Affirmative Action or Managing Diversity - What is the Future of Equal Opportunity Policies in Organisations?

Equal employment opportunity policies were introduced in Australia from the 1980s in response to women’s disadvantaged workforce position. Australia’s unique form of affirmative action was underpinned by legislation and aimed to promote gender equity in the workplace via employer action. Throughout the 1990s there has been a policy shift away from collectivism towards individualism and away from externally driven and directed social programs at the workplace towards managerialist driven social programs. The main process for implementing progressive and inclusive equity programs at the workplace is through human resource management policies that link employment diversity to organisational objectives (for example, productivity and profitability). Programs titled Managing Diversity have been introduced into some organisations and today there are a variety of approaches towards equity policies in Australian organisations. This paper examines the principles behind affirmative action and the various interpretations of managing diversity and discusses the impact of these new policies. The paper proposes that a distinctive Australian version of managing diversity will develop in some organisations based on the legislative framework that has existed for nearly twenty years. 1 This paper is based on research supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant, 2002-2005, Chief Investigators Strachan and Burgess. This paper develops work in conference papers (2002 and 2003) by Strachan, Burgess and Sullivan.