---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: [IWS] RAND: MANAGING DIVERSITY in CORPORATE AMERICA: AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS [23 January 2008] From: "Stuart Basefsky" smb6@cornell.edu RAND Occasional Paper

Managing Diversity in Corporate America: An Exploratory Analysis [23 January 2008] http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP206/ or http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/2007/RAND_OP206.pdf [full-text, 46 pages]

See Press Release [23 January 2008] Path to Diversity Success Varies According to Company's History, Culture, Mission http://www.rand.org/news/press/2008/01/23/

By: Jefferson P. Marquis, Nelson Lim, Lynn M. Scott, Margaret C. Harrell, Jennifer Kavanagh

Abstract: Managing diversity has become a primary concern of top U.S. corporations. In this paper, the authors develop a fact-based approach to modeling diversity management. They use the model to determine whether diversity-friendly corporations really do stand out from other companies by analyzing the strategies pursued by 14 large U.S. companies recognized for their diversity or human resource (HR) achievements. Finally, to understand whether best practices alone make a company diversity-friendly, they compare a number of characteristics of best diversity companies, best HR companies, and other companies, using quantitative and qualitative methods. They find that firms recognized for diversity are distinguished by a core set of motives and practices that resemble those presented in the best-practices literature, but that best practices per se may not enable a company to achieve a high level of diversity. Contextual factors, such as industry affiliation and company size, may be as significant as strategic factors in influencing the extent of a company's diversity.

Contents

Chapter One: Introduction

Chapter Two: The Diversity Management Literature

Chapter Three: Does the Diversity Literature Hold Up in Practice?

Chapter Four: Are Best Practices Enough?

Chapter Five: Conclusion

Appendix A: Fortune's Criteria for the "Best Companies for Minorities"

Appendix B: Diversity Manager Interview Protocol

Figures 4.1 Percentage of Companies in Best Diversity and Best HR Categories by Industry ...........22 4.2 Percentage of Companies in Best Diversity and Best HR by Number of Employees .......23 ______________________________ This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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