Diversity management in the workplace: beyond compliance

Kev words Abstract: Curationis 32 (2): 4-10 diversity management, cultural diverDiversity management is not a numbers game. Diversity management is a holistic and sity, wor p ace iversity strategic intervention aimed at maximizing every individual’s potential to contribute towards the realization o f the organization’s goals through capitalizing on individual talents and differences within a diverse workforce environment. Managing interper­ sonal relationships within a diverse workforce environment presents a number o f challenges related to changes in the social, legal and economic landscape, individual expectations and values as well as the inevitable change in organizational culture (Chartered Institute o f Personnel and Development 2005: 1-7). Whether or not or­ ganizations are effective in managing diversity is a function o f senior managements’ commitment, and the perceived centrality o f diversity management by all those who populate the institution’s workspace. Above all it should be clear to all employees, irrespective o f race, gender, or vocational/professional status, that each and every one o f them has something o f value to contribute towards the realization o f the institution’s mission and goals.


Introduction
D iversity managem ent has its roots in the human resources movement in the United States o f America.The concept emerged because it was no longer be liev ed th at a ffirm a tiv e action w as achieving its intended consequences, that is, equality o f opportunity in the workplace (Chartered Institute o f Per sonnel and Development [CIPD] 2005: 8-13).Yet, Human (1996:46) argues that managing diversity is the competence required for the effective im plementa tion o f affirmative action.Viewed from Human's perspective therefore, manag ing diversity is distinct and different from affirmative action, yet an essen tial competence for the realization o f its o u tc o m e s.N u m e ro u s c o n c e p tualizations o f the construct exist in the literature.It is not the purpose o f this paper to engage in the merits and de m erits o f such con cep tu alizatio n s.N evertheless, several authors agree (CIPD 2005;Friday & Friday 2003;Hu man 1996) that managing diversity in the workplace is not an event but a complex and a dynamic process that requires periodic rcviev and strategic intervention.Essentially, managing di versity involves a departure from col lective views o f groups o f people to valuing individual differences and tal ent in the workplace.More succinctly, "managing diversity is more than sim ply acknowledging differences in peo ple.It involves recognizing the value o f differences, combating discrimina tion and prom oting in clu siv en ess" (Green et al. 2002:2).

Source and/or types of diversity
Diversity in itself is a simple concept to understand.It refers to nothing more than variance or difference.W hat com plicates the management o f the differ ence is not the difference itself, but the nature and the meaning o f the differ ence as perceived by the individual and others.According to Esty et al. (1995) citcd in Green et al. (2002:1) diversity refe rs to "a ckn o w led g in g , u n d e r standing, accepting, valuing, and cel ebrating d ifferences am ong p eo p le with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, p h ysica l and m ental ability, race, se x u a l o rien ta tio n , sp iritu a l practice and public assistance status The CIPD (2005: 25) presents an el egant, yet succinct approach to under standing diversity.A ccording to the CIPD, types o f diversity include (a) social category diversity, (b) organiza tional diversity, and (c) value diversity.Social category diversity includes dif ferences in demographic characteris tics such as age, gender, and race.To this list, I would add ethnicity and cul ture.Organizational diversity on the other hand includes differences char acterized by educational levels, func tion and tenure, whereas value diver sity m ay refer to psychological differ ences in p e rso n a lity and a ttitu d e s (CIPD 2005:25).Within the context o f this paper, diversity refers to "any at tribute that happens to be salient to an individual that makes him/her perceive that he/she is different from another individual" (William & O 'Reilly 1997, cited in Friday & Friday 2003: 863).

