Diversity Management Instruments in German Organizations: Effectiveness and Preferences from Corporate and Employee Perspectives

Jens Landwehr

doi:doi:10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13

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Diversity Management Instruments in German Organizations: Effectiveness and Preferences from Corporate and Employee Perspectives

Jens Landwehr

Published in Journal of Human Resource Management (Volume 4, Issue 6)

Received: 25 November 2016 Accepted: 6 December 2016 Published: 24 January 2017

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Abstract

While diversity management appears to rank high on the HR agenda of many organizations in Germany, both status and quality of diversity management in Germany remain lower than in most European countries, and by far lower than in the US. This paper discusses the relevance organizations in Germany attach to the topic of diversity, identifies the measures actually employed, and shows how effective these measures are in practice. Based on the responses of 73 organizations and 285 employees, the study empirically measures the use and effectiveness of diversity measures and identifies differences from the perspective of the organization versus the employee. In the area of Gender diversity companies employ the largest breadth of measures that also appear very effective. In the areas of Age and Ethnic diversity, companies tend to employ much fewer measures which also don’t appear to be the most effective, showing less relevance and experience with relevant instruments. We also found that measures considered by employees to be most effective often differ from the measures used in practice and prioritized by HR professionals. In general, from an employee perspective, diversity measures appear to be connected to better career and development opportunities. Companies in Germany largely follow the diversity measures prescribed by the state without using their diversity profile for differentiation in employer branding. The results of the study give an overview of the diversity measures in use today in German organizations and of their effectiveness to achieve diversity objectives.

Published in	Journal of Human Resource Management (Volume 4, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13
Page(s)	100-123
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Personality Assessment, Performance Management, Talent Management, Personality, Potential, Personality Talent Management, Potential, Social Responsibility

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APA Style

Jens Landwehr. (2017). Diversity Management Instruments in German Organizations: Effectiveness and Preferences from Corporate and Employee Perspectives. Journal of Human Resource Management, 4(6), 100-123. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13

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Jens Landwehr. Diversity Management Instruments in German Organizations: Effectiveness and Preferences from Corporate and Employee Perspectives. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 2017, 4(6), 100-123. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13

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AMA Style

Jens Landwehr. Diversity Management Instruments in German Organizations: Effectiveness and Preferences from Corporate and Employee Perspectives. J Hum Resour Manag. 2017;4(6):100-123. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13

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@article{10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13,
  author = {Jens Landwehr},
  title = {Diversity Management Instruments in German Organizations: Effectiveness and Preferences from Corporate and Employee Perspectives},
  journal = {Journal of Human Resource Management},
  volume = {4},
  number = {6},
  pages = {100-123},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jhrm.20160406.13},
  abstract = {While diversity management appears to rank high on the HR agenda of many organizations in Germany, both status and quality of diversity management in Germany remain lower than in most European countries, and by far lower than in the US. This paper discusses the relevance organizations in Germany attach to the topic of diversity, identifies the measures actually employed, and shows how effective these measures are in practice. Based on the responses of 73 organizations and 285 employees, the study empirically measures the use and effectiveness of diversity measures and identifies differences from the perspective of the organization versus the employee. In the area of Gender diversity companies employ the largest breadth of measures that also appear very effective. In the areas of Age and Ethnic diversity, companies tend to employ much fewer measures which also don’t appear to be the most effective, showing less relevance and experience with relevant instruments. We also found that measures considered by employees to be most effective often differ from the measures used in practice and prioritized by HR professionals. In general, from an employee perspective, diversity measures appear to be connected to better career and development opportunities. Companies in Germany largely follow the diversity measures prescribed by the state without using their diversity profile for differentiation in employer branding. The results of the study give an overview of the diversity measures in use today in German organizations and of their effectiveness to achieve diversity objectives.},
 year = {2017}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Diversity Management Instruments in German Organizations: Effectiveness and Preferences from Corporate and Employee Perspectives
AU  - Jens Landwehr
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N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13
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UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13
AB  - While diversity management appears to rank high on the HR agenda of many organizations in Germany, both status and quality of diversity management in Germany remain lower than in most European countries, and by far lower than in the US. This paper discusses the relevance organizations in Germany attach to the topic of diversity, identifies the measures actually employed, and shows how effective these measures are in practice. Based on the responses of 73 organizations and 285 employees, the study empirically measures the use and effectiveness of diversity measures and identifies differences from the perspective of the organization versus the employee. In the area of Gender diversity companies employ the largest breadth of measures that also appear very effective. In the areas of Age and Ethnic diversity, companies tend to employ much fewer measures which also don’t appear to be the most effective, showing less relevance and experience with relevant instruments. We also found that measures considered by employees to be most effective often differ from the measures used in practice and prioritized by HR professionals. In general, from an employee perspective, diversity measures appear to be connected to better career and development opportunities. Companies in Germany largely follow the diversity measures prescribed by the state without using their diversity profile for differentiation in employer branding. The results of the study give an overview of the diversity measures in use today in German organizations and of their effectiveness to achieve diversity objectives.
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Author Information

