Academy of

Business
Professionals
 SESSION ON
DIVERSITY AND GLOBAL HRM

[email protected] www.abpbd.org /abp.org

Learning Objective
 Describe diversity
 Review the impact of diversity on HRM and apply approaches to diversity management
 Explain diversity-oriented leadership
 Relate diversity to organisational culture and climate
 Recognise an ‘inclusive’ workplace
 Describe the major differences between domestic and international HRM
 Describe the major challenges faced in international HRM relating to performance
appraisal, training and development, remuneration, and industrial relations
Workplace Diversity
 Diversity exists even when groups of people have been identified as homogeneous.
 The increasing interest in diversity has become a topic of organisational identity, with
diversity drivers being acknowledged as influencing productivity and success.
 Diversity issues are an essential part of how leading-edge sustainable companies
think, behave and do business in the new economy.
 There are four characteristics of employees that are particularly vulnerable to
inappropriate decisions and behaviour. These characteristics are age, health, gender
and cultural background.
 Diversity can be defined across a spectrum of individuals (for example, by relating it to
aspects of age, personal and corporate background, education, personality, lifestyle,
sexual orientation, geographic origin, organisational tenure and function or workplace
status). It can also be defined more narrowly, by simply emphasising race, ethnicity,
nationality, religion and gender.
• Diversity has been categorised in three dimensions:
1. demographic diversity (for example, gender, ethnicity and age)
2. psychological diversity (for example, values, beliefs and knowledge)
3. organisational diversity (for example, occupation tenure and hierarchical level).
Researchers have differentiated diversity using:
• observable attributes (for example, ethnic background, age and gender)
• non-observable attributes (for example, education, technical ability,
functional background, organisational tenure and personal values)
• functional characteristics (for example, knowledge, skills and organisation
experiences).

• Diversity should be defined as broadly as possible because each individual is a rich

combination of aspects of self. From this point of view there are three levels of
diversity that apply to organisations in managing their workforce.
• A primary dimension involves the most recognised characteristics related to an
individual person. This dimension is critical because these characteristics are
generally not subject to change, and they determine a worker’s perceptions of who
they are and with whom they choose to associate. Primary characteristics include
gender, physical ability, age, race and ethnicity.
• The secondary dimensions include a limitless array of individual characteristics that
influence how workers interact with others in a group.
Secondary dimensions may be subject to change by the individual and include
characteristics such as educational background, marital/parental status, work
experience, functional speciality and religion.
• The tertiary dimensions are directly related to an employee’s workplace and influence
their ability to work with other organizational members. Tertiary dimensions can
include full- or part-time status, tenure in the organisation and position in the hierarchy
or management status.
HRMapproaches to diversity management
• The major approaches to diversity management relate to the nature of the
socioeconomic and regulatory environment in which organisations operate, the role
of HRM systems in applying HR policies, the development of corporate cultures that
value difference and promote values as a means of cultural inclusion, and the level of
leadership vision, commitment and accountability throughout the organisation. A
useful definition of diversity management is that of a ‘process of management,
particularly HRM, underpinned by a set of values which recognise differences
between people as strengths for management’.
• Four major philosophical principles of diversity management are suggested.

• Firstly, the differences and similarities of individuals need to be managed

simultaneously. From a subjective perspective, diversity relates to human qualities
that differ from one’s own. From an objective perspective, diversity is a personal
issue with cultural differences that apply to each person as a member of the human
race.
HRMapproaches to diversity management

• Secondly, for diversity to be managed, the identification of its dimensions needs to be

addressed and applied at each level of an organisation.

• Thirdly, diversity management must involve managing an all-inclusive mixture of

differences and similarities involving every person in the workplace.

• Finally, management needs to involve the process of ‘inclusion’ — the effective

involvement of all members of the workplace in the process of developing a new
workplace culture.
The impact of diversity
on HRM
Recruitment and selection approaches
• Different recruitment methods are needed to attract qualified people from diverse labour
pools, to promote diversity in advertising, to streamline recruitment and selection processes
and to change the orientation of HRM functions. Four areas suggested for attention, in
regards to the recruiting process, are:
• (1) planning — for example, set diversity goals for all levels of the firm;
• (2) recruitment strategy — for example, use non-traditional sources of labour;
• (3) search — for example, use advertisements that target the needs of diverse groups;
and
• (4) evaluation — for example, monitor the diversity of candidates.

