What is diversity management and to what extent can it contribute to creating a fairer workplace?

“Diversity refers to human qualities that are different from our own and those of groups to which we belong; but that are manifested in other individuals and groups. Dimensions of diversity include but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, parental status, religious beliefs, work experience, and job classification." (Equal Employment Opportunities Commission,2010) According to Etsy et al. (1995), diversity is acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status.

The process of globalization increases diversity all around the world. By the transnational circulation of workers, capital flows, and the spread of technology people from different countries, with different social backgrounds, and from diverse cultures live together and share the same office.

For Kossek, Lobel and Brown (2005), the workforce diversity acknowledges the reality that people differ in many ways, visible or invisible, mainly age, gender, marital status, social status, disability, sexual orientation, religion, personality, ethnicity and culture. Such a diverse workforce is actually the reflection of a changing world and marketplace. And it is now common to face diversity issues in the workplace.

Diversity is often perceived as having some disadvantages such as an increased number of conflicts, a poorer internal communications, and growing management costs. Nevertheless, in the late 60’s, following the civil rights movement in America, governments started adopting slowly anti-discriminatory legislation in order to deal with diversity issues in the