Workforce Diversity Policies

Abstract

Abstract: This chapter explores international workforce diversity policies within American multinational corporations (MNCs). Diversity is considered a key issue in HR policy transfer across countries, rooted in distinctive features of the US business environment, including demographic, socio-political, and legal factors. These have led to the development of diversity agendas centred around 'equal employment opportunity' and the 'business case' for diversity. The chapter examines how these US diversity policies are applied in host countries with different demographic patterns and legal traditions, potentially complicating their implementation. It further investigates how diversity, as it has emerged in US corporations, reflects a specifically American policy agenda, and contrasts this with comparative data from host countries. The chapter also analyses the prevalence of international diversity policies across different companies and how they are implemented in subsidiaries, focusing on the process of assimilation, adaptation, or resistance by actors in host countries. Lastly, it explores the factors driving variation in the propagation and implementation of diversity policies across companies and nations.