Understanding and respecting cultural diversity in clinical setting
The organizers o f the 2nd Biannual Nurs ing M anagers' Summit had tasked me to talk specifically about managing cul tural diversity in the clinical setting.This indeed was a tall order on two ac counts.Firstly, I cannot rem em ber when last I was in the clinical setting.I accepted this task on the assumption that the clinical setting in South Africa at least, presents sim ilar yet particular challenges to diversity management as any other w orkplace.Secondly, the complexity o f the concept o f culture, and its inextricable association with race within the South African context m akes for a challenging topic o f en g a g e m e n t.Issu e s o f ra c e in the workplace are not comfortable topics o f engagement; perhaps because seg regation and discrimination in South Africa were based on race.A detailed account o f the extensiveness o f racial oppression and its pervasiveness in all forms o f societal life and engagement in South Africa appears in the United Nations' 1985 article 40/64 on 'Policies o f apartheid o f the G overnm ent o f South A frica' (General Assembly, UN;1985:32-40).Desegregation and diver sifying the workplace, must o f neces sity involve racial desegregation as well as other forms o f difference such as disability and gender.
For many South Africans, the change o f government in 1994 signalled an end to racial oppression and discrimination and the beginning o f an era marked by equality o f opportunity and access to employment.Regrettable, as noted by a number o f authors (Human 1996:46/ 57;Sachtn.d.: l;T shikw atam ba2003: 36) this dream has yet to fully material ize.Human (1996: 46) further asserts that "South Africa, unlike some other countries o f the world, has no choice but to manage workforce diversity and to manage it effectively For this rea son, whilst acknowledging that culture is more than race, and includes other forms o f difference such as religion and language, this paper is premised on my understanding that it is impossible to separate issues o f race and culture in conversations surrounding managing d iv e rs ity in th e S o u th A fric a n workplace, whether in the clinical set ting or otherwise.Just what is meant by cultural diversity presents its own set o f theoretical complexities and prob lematic.

Culture as Problematic
A num ber o f authors bemoan the con fusion often made between managing d iv e rs ity and m a n a g in g c u ltu re (Fitzgerald 1997:1;Human 1996:51-59). H arris andM oran (1989), cited in Fitzgerald (1997:1) define culture as "communicable knowledge fo r human coping within a particular environ m ent that is passed down fo r the ben efit o f subsequent generations A c cording to Fitzgerald (1997:1) this an thropological definition o f culture as advanced by Harris and Moran (1989) makes it clear that culture is on the whole very slow to change, and is cu m ulative and conservative.Sim ilar views were posited by Human (1996: 51-59) (1996: 56) the minimalist view is often attributed to the multiculturalist per spective, w hich places em phasis on celebrating the differences.She never theless attests that both views present their own set o f problems for those in volved in diversity management.
Whilst acknowledging the usefulness o f the traditional maximalist stereotypi cal view o f culture, in helping us make sense o f the world, the danger o f over reliance on stereotypes is that they are very resistant to change and that "ini tial classification o f people or objects into groups often leads to an assign ment o f status based on power rela tions" (Human 1996: 56).The result o f this is the view that some groups are inherently superior to others, with con comitant negative or positive self-fulfilling prophecies affecting work per form ance and developm ent (Human 1996:56).
At the other end o f the continuum, the m inimalist approach sees culture as a function o f interaction between indi viduals and that "culture constitutes a subconscious p a rt o f the p e r s o n ' s identity as a communicator and is con tracted to a large extent by the per ception o f the other party in the inter action " (Human 1996: 51).The propo nents o f the m inimalist view o f culture use the multicultural approach to di versity training and management.The emphasis is on celebrating the differ e n c e s.T aken to th e e x tre m e the m inimalist view o f culture can lead to the denial o f that which is common to us all as populations o f nation states or just as an beings.In this regard Fitzgerald (1997:3) warns that ''there m ust ...b e understanding and appre ciation o f fu n d a m en ta l d iffe re n c e s' between groups -cultural or other wise -with an emphasis on diversity.But there m ust also be recognition o f fu n d a m e n ta l sim ilarities, ' cultural universals that link us to a common humanity Importantly however, we cannot deny that "cultural background is one o f the prim ary sources o f identity.It is the source fo r a great deal ofself-definition, expression and sense o f group belonging" (Ayton-Shenker 1995: 1).Understanding and respecting cultural diversity in the workplace, therefore must o f necessity be prem ised on the understanding that people do belong to groups, and that to a large extent, their identities are defined by their tra ditional culture.But as noted by oth ers, cross-cutting social variables such as education, social class, level o f mod ernization, language group, regional and political differences (de Haas 1990; cited in Human 1996:53) as well as "eth nic aw areness and perceived d iffer ences o f gender or sexual orientation" (Fitzgerald, 1997, p. 3) create an ongo ing process o f interaction and intermin gling o f cultures leading to changed cultural id en tities (A yton-S henker, 1995:1).
Managing cultural diversity in the clini cal setting must focus not on collec tives but on valuing individuals and creating environm ents conducive to the maximizing o f individual develop m ent and potential, irrespective o f group membership.It is not about af firmative action or equal opportunities simple aimed at getting the numbers 'rig h t'.M anaging diversity is about accepting all employees, profes sional and non-professional, from the cleaning staff to the ch ief executive officer can contribute positively to wards the realization o f the institution's mission and goals.In a clinical setting the quality o f patient outcom es is the most critical organizational goal.The quality o f patient outcomes, however, is as m uch the function o f the quality o f interpersonal working relationships o f the staff as well as the quality o f vocational and/or professional exper tise.It is the responsibility o f senior managem ent and all line managers to create "a culture o f mutual respect and the realisation that valuing each em ployee's differences can bring strength and synergy to groups, teams, depart ments and ultimately the organization as a whole" (CIPD 2005: 11).

