ABSTRACT
Also, many writers agree that there is considerable ‘fit’ between the theory of HRM
and diversity management (DM). Indeed, Miller stated that ‘Managing diversity can
arguably be classed as the HRM approach to equality initiatives in the workplace’
(1996: 206). Looking through editions of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development’s (CIPD) journal People Management indicates that more than a decade later, equality and diversity issues have become a central part of HRM practice. Indeed
the CIPD proclaims, ‘Managing diversity is central to good people management in the
view of the CIPD’ (CIPD, 2004). Further, the shift to DM reflects the shift in thought
about people management more generally. Webb pointed to the ‘fit’ between the theory
of HRM and DM, seeing the move towards diversity approaches as capturing ‘the wider
political shift from collective models of industrial relations, state regulation and
associated bureaucratic control procedures to deregulation, free market competition
and notions of human resource management based on maximising the contribution
of the individual’ (1997: 164).
