ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses specifi cally on the perspectives and experiences of nonmanagement employees on DM within our two case study organizations, government department PSO and multi-divisional private sector company ServiceCo. Just as with the HRM literature (Legge 1998), research on the implementation of equality and diversity policies has typically focused on the perspectives and experiences of managers and professionals within organizations, in particular those responsible for policy development. However, less attention has been paid specifi cally to those on the receiving end of HRM and DM initiatives-that is, lower level, non-management employees or those on the ‘sticky fl oor’ of organizations. Yet it is at this level that employees (the recipients of policy and amongst those intended to benefi t from its implementation) have to deal with the messy reality that can derive from organizational rhetoric.