Understanding and dealing with challenges of cultural diversity
M ost literature on managing cultural diversity emanates from private organi zations.It is acknowledged that South Africa is rich in both its private and public health sector.Public and private metropolitan clinical settings experience sim ilar diversity challenges.Much o f the private industry literature on diver sity m anagem ent exalts the benefits o f a diverse w orkforce.These benefits centre on the belief that individual dif ferences create the potential for a more creative and different way o f thinking about organizational issues and thus should lead to innovative solutions to routine problems.Additionally, within the clinical setting context, it is be lieved that the diverse patient popula tion would be better served by a di verse staff.There is the danger how ever, o f romanticizing an extremely com plex and dem anding process, which as noted by Tshikwatamba (2003:36) "de sp ite th eir advantages in the w ork p la c e ... differences are sometimes the source o f considerable hostility and disagreements That cultural differences and religious beliefs have been the cause o f much hostility and human suffering globally, is a m atter o f public knowledge.The clinical setting is but a small aspect o f the world in which we live and work.Within the clinical environment, cultural differences can be found in both tradi tional cultures and the 'new ' cultural id e n titie s re s u ltin g fro m the socialization and inculcation processes e n c o u n te re d in th e p ro fe s s io n a l schools that produce those who popu late the clinical setting.So then, what are some o f the challenges that are as sociated with managing diversity in the clinical setting?The CIPD (2005: 6-7) identifies a num ber o f factors that im pact on the management o f a workforce.Those which are relevant to this paper include (a) changes in the social, and legal landscape, (b) the psychological contract, and (c) cultural and organiza tional changes.

