World Class Diversity Management: A Strategic Approach - Softcover

Copublished with the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE)Advances the field by providing a unified framework and terminology and spelling out exactly what needs to be done to build world-class diversity management capabilityIdentifies optimal implementation approaches that can be used anywhere, anytime With demographic shifts and globalization transforming the nature of relationships, interactions, and decision making, excellence in diversity management is more important than ever. However, the field of diversity has no established standard for evaluating what constitutes best practices, nor has there been any agreement on what the most fundamental philosophies, principles, and concepts are - until now. In this pioneering book R. Roosevelt Thomas, one of our most distinguished diversity theorists and practitioners, proposes a framework that will enable the development of a truly world-class diversity management capability. It was the development of such standards in manufacturing that enabled companies to strategically pursue excellence in this area.A world-class approach to diversity management must be applicable anywhere in the world, be able to address any possible issue, facilitate comparison of different concepts and practices, and focus on the entire field of diversity rather than specific dimensions such as race or gender. These requirements are amply met by Thomas's Four Quadrant model and his Strategic Diversity Management Process.Thomas first analyzes each of four quadrants - managing workforce demographic representation, managing demographic relationships, managing diverse talent, and managing strategic mixtures - exploring the goals, motives, approaches, accomplishments, and challenges associated with each. And he reveals the unrecognized paradigm or mind-set that lies behind each quadrant's express purpose