• Job applicants progress through four stages of the selection process: as applicants,
candidates, finalists and invitees.
• Three barriers that can be addressed to reduce the elimination of persons from diverse
backgrounds before they become invitees are:
Recruitment and selection approaches

• (1) information bias — for example, a decision may be made on information

individuals have difficulty providing;
• (2) personal characteristics — for example, when gender is used as a predictor; and
• (3) the similarity of selectors and selected — for example, people with diverse
backgrounds are unlikely to be selected unless the evaluator has a diverse
background.
• Training and development
• Performance management
• Career development
• Three HRM roles
• Goals of diversity management
• Productive diversity
Pros and cons of
diversity management
Levels of diversity management

• Management of individuals
• Bias can be labelled and shown to lead to three pervasive and powerful
phenomena associated with social categorisation: (1) stereotyping, (2)
prejudice and (3) discrimination.
 Management of groups
 Differences that escalate into conflict
 Overcoming negative group diversity
outcomes
Management at an organisational level
• Types of diversity organisations
• Four types of diversity organisations have been identified.
1.The negative organisation does not have a traditional EEO policy, does not always
comply with the law, does not value diversity and practices direct or indirect discrimination.
2. The minimalist organisation declares itself an equal opportunity employer, follows
management fads, and claims to value diversity; but in which, in reality, equality and
diversity have a low profile, there is no formally written EEO policy and there are no
measures in place to prevent discrimination.
3. The compliant organisation has a narrow orientation to equality and diversity, fulfils legal
and EEO obligations, emphasises ‘good practice’ and uses HRM consultants to implement
policy.
4. The comprehensive, proactive organisation has a broad business case for equality and
social justice; complies with the law; develops ‘best practice’ models and positive
initiatives to promote diversity, equality and fairness in the workplace; and that has
senior management support.
Diversity and organisational culture

• Dimensions of organisational culture

• Cultural assessment practices
• Creating a positive climate for diversity
Inclusive workplace
• Due to global demographic and socioeconomic trends, workforces are becoming more
diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, age and other distinguishing characteristics.
Responding to these trends requires organisations to adopt ‘a vision of inclusion’ — a
vision that takes into account not only the organization itself, but also its stakeholders in
local, state, national and international contexts.
• These trends assist in defining the scope of what companies need to consider when they
design diversity policies and programs. In order to create an inclusive workplace,
organisations may need to value and utilise individual and intergroup differences;
collaborate with individuals and groups within the organisation; and both cooperate with
and contribute to the surrounding community as a means of both cooperate with and
contribute to the surrounding community as a means of alleviating the needs of
disadvantaged groups.
• This four-level model for the inclusive workplace fosters inclusion ‘within the
organisation’, proceeds to inclusion as a facet of ‘corporate community relations’, leads
to collaboration with ‘states/national’ initiatives and culminates with ‘international
collaborations’.
Globalisation
• Globalisation means increased complexity. The external environment now includes
not just local, but also foreign influences.
• Who should manage a new overseas venture — a local employee or an expatriate?
How will people be selected?
• Human resource managers in multinational corporations must achieve two
somewhat conflicting strategic objectives.
• First, they must integrate human resource policies across a number of
subsidiaries in different countries so that overall corporate objectives can be
achieved.
• At the same time, the approach to HRM must be sufficiently flexible to allow for
sufficient differences in the types of HR policies and practices that are most
effective in different business and cultural settings.
Major differences between domestic HRM and international
HRM
 Additional activities such as taxation, international relocation, expatriate remuneration,
cross-cultural training and repatriation
 Increased complexities such as currency fluctuations, foreign HR ‘international
collaborations’.
 Increased involvement in the employee’s personal life — that is, assistance with
personal taxation, voter registration, housing, children’s education, health, recreation
and partner employment
 A more complex employee mix, such as a mix of more people from different cultures and
ethnic backgrounds as a significant part of the workforce.
 More complex external influences, such as different cultures, political systems, ethics and
laws.
 Increased risks, such as emergency exits for illness, personal security, kidnapping and
terrorism.
International HRM policy
 What type of organisation is desired? An
Australian organisation with overseas
operations, an Australian multinational or
a truly global organisation with its
headquarters based in Australia (or
elsewhere)?
 What are the organisation’s key
values?
 What makes this organisation
successful? What is the organisation’s
purpose?
 What is to be the balance between the
organisation and national culture/s?
 What type of corporate culture is
desired?
 What type of people do we wish to
employ? How is global talent to be
managed?
Global view
• Managers must have global vision. The task of transforming domestic managers into
international managers with a global mindset is a strategic HRM problem facing many
multinationals. Recent research suggests that the number of languages a person
speaks, the number and frequency of their overseas business trips, the number and
duration of their previous international assignments and their exposure to diverse
functional teams (made up of people from different cultural backgrounds who speak
different languages) all play a part in the development of a global mindset.
Unfortunately, inadequacies in this area are a virtual guarantee of failure.
• A study of multinational disasters concluded that ‘the primary causes of failure in
multinational ventures stem from a lack of understanding of the essential differences
in managing human resources, at all levels, in foreign environments’.
Thank you!
For your TimeandSupport