Diversity and Managing Diversity: Theory and State of the Art

In many respects it is nearly impossible to consistently define or understand diversity. To date both scientists and practitioners have not yet achieved an all-embracing comprehension of diversity and Managing Diversity. Referring to this, several authors 191 assess, that “...yet, as several writers have observed, diversity can be viewed through lenses other than legal or ethical, and diversity has been defined, studied and approached in quite different ways” 192 . Further on, Dass and Parker (1999) emphasize the problems and complexity of the different perspectives on diversity and Managing Diversity, because “...people define diversity in different even conflicting ways. Consequently, an increasingly diverse workforce is variously viewed as opportunity, threat, problem, fad, or even no issue. These disparate views lead people to manage workforce diversity in distinct ways, resulting different costs and benefits. Despite the claim by some that there is one best way to manage a diverse workforce, there is little agreement on what it is”. 193 These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.