Managing Diversity

Various literatures indicate that managing diversity within today’s labor force has become a primary concern for companies and organizations today. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012), compared with the labor force of past decades, today’s labor force is older, more racially and ethnically diverse, and composed of more women. Over the next decade, the labor force will become even more racially and ethnically diverse (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). Non-Hispanic whites made up 67.5 percent of the U.S. labor force in 2010 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012), projects that this group will compose 62.3 percent of the labor force in 2020, a decline of 5.2 percent. By 2020, the Hispanic, Asian, and African American labor force are all supposed to make up 18.6, 5.7, and 12.0 percent, respectively (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). The only way that diversity can be managed successfully is in an organizational culture that values diversity (Sidel, 2009). According to Kulik and Roberson (2009), when an organization values diversity, the people work better together. If people don’t work well together, the organization does not work well (Kulik & Roberson, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to explain the difference between the terms managing diversity and valuing diversity, and the four key components that make up diversity management.
Differences between Managing Diversity and Valuing Diversity
In order to better understand how diversity management fits into an organizational culture that values diversity, certain distinctions must first be made. One must know the difference between diversity management and culture of diversity. Diversity management involves establishing long term goals to develop, promote, and utilize the skills of a diverse workforce (Marquis, Lim, & Scott, 2008).
By culture of diversity, it is meant that an institutional environment is built on the values of fairness, diversity, mutual