Abstract
The authors conducted two studies to analyze why and how organizations approach and manage cultural diversity in the Austrian workplace and to identify organizations' diversity perspectives. In Study 1, 29 interviews revealed insights into organizational approaches to diversity and how these perspectives are linked to employing and managing a culturally diverse workforce. In Study 2, the authors developed and tested the Diversity Perspective Questionnaire (DPQ). The DPQ consists of vignettes and items to measure an organization's approach to diversity. Results reveal that five diversity perspectives-Reinforcing Homogeneity, Color-Blind, Fairness, Access, and Integration and Learning-gain a deeper understanding of diversity management in organizations. The DPQ is shown to be a reliable measurement instrument for further investigations of diversity perspectives in organizations.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 159-175 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | International Journal of Intercultural Relations |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2013 |
Funding
The first author received funding from the Commission of the European Communities as a Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant (FP/-PEOPLE-2007-4-3-IRG) under grant agreement Number PIRG02-GA-224818 for data gathering, analysis and write-up. The conceptualization and operationalization of the diversity perspectives has been an essential part of this EU project in close co-operation with Karen van der Zee and Sabine Otten at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen whose contributions the authors want to acknowledge. We want to thank Diana Boer for her comments on earlier versions of this paper. Appendix A
Keywords
- Austria
- Benefits and costs of diversity
- Diversity management
- Diversity perspectives