Content area
Full Text
Introduction
Workplace diversity is becoming a core issue in management theories and practices in Western countries ([20] Konrad et al. , 2006), marked by a bourgeoning body of literature that spans across a number of disciplines including psychology, sociology and management, with different research methods such as interviews, case studies, surveys, ethnographic studies and laboratory-based studies ([12] Cox et al. , 1991; [39] Tsui et al. , 1992; [24] Liff, 1996; [23] Lau and Murnighan, 1998). Diversity management (DM) has been recognized as one of the critical elements of business success in the strategic human resource management (HRM) literature ([34] Saini, 2007). According to [11] Cox (1992, p. 225) "the objective of DM is to create organizations in which members of all socio-cultural backgrounds can contribute and achieve their full potential". In fact, DM is regarded a better approach than equal opportunity as it "focuses on valuing people as unique individuals rather than on group-related issues covered by legislation" (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development ([7] CIPD, 2007, p. 6)).
DM as a management concept has hardly been heard of by most people in developing countries such as China and India, even less featured in their management talks. This is not to suggest that the Chinese and Indian societies are not diverse and that there is no legal provision to protect the basic rights of those socially disadvantaged. Neither does it imply that managers in workplaces do not have the task of managing the diverse needs of employees. Rather, diversity in these countries may exist within a radically different historical, institutional, social and cultural context and that organizations there have yet to realize the strategic importance of managing a diverse workforce effectively to gain a competitive edge. In addition, low preference to DM may well be linked to the low level of countervailing power possessed by the disadvantageous groups in these countries ([8] Cooke, 2011b).
To date, limited studies are available on DM in China or India ([10] Cooke and Saini, 2010; [41] Venkata Ratnam and Chandra, 1996) with a view to understand what implications this may have for western firms operating in these countries. This paper fills this gap through a qualitative approach. We select China and India for comparison because they are...