The French Notion of Diversity Management to Test against the Alterity of Pacific Island Cultures

In the postcolonial context of New Caledonia, where management and business leadership are almost exclusively performed by those who are locally called “Europeans,” the management of diversity, as conceived by them, is doubly challenged by the cultural references of Pacific Islanders. They establish both the primacy of “welcoming” on the “welcomed,” posing as legitimate a local equivalent of positive discrimination in favor of Kanak (first people), and the superiority of the principles of balance and harmony between different identity components of the social body over that of individual merit. The founding principles of nondiscrimination in hiring and meritocracy in the management of internal promotions are therefore far from consensus locally. Such a conclusion led to the interrogation of the very notion of diversity, appearing thus rooted in its culture of origin than would be believed in its universalist vocation, and, consequently, its capacity to serve as a common superior principle beyond its cultural sphere of origin.