Review
"A welcome addition to the emerging dialogue on diversity management is Michàlle Mor Barak's inclusive workplace model...Managing Diversity comprehensively addresses the corporate role for inclusiveness as part of workforce management as well as at community, state and federal, and international levels... In this text, Mor Barak, who holds joint appointments at the University of Southern California Schools of Social Work and Business, has made a substantial contribution to the human resources and management literature." (PROFILES IN DIVERSITY JOURNAL )
"Authored by an extremely knowledgeable professor with a joint appointment in business and social work at the University of Southern California, this volume provides a thorough, well-written, and interesting resource on managing global workplace diversity that will be useful to both the practitioner and the conceptual researcher. . . . All in all, this is a refreshing and compelling volume that will be useful to anyone in global business management. . . . Highly recommended." (T. Gutteridge
CHOICE )
http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/12238.html (USC )
“A welcome addition to the literature on building a globally inclusive workplace…it deals with diversity of the diversity concept in different countries in terms of definition, underlying diversity theories, interpersonal and cultural aspects, and communication in the workplace… Several distinguishing feature of this book deliver value to the reader. Firstly, the book goes into the causal roots of workplace exclusion practices of employers as also their consequences. The analysis focuses on the groups that are commonly excluded in different parts of the world. Secondly, the book provides latest information on changing workplace realities across countries, including legislation, demography, and developments in social policy. This has been done through vignettes and case studies from different parts of the world. Thirdly, it envisages a comprehensive “inclusive workplace model” which among others includes policies, procedures, and programs that can help implement development of an inclusive workplace. Fourthly, the book gives cogent explanation for developing globally diverse workforce as a business case. Fifthly, it carries both theoretical content and practical information. The book offers some thoughtful illustrations and practical solutions to problems involved in developing a globally inclusive workplace…
The book will be helpful for students and scholars in international business management, international HRM, diversity management and cross-cultural management. It is a useful resource for conceptualizing and implementing an inclusive workplace agenda. It reflects a global perspective and will interest readers across countries. The book has demonstrated well that when diversity and inclusion are being practiced as business strategies, they help in providing competitive advantage. It rightly suggests that in order to meaningfully practice DM people must be educated and held accountable for demonstrating new behaviors and competencies envisaging support for a diverse and inclusive workplace.” -Debi S. Saini
Vision-The Journal of Business Perspective, Vol. 9 No. 1 (January-March, 2005) (Debi S. Saini )
Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace. Michalle E. Mor Barak. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2005, 342 pages. ISBN: 0-76192773-5 $49.95 paperback
This is a timely book. The book's subject, managing diversity in a global workplace, portends the future for a growing area of social work policy and practice. The author frames a compelling logic undergirding a worldwide movement for inclusiveness. The body of the text is presented in three sections: Part I, the global context for diversity management; part II, a social psychological perspective on workplace diversity; and part III, managing a diverse workforce in the global context--the inclusive workplace. Highlights of the book include a clearly developed conceptual model with definitions of diversity that integrate global workforce diversity management at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. A range of policy and direct practice implications flow from the model.
The book has numerous real-life examples and case vignettes illustrating and reinforcing the author's premise of a diverse, inclusive global workforce. Added support is found in relevant literature from selected countries. Covered throughout the text and summarized in succinct tables are worldwide legislation against sexual orientation discrimination, prohibiting sexual harassment, affirming universal human rights, and promoting affirmative action. Included in the book are a typology of definitions of diversity, dimensions of cultural difference, approaches to diversity management, and organizational implications of an inclusive workforce. Other contributions found in the book are an integrative definition of diversity management as well as a listing of components of an inclusive workplace.
The book's appendix presents two author-developed instruments. One is a scale that measures perceptions of workplace inclusion--exclusion, and the other is a diversity perception scale. Also in the appendix is an extensive reference list drawn from worldwide sources. The references are a great resource for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers. Each will find a global literature treasure trove.
A culturally diverse, inclusive workforce is well supported by social work values and ethics. A valuable resource for social work practice in a global context, the book is also highly recommended as a text in social work education programs.
John J. Stretch
Saint Louis University
Source Citation: Stretch, John J. "Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace."
Social Work 51.3 (July 2006): 279(2). (John J. Stretch
Stretch, John J. "Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace." Social Work 51.3 (July 2006): 279(2). )
"The book has been structured excellently and covers a vast number of diversity issues in just 16 chapters. This book would be of value to anyone with research interests in diversity management or cross-cultural issues. This book has achieved its objective of giving the reader a multilevel understanding of diversity management. Considering the compact and structured presentation of different diversity issues of the globalised world, it is a value buy for academicians/researchers in this field." (Sunil Kumar Singh )
"A major strength of the volume is the ongoing clarification of what attention to workplace diversity means in everyday corporate practice. The examples provided in the book should be enough alone to interest most readers; they certainly enrich the value of the book for classroom teaching. The book is infused with cases from around the world that well exceed the usual line-up of "enlightened" European nations. The viewpoint of the book is truly global. By integrating established knowledge on diversity issues with contemporary perspectives on inclusion and globalization, this book pioneers the next generation of scholarship on issues of workforce diversity." (Susan J. Lambert )
"Mor Barak's book is one of the first to explore the synergies between international management and domestic diversity management. From the introduction the reader is drawn in by the ability of the author to highlight the key themes that will emerge and the reader is encouraged to think about how the issues being discussed can be applied within organizations. Although written in an academic style, the book is not overly theoretical in its approach and hence should appeal to a wide range of audiences including business people in small and large organizations, particularly those who have interest in establishing global business." (Kate Hutchings )
"A major strength of the volume is the ongoing clarification of what attention to workplace diversity means in everyday corporate practice. It is infused with a Human Rights perspective: individuals are viewed as holders of rights regardless of their individual characteristics and nationality." (Susan J Lambert )
"The book is an excellent resource to develop, theorize, and work out the inclusive workplace in a very comprehensive, encompassing, and interdisciplinary way...It can be recommended for all business and organization psychology students and all people interested in global business" -ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT LEARNING & EDUCATION (C. Barzantny
Academy of Management Learning & Education )
About the Author
Michàlle Mor Barak, PhD, is a Professor at the University of Southern California with a joint appointment at the School of Social Work and the Marshall School of Business. She holds the Lenore Stein-Wood and William S. Wood Chair of Social Work and Business in a Global Society, is the Chair of the Industrial/Occupational Social Work Program, and is the founder and director of the International Center for the Inclusive Workplace.
Professor Mor Barak has received awards of distinction, including a Fulbright award, the Lady Davis award for international exchange scholars, the University of California Regents Award, and the Franklin C. Sterlin Distinguished Faculty Award for Research and Scholarship.
She has been invited to give keynote addresses and received grants to lead several prestigious conferences around the world, including the Rockefeller Foundation’s grant to lead an international conference on global workforce diversity in Bellagio, Italy, and the Borchard Foundation’s grant to lead a global think tank of scholars on diversity management at the Chateau de la Bretesche, France.
A Principal Investigator on several large research projects, she has published extensively in the areas of global diversity and inclusion and industrial/occupational social work and has authored two books,
Social Networks and Health (Garland, 1991) and
Social Services in the Workplace (Haworth, 2000).
