Workplace Diversity Management: Literature Review & Business Case
This paper critically reviews scholarly and professional literature on workplace diversity management, examining whether managers and employees truly understand its importance and value. Drawing on sources from human resource management, business ethics, applied anthropology, and business journalism, the paper explores how diversity transcends mere demographic compliance to become a moral imperative and a strategic business asset. Key themes include the persistent gap between legal compliance and genuine inclusion, the profitability benefits of effective diversity management, anthropological approaches to building inclusive organizational cultures, employee perceptions of HR policies across nationalities, and the ethical obligations of managers to move beyond tokenism toward authentic, organization-wide diversity strategies.
- Introduction: Diversity's growing relevance in the modern workforce
- An International Perspective on HR Management and Diversity: HRM compliance gaps and the value of genuine diversity
- The Bottom Line's Linkage to Diversity Management: Diversity as a driver of business growth and brand
- Applied Anthropology and Diversity Management: Anthropology's role in building inclusive workplaces
- Impact of Nationality on Employees' Perceptions of HR Policies: How national background shapes HR policy perceptions
- Non-Discrimination as a Moral Obligation: Moral responsibility of managers to combat discrimination
- Diversity: Equality vs. Utilitarian Business Arguments: Reconciling equality ethics with business case arguments
- Recommendations for Managers: Practical guidance for diversity-competent leadership
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What makes this paper effective
- Integrates multiple disciplinary perspectives — HR management, business ethics, applied anthropology, and journalism — to build a multidimensional argument about workplace diversity.
- Each section introduces a distinct scholarly source, summarizes its key claims, and connects them back to the central question of whether managers truly grasp the value of diversity.
- Balances theoretical frameworks (deontology, utilitarianism, virtue ethics) with practical takeaways, making the paper useful to both academic and professional audiences.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates an annotated literature review structure in which each source is not merely cited but critically engaged — the student summarizes, evaluates, and connects each source to the paper's guiding question. This technique shows readers how individual pieces of literature collectively build an argument rather than existing in isolation.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a framing quotation and a thesis-like statement before moving into a formal introduction. Each body section is organized around a single source or thematic cluster, progressing from international HR frameworks and business-case arguments, through anthropological and cross-national perspectives, to moral philosophy. A recommendations section synthesizes the literature into actionable guidance for managers, and a brief conclusion ties the themes together before the Works Cited list.
Introduction
Diversity is not a new concept in the workforce, but it has been receiving a great deal of attention due to the growing immigrant population in the United States and due to an awakening among human resource professionals regarding the need for fairness and justice in places of employment. This paper delves into and critiques the existing literature on the basic question of whether or not managers and employees truly understand the importance of diversity in the workplace.
An International Perspective on HR Management and Diversity
An article in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Human Resource Management is an appropriate first scholarly source to present because it reviews the major issues associated with diversity management and posits that inequality in the workplace is still rampant — helping to answer the question of whether managers and employees fully grasp the value of diversity. The piece also covers the objectives of diversity management and reports — unfortunately — that "…inequality and discrimination still widely exist." The authors suggest that this persists because HRM has focused "…mainly on compliance with equal employment opportunity (EEO) and affirmative action (AA) legislation" (Shen, et al., 2009, 235). As a result, less attention has been paid to "valuing, developing and making use of diversity" (Shen, 235).
Published in 2009, the article's authors assert that at the time there was "very limited literature" examining precisely how diversity is handled through human resource management (Shen, 235). The authors review the existing literature on diversity and present a "conceptual framework" which they believe will benefit other organizations' HRM components. In their review, Shen and colleagues assert that a "large number" of corporations are not willing to hire ethnic minorities or females — especially for openings in high-level positions (236). Some of those same companies go through the motions of diversity training, but those activities do not create opportunities within top management structures or meaningfully diversify the overall workforce (Shen, 236).
On the other hand, research shows there is "wide recognition" of the value added by workplace diversity; empirical research provides evidence that companies that have implemented effective "…diversity management stand to benefit through bottom line returns" (Shen, 236). An alert reader would naturally wonder why, if embracing diversity is actually profitable, more companies do not engage in diversity programs.
Shen also references McLeod, Lobel, and Cox (1996) in presenting several benefits of diversity inclusion. These include the following positives associated with genuine workforce diversity: (a) brainstorming sessions are more productive and solution-oriented; (b) there is a greater sense of cooperative behavior; (c) organizational efficiency is raised to a higher level; (d) the chances for profitability are greater; and (e) organizational success is more assured because diversity can "…enable access to a changing marketplace by mirroring increasingly diverse markets" (Shen, 236).
That said, simply hiring workers from diverse ethnicities and nationalities will not necessarily produce these results, Shen warns. That is where competent diversity management comes into play, which "…hinges on strategic thinking and people-centered policies" (Shen, 236). In the article's conclusion, Shen insists that companies should not embrace diversity merely for legal compliance reasons; rather, diversity management should be a priority for HRM practices in "all organizations" because it is the right thing to do and because it improves companies in many respects — including the bottom line.
The Bottom Line's Linkage to Diversity Management
An article in Forbes argues that diversity is indeed the "key to growth" in today's global marketplace (Llopis, 2011). Diversity is not about numbers and demographics, Llopis declares; it is about "how an organization treats its people authentically down to the roots of its business model" (1).
Because many corporate leaders are still paying "lip service to diversity" — without truly living it — they are missing out on growth and, moreover, are apt to "tarnish their brand" (Llopis, 1). Diversity is not just about data and numbers; it is about "responding" to the needs of workers and consumers in a "holistic way" (2). And it is not just about responding to the "…changing face of America" — it is about responding to the "…mindset of the global marketplace" (Llopis, 2).
The dearth of "cultural intelligence" in society and in business is having a damaging effect on the American economy, according to Kathy Hannan, managing partner in the "Diversity & Corporate Responsibility" component of KPMG LLP (Llopis, 3). Hannan points out how her company, KPMG, integrated the concept of diversity with corporate responsibility: "Today, KPMG views its sustainability strategy across four areas: Ethics, Citizenship, Environmental and Diversity (talent sustainability)" (Llopis, 4). In no instance can a "homogeneous talent pool be innovative," Hannan insists; "Diversity is essential."
Works Cited
Childs, J.T. (Ted). (2005). Managing Workforce Diversity at IBM: A Global HR Topic That Has Arrived. Human Resource Management, 44(1), 73–77.
Demuijnck, Geert. (2009). Non-Discrimination in Human Resources Management as a Moral Obligation. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(1), 83–101.
Dijk, Hans van, Engen, Marloes van, and Paauwe, Jaap. (2012). Reframing the Business Case for Diversity: A Values and Virtues Perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 111(1), 73–84.
Jacob, Cherian, and Jolly, Jacob. (2012). Impact of Nationality on Employees' Perception towards Human Resource Management Policies. Asian Social Science, 8(15), 31–39.
Llopis, Glenn. (2011). Diversity Management Is the Key to Growth: Make it Authentic. Forbes. Retrieved March 5, 2013, from http://www.forbes.com.
Martin-Alcazar, Fernando, Romero-Fernandez, Pedro M., and Sanchez-Gardey, Gonzalo. (2012). Transforming Human Resource Management Systems to Cope with Diversity. Journal of Business Ethics, 107(4), 511–531.
Qirko, Hector N. (2012). Applied Anthropology and Business Diversity Management. International Journal of Business Anthropology, 3(2), 107–120.
Shen, Jie, Chanda, Ashok, D'Netto, Brian, and Monga, Manjit. (2009). Managing Diversity through Human Resource Management: An International Perspective and Conceptual Framework. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(2), 235–251.
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