Chartered MCIPD

Chartered MCIPD

Introduction

This chapter aims to present a summary of research and writing on equality and diversity within the field of CIPD human resource management (CIPD HRM). It begins by providing some background context in which the central theme of the discussion is the move in thought from liberal approaches to equality based on 'sameness', to diversity approaches founded on 'difference'. The chapter explores the question of what this means for CIPD HRM and the HR function, looking at the implications for thinking about diversity management (DM) in organisations. Here the chapter is broadly structured around issues that have been selected because they represent some key themes of current academic and practitioner CIPD HRM literature; namely, the gap between the rhetoric and 'reality' of theory and practice and the problems of making a business case; moving towards 'best fit' or contextualised policies and practices; and looking at who should have responsibility for diversity within organisations. Reflecting the nature of academic and practitioner research in the field of equality and diversity, this summary will largely be from an Anglo-American perspective.

EO to Diversity Management

What is meant by a diversity approach is a shift in thought in two main areas: a focus on treating people differently; and a focus on the business case. First, a move away from traditional liberal and radical conceptions of equality (Jewson and Mason, 1986), based around treating everyone the same - a 'sameness' approach - towards approaches based on recognising and valuing people's differences - a 'difference' or 'diversity' approach (Liff, 1997). There is further debate about whether differences should be narrowly conceived as concerned with social groups (e.g. women, black and minority ethnic people etc), or broadened to encompass a greater variety of individual differences (Prasad et al., 2006: 2; Kirton, forthcoming). Second, the rise of the business case as the primary rationale for equality and diversity action is also an important aspect of the diversity approach. Traditional EO or affirmative action approaches, aimed to redress discrimination and historical injustices faced by certain groups in the workforce (e.g. especially women and black and minority ethnic people) underpinned by legislation. However, diversity approaches start from a position that sees human differences as a resource, the utilisation of which is crucial for competitiveness and improving organisational performance.

Moreover, reflecting the previous discussion of the move in thought away from EO, diversity or 'difference' approaches have definitely become more dominant. While a comparison of the websites of 241 organisations in 8 European countries indicates the wide divergence in the way that dimensions of diversity are described, and the fact that the term 'diversity' is not yet automatically used in many countries in Europe except for the UK (Singh and Point, 2003), it is clear that diversity is a familiar term in many organisations in the UK, mainland Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and Canada (Blommaert and Verschueren 1998; de los Reyes 2000; Humphries and Grice 1995; Jones et al. 2000; Kersten 2000; Lorbiecki and Jack 2000; Sinclair ...