PROMOTING EQUALITY AND MANAGING DIVERSITY

Equal opportunities law and policy are driven by our ever-changing workforce, which is the result of demographic changes, globalisation, new economic pressures and other socio-economic factors. This results in a diverse workforce, which is sometimes complex to manage. Diversity is defined as ‘any set of differences, similarities, and tensions in the midst of any collective mixture’ (Roosevelt Thomas, 2006). These differences, similarities and tensions, need to be managed well and capitalised upon rather than remain unaddressed where they can pose a threat to the organisation. According to the European Commission study entitled ‘The Costs and Benefits of Diversity – A Study on Methods and Indicators to Measure the Cost-Effectiveness of Diversity Policies in Enterprises’ (Directorate General for Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs, 2003) organisations that implement workforce diversity policies identify important benefits that strengthen long-term competitiveness and also produce short and medium-term improvements in performance. Course Objectives : To sensitise participants towards issues of equality and diversity To achieve an understanding of the economic benefits of diversity To assist participants in mastering techniques with which to implement diversity management To assist participants to identify appropriate follow up actions that can be implemented in their own organisations