How to cement a diversity policy

Purpose - Highlights common pitfalls managers face when introducing diversity policies.

Design/methodology/approach - Examines some questions that have to be answered and steps that have to be taken before thoroughgoing diversity policies can be developed.

Findings - Urges organizations to acknowledge that diversity policies include more than selecting employees. Argues that senior people in an organization tend to concentrate on physical characteristics such as black or white, young or old, man or woman, gay or straight, and the one important aspect often forgotten is accepting that someone may think and act differently. Advances the view that it is precisely this difference in thinking and acting that increases the chance of innovation, although it is also seems to clash with socialization.

Practical implications - Argues that organizations need to rethink their current values, processes and procedures before implementing diversity policies. Contends that organizations that really strive to achieve a diverse workforce often fail to acknowledge - let alone profit from - the diversity that "deviant" employees bring.

Social implications - Reveals how to bring about identifiable changes in behavior in employees and organizations as a whole.

Originality/value - Demonstrates why an organization will not truly be made more diverse if diversity policy is restricted to a benevolent director or setting a target figure; it requires a broad foundation whereby the willingness to change norms and values and processes and procedures is a condition, and human-resource managers should lead the way in this effort.