Evolving Practices in Human Resource Management: Responses to a Changing World of Work

Given the substantial issues of diversity that all organizations are confronting today, the successful human resource (HR) practitioner needs a conceptual framework to deal with them in both global and single-country business environments. Diversity should be viewed not as a confounding factor but rather as a source of energy that drives change and growth. Rhinesmith (1993) points out that globalization has arrived and that “diversity—both domestic and international—will be the engine that drives the creative energy of the corporation of the twenty-first century. Successful HR managers will be those who are able to manage this diversity for the innovative and competitive edge of their corporation.”

We believe that diversity can no longer be discussed only from a single-country perspective. Workforces in all countries are becoming more diverse, not just in gender, age, and race but also in culture. The workforce of any industrialized or developing nation will increasingly be a mix of domestic and international ethnicities. To deal with this challenge, the HR practitioner of tomorrow will have to understand the impact of cultural or global diversity, as well as of country-specific diversity, on the effectiveness of the organization and the workforce. A grounding in global diversity will allow the HR practitioner to address diversity issues from a broader perspective than that normally associated with a single

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