The Inclusive Workplace: An Ecosystems Approach to Diversity Management

This article's main argument is that organizations need to expand their notion of diversity to include not only the organization itself, but also the larger systems that constitute its environment. The concept of "the inclusive workplace," introduced here, refers to a work organization that is not only accepting and using the diversity of its own work force, but also is active in the community, participates in state and federal programs to include working poor people, and collaborates across cultural and national boundaries with a focus on global mutual interests. Using an ecosystems perspective, the article outlines a value-based model and a practice-based model of the inclusive workplace as they pertain to the different organizational levels, from the micro to the macro. Finally, implications for the social work profession are drawn with specific case examples for each system level.