Implementing Diversity Measurement and Management

Measuring the results of diversity initiatives will become a key strategic requirement to demonstrate its contribution to organizational performance. Diversity professionals and managers know they must begin to show how diversity is linked to the bottom-line in hard and soft numbers or they will have difficulty maintaining funds, gaining support, and obtaining resources to generate progress. Although interest in measuring the effects of diversity has been growing, the topic still challenges even the most sophisticated and progressive diversity departments. Diversity professionals around the world are seeking practical infor¬mation about Diversity Return On Investment (DROI)tm and measurement and evaluation. Specifically, they want to see examples of successful applications of diversity measurement and evaluation at the business-results level. Although a few case studies are available, they are loosely scattered in the literature, and often hard to locate. A comprehensive collection of cases is needed-cases that illustrate the successful application of measurement and evaluation to identify the results from diversity initiatives and chronicles of diversity management processes and techniques that come from a focus on “application” rather than a conceptual discussion. This book represents a successful fulfillment of this challenge by providing a unique collection of 9 cases from a variety of settings (both U.S. based and international) invol-ving a wide range of diversity measurement and diversity management initiatives. Each diversity measurement case covers the strategy, tech¬niques, and methodologies utilized to measure the results of the initiatives and a detailed discussion of the implementation process used to launch the diversity management initiatives. The book fills a literature void by providing high impact examples from real-world situations. It should bring some insight and hope to people who are struggling with this process and provide encouragement and satis¬faction to those who have implemented similar methodologies.