SIXTH INTERNATIONAL METROPOLIS CONFERENCE

WORKSHOP 9: Strategies for Diversity Policy and Practice in Multi-ethnic Working Life

Tuesday, November 27, 2001
14:00 - 17:30

ORGANIZERS

John Wrench
Associate Professor
Danish Centre for Migration and Ethnic Studies
University of Southern Denmark
Niels Bohrs Vej 9
6700 Esbjerg
Denmark
Tel: +45 65 50 41 40
Fax: +45 65 50 10 91
Email: jwr@sam.sdu.dk

Maritta Soininen
Associate Professor
Work and Culture
National Institute for Working Life
Laxholmen
602 21 Norrköping
Sweden
Tel: +46 8 162 641
Fax: +46 8 152 529
Email: maritta.soininen@statsvet.su.se

Lois R. Wise
Professor of Policy and Administration
School of Public & Environmental Affairs
Indiana University
1310 E. Tenth Street
Bloomington
IN 47505-1701 USA
Tel: +1 812 855 4944
Fax: +1 812 855 7802
Email: wisel@indiana.edu


WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

The multi-ethnic workplace is now a reality in countries where until recently ethnic and national homogeneity in organisations was assumed to be 'normal'. Central societal actors, such as labour unions, employer organisations and state agencies have all begun to review and develop new ideas in order to deal with the problems of a multi-ethnic working life, and are increasingly turning their attention to diversity management, an approach which stresses the business advantages of making practical allowances for cultural differences within a new heterogeneous organisational culture. The philosophy is said to facilitate the 'voluntary' mainstreaming of employment equity, which previously was driven by anti-discrimination legislation or affirmative action.

The main goal of the workshop is to relate conceptual and theoretical critiques of diversity management to the experiences of practitioners and policy makers in an international context. Contributions will come from researchers, practitioners and policy makers from the US, Australia, and several European countries where diversity management is 'taking off'. Amongst the issues that will be examined will be strategies for integrating the management of diversity into overall management in both public and private sector organisations, and the recognition of and response to resistance to this, in different national contexts. This will be in the context of broader questions such as the extent to which national institutional, cultural and political contexts have implications for the particular form, acceptance, and success of managing for diversity. A critical theme running through the workshop will be whether diversity management can alone be trusted to further anti-discrimination and employment equity ends, or whether more traditional strategies are still needed.

DURATION Two 1½ hour sessions

PARTICIPANTS
Presentations will be made by:

Paul Abell EGA The Netherlands

Kent Andersson Kommunalråd (council member) Sweden
Malmö

Berit Berg SINTEF, University of Trondheim Norway

Charmine Härtel Department of Management Australia
Monash University

Steen Karlsen International Secretary, HK Denmark
(Union of Commercial and Clerical Employees)

Torben Møller-Hansen Association for the Integration of New Danes Denmark
into the Labour Market

Stanley Ramkhelawan Labour Market Department The Netherlands
Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment

Lois Wise School of Public and Environmental Affairs USA
Indiana University
Chair and Discussant

The activities of workshop chair and discussion moderator will be shared by:

John Wrench (Danish Centre for Migration and Ethnic Studies), and
Maritta Soininen (Work and Culture, Norrköping)

Further information on participants:

Paul Abell is both researcher and practitioner, working with NGOs and local municipalities and providing diversity management training and consultancy in the Netherlands.
Kent Andersson is an elected councilor in Malmö (Kommunalråd) which is the town with one of the most developed diversity management strategies in Sweden.
Berit Berg is a researcher at the University of Trondheim, researching immigrants and the labour market in Norway, and currently involved in a Norwegian 'umbrella' project on diversity management.
Charmine Härtel is an Associate Professor at the Department of Management, Monash University, teaching human resource management, and researching diversity management practices in Australia.
Steen Karlsen is Chairman of the Arbejderbevægelsens Internationale Forum (AIF), a body of the Danish trade union movement which oversees a number of initiatives for the integration of immigrants in Denmark.
Torben Møller-Hansen is Director of Foreningen til integration af nydanskere på arbejdsmarkedet, an organisation created by private sector employers in Denmark to promote diversity management and the integration of ethnic minorities into employment.
Stanley Ramkhelawan is involved in a managing diversity initiative to improve the position of ethnic minorities in the Dutch labour market, involving the Ministries of Internal Affairs and Social Affairs and Employment and up to 100 large employers.
Maritta Soininen is an Associate Professor at the University of Stockholm, and is project leader responsible for the seven-person "Diversity Practice" programme at Work and Culture, Norrköping.
Lois Wise is Professor of Policy and Administration at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University. She has recently published a review of the effects of diversity on work organisations in the US.
John Wrench is an Associate Professor at the University of Southern Denmark. He is currently completing an overview report of diversity management practice in a European context, commissioned by the National Institute for Working Life, Sweden.