Diversity management in Denmark: Evolutions from 2002 to 2009
Résumé
This chapter explores how the management practice of diversity management evolved after being imported from the United States to Denmark, where it was translated into a specific organizational context in 2002. With a focus on field level variables, we examine whether a subsequent translation that was undertaken within another Danish organization in 2009 imitated the initial Danish translation, reverted to the original American meaning, or translated the practice anew to fit the contemporary Danish context. Our findings show support for the first and the last outcomes. The second translation reproduced the same dominant institutional logic and an attachment to the same organizational practice, namely corporate social responsibility. At the same time, changes in Danish political priorities from 2002 to 2009 provoked a new adaptation of diversity management, which testifies to the dynamic relationship between the field and the translated management practice.