Chapter 9: Human Resource Management and Inclusive Workplaces

This chapter will provide a brief overview of two critical issues and statistics facing organisations today: (1) gender diversity and (2) ethnic diversity. Historically, workforces will largely male, and largely filled by the dominant ethnic group of the country. For example, in the Unites States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, the workforces historically would be white males. As business leaders were white males, it stands that the decision-makers and those who are responsible for executive hiring strategies (and other Human Resource Management (HRM) policies) were white males. But the world has definitely changed, and the statistics behind these two major changes – gender and ethnicity – highlight this change. Importantly as we seek to understand the global workforce, we will explore whether these major changes have led to organisations being equipped to manage the needs and aspirations of these diverse groups? Or, have the compositions of many countries' workforces changed but organisations remain largely white and male? Or are organisations dominated by traditional thought and management policies that fail to embrace reality? After these two issues are detailed, we then describe the potential organisational approaches to managing these differences: (A) diversity management and (B) inclusion.