Diversity Management

In recent years, Diversity Management as a strategy for staff and organizational development has become increasingly important. Diversity Management has its roots in the US civil rights movement. It is an broad concept pointing at the creation of a discrimination-free work environment and at the promotion of staff diversity in the structures of companies, organizations and public administrations/institutions.
The concept refers to the total of the differences and common features of people in organizational structures with a diverse composition. It comprises the entirety of measures targeted at a consistent utilization, a positive structuring and a deliberate fostering of staff diversity, in the interests of a productive and appreciative attitude towards differences and common features in a diverse staff body. Diversity Management therefore sees a resource- and potential-oriented approach as an opportunity for organizational and economic gain.

Diversity Management contains a broad range of various instruments, strategies and measures. In particular, they concern the areas of staff management (staff recruitment and development as well as personnel commitment) and organizational development. This includes target-group-specific recruitment strategies, various work-life balance offers or designing workplaces that are suitable for older people or the disabled. The development of intercultural teams, network groups for employees with a different sexual orientation or women’s networks are also possible relevant tools. Moreover, carrying out intercultural or diversity training courses is key.

For what concerns organizational development, carrying out diversity checks and developing diversity models or company agreements to foster equal opportunities are good examples of what should be included in a diversity strategy. It is crucial that companies, organizations and public administrations each develop their own concepts and bundles of measures that are tailored to their specific needs and goals. These must then be implemented them in a holistic, process-driven and sustainable way. Already in the medium term, Diversity Management can make an important contribution to developing a culture of appreciation and acknowledgment, thereby leading to considerable advantages at both the individual and the organizational level.

Cost reduction through good motivation and less discrimination

Appreciation of individuals and successful integration of all employees can increase the motivation and satisfaction of a diverse workforce. Conflicts and instances of discrimination may significantly decrease. Direct costs from discrimination lawsuits  as well as indirect costs caused by dissatisfaction, low motivation and conflicts induced by discrimination can be reduced

Improving organizational flexibility thanks to diverse teams

Compared with homogenous staff, workforces with a diverse composition usually react more flexibly to new challenges in an environment characterized by constant change. In times of globalization and fundamental structural change, this can be a decisive competitive advantage.

Increasing creativity and innovation in solving problems

Thanks to the increased diversity of experience, points of view and working styles, mixed groups often reach more innovative, suitable and creative solutions to problems than uniform, homogenous groups.

Improving staff management and thus greater choice of applicants

Companies and organizations that can build a positive corporate image with respect to the targeted promotion of their workforce diversity are in a better position to recruit increasingly important groups on the labour market, such as women, people with an immigrant background or older employees. In view of the social changes resulting from demographic change and the growing need for skilled staff, diversity-oriented staff processes can be a valuable instrument in making the workforce structure viable for the future.

Improved customer orientation, offers and services

Given an increasingly diverse clientele, a diverse workforce will be able to achieve higher customer satisfaction due to customized offers and services. Companies and organizations can thus make their customer orientation even more targeted and creative. This increases opportunities to access new markets, customer groups and target groups.

Coping better with increasing internationalization

In particular for companies and organizations acting internationally or in an intercultural environment, which are increasingly surrounded by a growing diversity of languages, cultures, values and working styles, a positive approach to diversity is imperative. This applies equally to the climate within the organization as well as to its external relations with clients and the public.

Upgrading the external image of companies and organizations

The interest of many customers in companies' and organizations' ecological, social, ethical and economic behavior as a whole has grown markedly. Thanks to a targeted promotion of diversity, companies and organizations can proactively show that they are making a resolute effort to act against discrimination and to support a culture of appreciation and recognition of diversity.

The German General Equal Treatment Act [Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG], which entered into force in 2006, aims to prevent or eliminate discrimination on the basis of age, gender, ethnic origin, religion/world view, sexual identity or physical characteristics and capabilities. Claims and legal consequences can only ever be directed against one single form of discrimination.

However, intersectionality refers to the fact that discrimination does not relate one-dimensionally to just one of the above-mentioned social categories at a time. We assume that social inequalities and discrimination always occur in intersections and interact with each other. Cases of discrimination must therefore always be considered in the complexity of the overall context, which is always influenced by a variety of power structures and hierarchies.

Intersectionality has its political and academic roots in the black feminist women's movement (Black Feminism/K. Crenshaw; P. Collins). In an interview, Crenshaw uses the example of black women to illustrate how various disadvantaging systems influence each other:

Intersectionality simply came from the idea that if you’re standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you are likely to get hit by both. These women are injured, but when the race ambulance and the gender ambulance arrive at the scene, they see these women of color lying in the intersection and they say, "Well, we can’t figure out if this was just race or just sex discrimination. And unless they can show us which one it was, we can’t help them". (Crenshaw: 2004).

Multi-dimensional discrimination is thus not always obvious and easy to recognize. The concept of intersectionality offers the opportunity to identify it and to react to it farsightedly. For this, it is important to have professional knowledge and/or an awareness of it so that you can appropriately tackle it in situation where it manifests itself. An exchange and cooperation between the relevant specialist fields, e.g. gender, migration and anti-racism work, is decisive here. Intersectionality should also promote the development of interdisciplinary conceptsthat allow people to see beyond their own specific specialist knowledge.

Diversity Management…

• helps to break down prejudices, barriers and discrimination by drawing attention to the social and economic opportunities of a diverse society.
• brings about a change in perspective from a deficit-oriented minority approach to a resource-oriented approach that looks at the skills and potentials of all citizens.
• favors the creation of conditions that better enable all people to develop their individual talents and performance in a climate characterized by openness and inclusion, irrespective of their membership in a social group.
• can help improve integration into employment for those social groups that today are often disadvantaged or marginalized.
• is an important component of a proactive approach to the challenges of demographic change and the growing need for workers.
• contributes to to bolstering and filling with life the anti-discrimination mission of the AGG and helps to meet the fundamental equality requirements.
• is an important component in developing a culture of recognition and appreciation for the very diverse biographies, life aspirations and ways of life of different individuals and groups.
• can contribute to a cosmopolitan climate and a culture of tolerance and mutual respect in a diverse republic.