Call for papers: the social regulation of diversity management: dimensions, levels, typologies, antecedents, effects
Proposals are invited for a special issue of the European Journal of Industrial Relations, under the guest editorship of Alain Klarsfeld, Rana Haq, Eddy Ng, and Marloes Van Engen.
Papers will preferably explore a transverse research question from a cross-national comparative perspective. Research questions should address the interplay of diversity policies at various levels: international, state, business sector, corporate, plant; and/or, their antecedents and outcomes. For instance,
- What dimensions of diversity are relevant, to the international, national, business sector and corporate rules promoting equal treatment, equal opportunity and affirmative action? Such dimensions include for instance, gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation or disability. How do dimensions covered at one level (for instance, the EU level) influence the dimensions adopted at the level immediately below (for instance, the national level) ?
- What dimensions of diversity are absent/emerging/declining in the various regulation processes? Why? And with what consequences?
- What are the different ways to comply with diversity policies? Typical compliance of regulations and policies may include the type of obligation (no incentive nor obligation, just positive incentive such as subsidy, binding obligation with penalties , i.e., sanctions), the type of action required or at least encouraged (statement, dedicated office or administration, data collection, data consolidation and reporting, goals and timetables, action plan, meeting a strict quota, etc.), the type of sanction for not taking action (no sanction, improvement suggestions from controlling body, orders to align on law, blame and shame, financial penalty, disbarment from contracts, closure), the enforcement mechanism (no enforcement mechanism, enforcement based on court and individual litigation started by individuals and/or class actions, enforcement based on random audits by an external authority, enforcement based on a systematic review and systematic sanction by an external authority)?
- Is it possible to cluster diversity practices together? Is there a continuum of policies from the most 'passive' ones simply ignoring the diversity dimension altogether, to focussing on strict equal treatment (stating that there should be no discrimination based on this criterion), to positive or affirmative action focussing on the promotion of traditionally segregated or ignored constituencies through the use of improvement objectives with outcome quotas at the highest level of constraint? What are the potential limitations of such a continuum and areas of refinement?
- What is the latitude to interpret the law and what strategies are considered best practices in fulfilling organizational obligation under the law? How is legislation being implemented/translated by companies and how effective are control mechanisms put in place by state administrations?
- Is there a parallel between policies at various levels, i.e., are policies identical with the only difference that they apply to different levels? Or on the contrary, are there level-specific characteristics: for instance, it could be assumed (though it remains to be verified) that the more 'international' the level, the less binding the policy (ILO conventions for instance, are very difficult to enforce and provide only a standard for desirable practice, whereas state legislations can count on more enforcement tools, such state administrations and courts, similar to corporate practices which can count on internal dedicated departments and 'cascading' management mechanisms when top management is devoted to seeing diversity management implemented internally).
- Who are the actors of - promoters/opponents, the diffusion of equality and diversity discourse and practice? What is the role of trade unions, professional organizations, governments, international institutions, corporate leaders, work councils, pressure groups and how does this affect the regulation of diversity management in different contexts?
- What is the meaning of such words as 'equality', 'diversity', 'discrimination' in various contexts and levels?
- Are there macro-economic or institutional 'predictors' of equality and diversity management policies?
- What is the efficacy of equality and diversity policies in various contexts and levels in terms of effectively improving representation of different identity groups ?
- What is the social acceptability or perceived distributive and procedural fairness of equality and diversity policies in various contexts and at various levels?
- How do equality and diversity policies affect social cohesion, affective commitment and well-being of different identity groups, besides organizational performance?
It should be noted that EJIR is European in focus and papers should include European countries and debates. We invite work that is conceptual, or empirical, and ideally both. Likewise, both qualitative and quantitative methods are welcome. Also, as an industrial relations journal we expect authors to show how industrial relations institutions affect the phenomena they are investigating.
Paper length should be less than 8000 words including tables and bibliography. First drafts of full papers should be sent to Alain Klarsfeld, guest editor, a.klarsfeld@esc-toulouse.fr by January 2011. They will be reviewed by the guest editors and the Journal's editor Richard Hyman, and authors of proposals will be notified by April 2011 of their decision: unconditional acceptance, rejection or acceptance subject to revisions specified by the editors. The deadline for second drafts of papers will be December 2011.
Alain Klarsfeld
Employment Research Group (ERG)
Professor of HRM
Head of the Specialized Masters in HRM
Groupe ESC Toulouse - Toulouse Business School
Recent publications in the field
-Klarsfeld, A. (editor) International handbook on diversity management at work : country perspectives on diversity and equal treatment, E. Elgar Publishing, 2010, see http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/Bookentry_Main.lasso?id=13110
-Klarsfeld, A., The diffusion of diversity management : the case of France, Scandinavian Journal of Management, Vol. 25/4, December 2009, p. 363-373, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scaman.2009.09.004