Managing Diversity From a Strategic Perspective: A Competing Values Approach
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
1-1-2005
Abstract
Attempts at managing diversity have met with mixed, mostly weak results voer the years. Organizations have invested a great deal of money, time, and emotion in trying to help their employees "value diversity" in vain hopes of positively impacting the organization's bottom line. The present study argues that the faulure to realize gains from managing diversity stem from a basic misunderstanding of the nature of diversity itself, resulting in the view that it is both inevitable and inherently good. Once freed of these assumptions, managers can begin to truly manage diversity from a strategic perspective, insuring that their diversity strategy is consistent with other aspects of their competitive strategy, culture, and structure. The Competing Values Approach (CVA) is suggested as a model that ties this new perspective to other organizational imperatives. The resulting model identifies four strategic approaches to managing diversity, Valuing, Exploiting, Reducing, and Rejecting. The model also forces management to answer the crucial question of why diversity is being introduced or increased in the organization. Different reasons reflect different goals, which should in turn lead to different managerial expectations. Realistically matching expectations to diversity strategies will go a long way in reducing the frustrations and disappointments with Managing Diversity programs in use today.
Publication Title
Southwest DSI 2005 Proceedings
Recommended Citation
Daniel, F.,
Bushardt, S. C.
(2005). Managing Diversity From a Strategic Perspective: A Competing Values Approach. Southwest DSI 2005 Proceedings.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/21036
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