Access And-Legitimacy Model

Various models have been in place over the past decades to understand how to manage diversity. The first paradigm is discrimination-and-fairness. This model explains that everyone should have access to fair and equal opportunities and are hired, based on compliance with the federal mandates (Ely & Thomas, 1996). Ely and Thomas (1996) mention “Organizations usually take one of two paths in managing diversity. In the name of equality and fairness, they encourage (and expect) women and people of color to blend in jobs that relate specifically to their backgrounds (p.) This promotes diversity, however, implies that all individuals are the same and should be treated equally. The second model is access-and-legitimacy. This paradigm is all about

It is a business model so there is a potential for competitive advantage (Ely & Thomas, 1996). Access-and-legitimacy model tends to emphasize cultural differences in a company but without trying to understand those capabilities of employees and how they could be integrated into the organizations mainstream work (Ely & Thomas, 1996). So far, two models have guided most diversity initiatives: the discrimination-and-fairness paradigm and the access-and-legitimacy paradigm. The third emerging model is learning -and-effectiveness. This may be the potential solution for managing diversity. This paradigm incorporates aspects of the first two paradigms but also integrates diversity into the organization work. The employees’ different perspectives add value into the main work of the organization and strategies, missions, goals, practices, and organizational cultures are redefined (Ely & Thomas,

They should recognize that tensions and conflicts are natural and arise as an organization begins to make room for diversity and newly empowered individuals enter. This will occur in the learning-and-effectiveness model no doubt and managers should know how to deal with these situations. According to Ely & Thomas (1996), “Managers who have helped their organizations make the change successfully have consistently demonstrated their commitment to the process and to all employees by setting a tone of honest discourse, by acknowledging tensions, and by resolving them sensitively” (p.) . Thus, change management is possible however, it is extremely difficult, requires commitment and redesigning the organization towards meeting the diversity goals to realize its full