Colorful window dressing : a critical review on workplace diversity in three major American corporations

Abstract

This article presents a brief diversity audit of three major U.S. corporations, who share some interesting common traits. The attractive diversity delineations posted on these company's Web sites will be reviewed, followed by their issues with the same topic in the past few decades. This threefold audit is followed by two important observations about U.S. and non-U.S. companies, based on company diversity audits applied over the course of 5 years by more than 150 management university students. The author claims that a large number of major corporations in the United States are going out of their way to post diversity statements on their Web sites and to collect diversity-based awards from numerous minority-promoting organizations, but they overlook one small aspect: walking their talk. Theoretical and practical implications for HRD professionals are included.