Abstract

The progress made in recognising and supporting cultural diversity in Australian organisations over the last two decades has been driven mainly by legislation, policy and labour market demographics and has been achieved largely through the efforts of dedicated specialists with designated funding. Essentially, recognition of cultural diversity has been ‘bolted on’ to organisational cultures and management practices. The next development challenge for public and private sector organisations is to embed or ‘build in’ recognition of the inherent economic and social value of cultural diversity into all core business and management functions. This paper reviews the development of productive diversity as a core concept of social cohesion and economic development, and the emergence of diversity management as a key aspect of organisational sustainability. The paper then presents for discussion an integrated diversity management approach through which organisations can ensure the sustainability of workforce cultural diversity as an economic, social and environmental asset. The integrated diversity management model addresses compliance, organisational development and market factors in a framework that enables organisations to reconcile and further both the social justice and the business cases for cultural diversity. The model incorporates performance indicators and measurements of social justice, cultural identity, civil society and productive diversity that reflect and support the principles of the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity.