chapter 13
....................................................................................................................................................EEO AND THE
MANAGEMENT
OF DIVERSITY
....................................................................................................................................ellen ernst kossek
shaun pichler
13.1 Introduction
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
Humanresource management of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and
workforce diversity involves the development and implementation of employer
policies and practices that not only create a diverse workplace, but foster a
supportive culture to enable individuals from diVerent backgrounds to be able to
productively work together to achieve organizational goals.
Ensuring EEO, and the creation of a work environment that capitalizes on the
beneWts of a diverse workforce, are of growing importance for organizational
eVectiveness. Most employees around the globe work in organizations with a
diversity and multicultural dimension to their business. They work with cus-
tomers, co-workers, suppliers, and business units with many diVerent cultural
and social identities, ethnicities, and nationalities. The ‘Xattening’ of the economic
work world and growing widespread Internet access (Friedman 2005 ) have heigh-
tened the multiculturalism of many workplaces. New and evolving virtual work
systems are developing around the globe. Reduction of employment and national
trade barriers between nations in the European Community and among the former