ABSTRACT
This chapter looks specifically at aspects of what it means to ‘do’ equality and diversity within organizations. Here we focus on the who and the what of equality and diversity policy. First, who is involved in developing and implementing equality and diversity policy within organizations, with a focus mainly on the role of those individuals whom we term ‘diversity practitioners’. A particular area of interest is whether the move from equal opportunities (EO) to diversity management (DM) (as we discussed in Chapter 5) and the emergence of the ‘business case’ (see Chapter 9) have led to corresponding changes in the type of people doing equality and diversity work and the actual work that they do and/or are able to do. Does the current generation of diversity practitioners simply have a new label or have their characteristics, roles and perspectives altered? In addition, we are interested in exploring the involvement of line managers in implementing equality and diversity policy. Finally, we critically examine the what of equality and diversity within organizations, looking at the extent and content of equality and diversity policies and presenting some illustrations of best practice guidance on policy and policy levers.