Changes in the Social and Legal Landscape
Affirmative action and employment equity are legislated mechanisms which aim to create a fully inclusive work en vironment in South Africa."Employ ers have been fo rce d by law to accel erate the hiring o f a m ore diverse workforce and to remove the barriers to employment progress fo r previously disadvantaged groups " (Sacht, n.d.: 1).No industry, including the clinical set ting, is excluded from the legal require ment to ensure a demographically di verse workforce.In a country with a history o f legal racial segregation o f the workplace, the challenge is to ensure that institutions go beyond compliance and create environments that are con ducive to effective contribution o f all employees toward the realization o f the institution's mission and goals.
Desegregation o f health care settings with the concomitant inclusion o f all South A frican population groups in in stitu tio n s p re v io u sly seg reg ated along racial lines, for access and staff ing, presents a uniquely South African challenge for diversity management.Many health care professionals, used to work with colleagues and provide care to patients whose way o f life was sim ilar to theirs and who spoke the same language.Suddenly these work ers are faced with a diverse hospital population (patients and staff) whose way o f life is markedly different from the d o m in an t W estern h ealth care model o f our health care settings.For example, there are patients who do not speak the same language as the pro fessionals that care for them.The re sult is that most health care profession als are caring for patients whose com plex needs are very difficult, if not im possible, to understand or recognize.The professionals are w orking with colleagues w hose individual differ ences, beyond the stereotypical clas sifications they grew up with as well as those learned at medical and/or nurs ing school, continue to be a mystery.
Hiring more people from the previously disadvantaged groups w ill not and cannot o f itself ensure that these di verse groups o f people work together effectively (Human 1996:46; Sacht n.d.: 1).Strategic and concerted efforts must be made to that all employees have a fair and equitable chance to com pete for the few promotional positions.Although a number o f institutions have initiated diversity management training, often in the form o f once-off w ork shops, concerted and ongoing efforts at education and training are not evi dent.Perhaps, because o f tight budg ets, and cost cutting within a financially stretched health care environm ent, "the extra effort, which focuses on di versity training and interpersonal learn ing, is still viewed as an optional extra" (Sacht n.d.: 1).Yet, still it could be that, health care organizations, having sat isfied themselves that they have man aged to get the demographics "correct", feci that th e ir job is done because th e statistics shows that they comply with legislation.
W ithin the health care industry, re search and academic inquiry have fo cused mainly on cultural competcncc as this relates to patient care.Little, if any work has been done on the inter personal relations and the meaning o f diversity among the employees.More importantly, South African researchers, managers and scholars in the health care industry, are dcafeningly silent about the state o f managing diversity in both the public and the private health sector.A study conducted by Aries (2004: 172-180) involving senior m an agers, line m anagers, p atien ts and frontline workers in six hospitals in the United States o f America revealed that althou g h cu ltu ral com petence was viewed as critical for patient care, un derstanding its m eaning was d eter mined by one's role.For instance, Ar ies reported that senior managers were satisfied that the hospital took cultural competence seriously because most materials such as procedure manuals had been translated into the most com mon languages used in the region, translation for patients was available when needed, and culturally diverse s ta ff w as e m p lo y ed .P a tie n ts and frontline w orkers however, believed that cultural biases were seen as em bedded in the day -to -day function ing o f the hospital.
Pointedly, "senior managers were most concerned with developing positive relations with communities surround ing the hospitals, creating a physical environm ent that was accommodating to p a tie n ts' cultural beliefs and prac tices, adapting hospital policies to be culturally responsive, hiring a diverse workforce that paralleled that o f the communities served " (Aries 2004: 174).Line managers had total responsibility for interpreting and implementing the hospitals' policies on cultural diversity and competence and saw any conflicts am ong sta ff as p ersonality related rather than culture based.Frontline workers " fe lt that racial and cultural stereotyping existed throughout the hospital and that it negatively affected the work environment " (Aries 2004: 178).

The Psychological Contract
T h e C IP D (2005: 7) defines th e p sy c h o logical contract as the unwritten con tract between the individual and the employer.The changing workplace en vironment and the diminishing oppor tunities for jobs for life has led to a situ ation in which employees are looking for short-term rather than long-term re wards.According to the CIPD, per sonal development and work-life bal ance are high on today's em ployees' expectations.Employers who do not recognize this arc faced with high staff turn-over.Loyalty to the company is no longer a factor determining whether to stay or leave.Nowadays, "em ploy ees expect to be treated fa irly and are less to lerant o f sh arp em ploym ent practices or poor pay or working con d itio n s" (CIPD 2005: 7).These obser vations are no different from the cur rent experiences in the health sector.Literature on the migration o f health care professionals cites poor working con ditions, poor pay and lack o f opportu nities for development and advance ment as the main contributory factors for leaving the country (Gwele 2003: 8-12).A high staff turnover at a time when institutions are trying to create effec tive interpersonal working relationships in a diverse w orkforce environm ent presents a challenge for diversity m an agement.

Changes
The pace and the complexity o f organi zational change, especially the kind brought about by mandatory and leg islated diversity might be too fast and too much for some.Toffler in his 1970 bestseller "Future Shock" draws a dis tinction between culture shock and fu ture shock (CIPD 2005: 7).In Future shock, when the future comes too soon, long before the individual can cope with it, the result is psychological and bio chemical stresses-manifesting them selves occasionally in "violence or apa thy" (ISI, 1982: 20).In culture shock, individuals may decide to go back to their traditional culture, if they feel they cannot cope with the new culture.In the rapidly changing organizational cultures and the characteristics o f the people who populate the workplace, the old and familiar may no longer be avail able for "culturally shocked" employ ees to return to (CIPD 2005: 7).In South Africa, for some employees, the legal requirem ent for a diverse workforce came too soon.For them, Culture shock has become Future shock.The chal lenge therefore, is to establish em ployee assistance avenues and/or op portunities to help them deal with the realities o f diversity in the workplace and help them sec and understand that "there is no going back" .Hostilities, anger, and apathy are some o f the chal lenges that manifest themselves in in terpersonal relations in diverse work environments, especially among those for whom diversity came too soon.The question then becomes what strategies institutions can use to create effective working environments with a diverse workforce.