Jens Landwehr

Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences, Seminar of Personnel Economics and HRM, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

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APA Style

Jens Landwehr. (2017). Diversity Management Instruments in German Organizations: Effectiveness and Preferences from Corporate and Employee Perspectives. Journal of Human Resource Management, 4(6), 100-123. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13

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ACS Style

Jens Landwehr. Diversity Management Instruments in German Organizations: Effectiveness and Preferences from Corporate and Employee Perspectives. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 2017, 4(6), 100-123. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13

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AMA Style

Jens Landwehr. Diversity Management Instruments in German Organizations: Effectiveness and Preferences from Corporate and Employee Perspectives. J Hum Resour Manag. 2017;4(6):100-123. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13,
  author = {Jens Landwehr},
  title = {Diversity Management Instruments in German Organizations: Effectiveness and Preferences from Corporate and Employee Perspectives},
  journal = {Journal of Human Resource Management},
  volume = {4},
  number = {6},
  pages = {100-123},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jhrm.20160406.13},
  abstract = {While diversity management appears to rank high on the HR agenda of many organizations in Germany, both status and quality of diversity management in Germany remain lower than in most European countries, and by far lower than in the US. This paper discusses the relevance organizations in Germany attach to the topic of diversity, identifies the measures actually employed, and shows how effective these measures are in practice. Based on the responses of 73 organizations and 285 employees, the study empirically measures the use and effectiveness of diversity measures and identifies differences from the perspective of the organization versus the employee. In the area of Gender diversity companies employ the largest breadth of measures that also appear very effective. In the areas of Age and Ethnic diversity, companies tend to employ much fewer measures which also don’t appear to be the most effective, showing less relevance and experience with relevant instruments. We also found that measures considered by employees to be most effective often differ from the measures used in practice and prioritized by HR professionals. In general, from an employee perspective, diversity measures appear to be connected to better career and development opportunities. Companies in Germany largely follow the diversity measures prescribed by the state without using their diversity profile for differentiation in employer branding. The results of the study give an overview of the diversity measures in use today in German organizations and of their effectiveness to achieve diversity objectives.},
 year = {2017}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Diversity Management Instruments in German Organizations: Effectiveness and Preferences from Corporate and Employee Perspectives
AU  - Jens Landwehr
Y1  - 2017/01/24
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13
T2  - Journal of Human Resource Management
JF  - Journal of Human Resource Management
JO  - Journal of Human Resource Management
SP  - 100
EP  - 123
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-0715
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.13
AB  - While diversity management appears to rank high on the HR agenda of many organizations in Germany, both status and quality of diversity management in Germany remain lower than in most European countries, and by far lower than in the US. This paper discusses the relevance organizations in Germany attach to the topic of diversity, identifies the measures actually employed, and shows how effective these measures are in practice. Based on the responses of 73 organizations and 285 employees, the study empirically measures the use and effectiveness of diversity measures and identifies differences from the perspective of the organization versus the employee. In the area of Gender diversity companies employ the largest breadth of measures that also appear very effective. In the areas of Age and Ethnic diversity, companies tend to employ much fewer measures which also don’t appear to be the most effective, showing less relevance and experience with relevant instruments. We also found that measures considered by employees to be most effective often differ from the measures used in practice and prioritized by HR professionals. In general, from an employee perspective, diversity measures appear to be connected to better career and development opportunities. Companies in Germany largely follow the diversity measures prescribed by the state without using their diversity profile for differentiation in employer branding. The results of the study give an overview of the diversity measures in use today in German organizations and of their effectiveness to achieve diversity objectives.
VL  - 4
IS  - 6
ER  -

Copy | Download