Chapter 10: Diversity Management and the Illusion of Fairness

Diversity represents an important research domain for organizational studies, due to globalization, demographic changes in the workforce, and the increasing complexity of jobs. Diversity is defined as the degree of heterogeneity among team members on specified demographic dimensions (Williams & O’Reilly, 1998). The most relevant area of diversity research concerns programs promoting and managing diversity, implemented within organizations. In 2005, 76% of American companies were involved in initiatives and programs of diversity management, investing billions of dollars for consultancy services. In Italy, the diversity debate is mainly focused on the role of women in the workforce as outlined by the diffusion of “affirmative action” and “equal opportunity programs” and the large amount of research focusing on gender diversity and on the difficulties women face in managerial careers (Schein, Mueller, Lituchy, & Liu, 1996; Brenner; Marshall, 1995; Ibarra, 1993; Schein & Mueller, 1992; Tomkiewicz, & Schein, 1989; Ragins & Sundstrom, 1989). Despite changes in women’s progress in the workforce, women still face inequalities in compensation, status, and top management positions. As a consequence, most research has focused on women’s underrepresentation in managerial positions, providing evidence for the existence of psychological barriers to their advancement within organizations. These barriers are often due to the diffusion of gender stereotypes in management, which can foster bias against women in many organizational processes, such as managerial selection, placement, promotion, and training decisions (Schein et al., 1996).