A strategic approach to manageing diversity in the workplace
The internet is awash with a list o f tabu lated "sure fire" strategies for effective m anagem ent o f diversity from well meaning diversity consultants, academ ics and social commentators.Yet, the CIPD (2005:9) warns that, "the notion o f best practice, while helpful in a theo retical setting, w o n ' t provide all the answers in reality.There isn't a single right way o f treating em ployees as each one will have their own personal needs, values and beliefs, which they will articulate, hoping they can be met at least in part Hence, I will be guided by a futuristic conceptualization o f di versity m anagement as "making qual ity decisions in the m idst o f differ ences, similarities and tensions" (Tho mas 2006:46).In line with a number o f authors in the field (CIPD 2005: 1-55;  The significance o f strategically posi tioning diversity management as part o f the institution's strategic direction cannot be over emphasized.Unless di versity management is elevated to the level o f the institution's strategic di rection, no one in the institution, in cluding the line m anagers and staff whose responsibility it will be to en sure that the institution's strategy is translated into action, will see it as im portant.Senior management must be seen to lead the process.In my view this is not the tim e to use a consultant, or if one is used, it must be made very clear that the consultant's role is to fa cilitate and that the role o f the CEO is to lead the strategy development work.
Ideally, this should be part o f the insti tution's strategy developm ent process, i.e. the diversity development strategy should not be a stand-alone activity.

Engagement
It is the senior m anagem ent's respon sibility to set the context.It is not enough that the CEO 's leadership team (direct reports) is aware o f legislated requirements for diversity.The CEO has to ensure that all those with whom he/she expects to chart the course and thus facilitate and monitor im plem en tation, start from the same frame o f ref erence.Critical engagem ent with the contextual issues is essential.Figure 1 depicts some o f the issues and/or ar eas o f discussion that could be used to create a framework for effective par ticipation and dialogue.An analysis o f the context focusing on m acro-level arguments, the organization's internal current situation, as this relates to staff profile, ethics and values and the CEO 's vision and mission for diversity m an agem ent at the institution creates a useful point o f departure.
At the macro-level an analysis o f the context should include a discussion on the policy regulatory framework that governs affirmative action and employ ment equity, including interpersonal and p ro fessional w orking re la tio n ships, the regional, national and global contexts and their impact on the health industry's competition for health per sonnel.

Determining Key Strategic Areas of Intervention
Having arrived at a point where there is a common understanding and accept ance that som ething has to be done about the way in which the institution manages diversity, the strategy devel opment process would be ready to pro ceed to deliberations aimed at decid ing on key strategic areas o f interven tion.The leadership team will have to champion the strategy as well as over see its implementation within their re spective divisions.At this critical stage o f the process, the aim is to develop an agreed upon diversity m anagem ent strategy.Real engagement is therefore critical.The resultant institutional di versity management strategy should be based on a collectively agreed upon direction for the institution.This could include a num ber o f areas such as policy development and/or review, in stitutionalization strategy, recruitment and retention processes, education and training, implementation and m onitor ing.Essentially, the institution's diver sity managem ent strategic plan must be based on short and long-term tar gets, with clear indicators and time frames that the institution's leadership team (senior m anagement) has agreed upon.
The senior managers then have a re sponsibility to drive the process o f dis semination and rally around the strat egy to obtain acceptance within their respective divisions.

Implementation and Monitoring
It is essential that the strategic plan does not become merely a glossy pub lication for distribution to visitors.Im plem entation is the key to success.Developing annual operational plans against which progress can be m oni tored, is critical to success.An opera tional plan is invaluable in ensuring that the front line staff and middle m anag ers stay focused on the agreed upon objectives toward attaining the insti tution's goals for becoming a diversity oriented organization.

Figure
Figure 1: A for Setting the Context for Constructive and Critical Engagement on Diversity in the Health Care Setting (Modified from CIPD, 2005: 37) Man a g in g d iv e rs ity u sin g a stra te g ic planned change approach.The Jour nal o f m an a g em en t d ev elo p m e n t. 22(10): 863-880.Diversity in the workplace: benefits, challenges, and the required managerial tools.Florida: Department o f Food and Resource Eco nomics, Institute o f Food and Agricul tural Sciences, University o f Florida, Gainesville, FL.Available on http:// edis.ifas.ufl.edu.Accessed on 5 Sep tember 2007.