • Outcome: These values attract individuals who see diversity as inherently valuable but might be less effective in appealing to staff broadly.
• Dual Approach: Adopting both instrumental and terminal values.
  • Outcome: These values attract a wider range of individuals, enhancing overall workforce diversity. This dual approach is expected to result in more positive perceptions and greater attraction and retention of diverse staff.

Olsen and Martins also identify themes in diversity management approaches regarding  interactions among diverse groups within an organization, which are often referred to as ‘acculturation strategies.’ “Acculturation refers to the process through which cultural changes occur as a result of continuous contact between cultural groups.” These four acculturation strategies, like the value types described above, have related implications for diversity outcomes. 

Strategies for Acculturation and their Outcomes

1. Separation: Groups maintain their own cultures and minimize interaction.
   • Outcome: This strategy does not support a diverse workplace.
2. Marginalization: Groups maintain neither their own culture nor the dominant culture.
   • Outcome: This strategy does not support a diverse workplace.
3. Assimilation: Non-dominant groups conform to the dominant culture.
   • Outcome: This strategy may allow for diversity in recruitment to an organization, but ultimately staff of all backgrounds are influenced to abide by dominant norms, which is not supportive of diversity in the workplace.
4. Integration: Mutual cultural change, through which all groups retain significant aspects of their own cultures.
   • Outcome: This strategy has the greatest impact on diversity outcomes. Organizations with integration strategies have more diverse staff, facilitate creativity and collaboration in the workplace, and foster an inclusive environment.

The paper introduces a new framework for thinking about diversity management approaches by combining the three value types (terminal, instrumental, and dual) with the two acculturation strategies (assimilation and integration). The authors dismiss the separation and marginalization acculturation strategies since they do not seek to support diversity outcomes. This creates six distinct diversity management approaches.

Six Diversity Management Approaches

1. Terminal Assimilation: Prioritizes equal opportunities for minority groups but promotes assimilation into the dominant culture, which leads to potential barriers for minority advancement and limited organizational performance benefits from diversity.
2. Terminal Integration: Prioritizes diversity for its own sake, emphasizing equal consideration for all cultural groups without requiring assimilation into the dominant culture. Thus, this approach promotes equality and reduces barriers for minorities but does not fully leverage diversity for organizational performance benefits.
3. Instrumental Assimilation: Recognizes diversity for its ability to allow the organization to connect with diverse audiences but expects employees to conform to the dominant culture, thereby limiting the advancement of minorities and dampening the potential for creativity and enhanced decision-making.
4. Instrumental Integration: Values diversity for achieving organizational goals by encouraging members to draw on their cultural identities, enhancing creativity, decision making, problem solving, and flexibility, while fostering an inclusive climate and constructive exchange of ideas.
5. Dual-Value Assimilation: Views diversity as both an end state and a means to achieve business objectives, emphasizing equal opportunities and conformity to the dominant culture while leveraging diversity for marketing and customer service, balancing moral and business cases for diversity.
6. Dual-Value Integration: Values diversity both as a means to achieve organizational goals and as an end in itself, encouraging the expression of cultural identities among members and balancing business objectives with moral, legal, and social responsibilities.

Conclusions

The authors do not provide recommendations on which approach(es) an organization should pursue to advance diversity. Rather, they explain that their framework can be used as a tool to understand and analyze different organizational approaches in diversity management, which balance the inherent value of diversity and its utility for organizational performance. The authors argue that different approaches may be best suited to different organizational contexts, and this warrants further research. They encourage researchers to test and leverage this framework to improve organizations’ diversity management approaches.