The importance of strategic change in achieving equity in diversity

Abstract

Increasing diversity within organizations has brought with it renewed calls for fair and
just treatment of individuals in organizations. However, traditional management practice
and ethnocentric cultures continue to operate as though the workforce was relatively
homogeneous. This paper uses data from more than 1970 organizations to identify different approaches to managing equity and the outcomes for women.Three of the four approaches are predictors of increases in some of the measures of status of employment for women. Results show that implementation issues including decision structures, policy type and justice perspective affect the outcome. Effective diversity management that brings substantive change to workplace disparity is not a 'one size fits all' model. It requires strategic change that involves analysis of specific contextual issues including gendered industry type and organizational size in addition to change in structures and systems.