¹Richard Ivey School of Business University of Western Ontario, E-mail: akonrad@ivey.uwo.ca

^*Alison M. Konrad, Ph.D., is Professor of Organizational Behavior and holder of the Corus Entertainment Chair in Women in Management at the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario. She is coeditor of the Handbook of Workplace Diversity (with Pushkala Prasad and Judith K. Pringle, Sage Publications, 2006). Her current research focuses on diversity practices in organizations and relational practice in the workplace. Email: akonrad@ivey.uwo.ca

Abstract

Research identifies several substantial barriers to the building of good working relationships among diverse cultural groups, and diversity must be managed if organizations are to attain the benefits promised by the business case for diversity. Many organizations have created diversity initiatives to address the demographic changes in the labor force and customer base, but few have achieved the goal of developing a truly multicultural organization. This article tracks best practices for managing diversity as well as future trends managers should prepare for. Managing diversity successfully requires a long-term commitment, and research suggests that employees respond well to diversity best practices and reward their organizations with better morale and improved retention.