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Cultural diversity management in Australian manufacturing organisations
Author(s) -
Fenwick Marilyn,
Costa Christina,
Sohal Amrik S.,
D'Netto Brian
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
asia pacific journal of human resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.825
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1744-7941
pISSN - 1038-4111
DOI - 10.1177/1038411111414984
Subject(s) - diversity (politics) , human resource management , manufacturing sector , scope (computer science) , diversity management , business , cultural diversity , manufacturing , resource management (computing) , resource (disambiguation) , human resources , marketing , management , political science , economics , international economics , computer network , computer science , law , programming language
Australia has a high level of cultural diversity, particularly within the manufacturing sector. Yet the management of cultural diversity in Australia has only been mediocre. The aim of this study was to examine whether human resource diversity management practices in the Australian manufacturing sector have improved since the previous study by D'Netto and Sohal (1999). The intervening period has been characterised by the progression of diversity management research and practice from nascency to acceptance as a mature sub‐field of management and human resource management. In addition, significant changes have occurred in the manufacturing sector. The results of our study of 119 manufacturing organisations indicated that positive changes in HR diversity management have occurred with the passage of time. The overall performance of manufacturing organisations in Australia, with respect to the use of human resource diversity management practices is no longer ‘mediocre’ and can now be classified as ‘above average’. While there is still considerable scope for improvement, especially in the area of recruitment, we found that employers in the Australian manufacturing sector value diversity and recognise the benefits of diversity. We explain the findings of our study and discuss the implications for future research.