The diversity of the workforce is an unavoidable phenomenon
The diversity of the workforce is an unavoidable phenomenon at present. Diversity management was then developed in response to this reality. Discourse has been widely implemented in many western countries and several other countries throughout Indonesia. However, that does not sound loud in Muslim countries. The purpose of this paper is to find an Islamic perspective on management of workforce diversity. The results show that the values of pluralism and multiculturalism are strongly promoted in Indonesian Islamic Teachings. Although, some conceptual problems with respect to conservative views on diversity might limit management of diverse workforce, strategic solutions to this problem are not impossible. This paper basically supports the idea of applying the Lewin-Schein model of change (eg, unfreezing – change – moving) to manage diversity in the context of Muslim societies but with more focus being given to the substantive aspects of diversity management (eg, elaborating on Value Islamic values of diversity). The role of qualified Islamic scholars is important in this regard. The diversity of human resources in the workplace is an unavoidable phenomenon today. Therefore, managing diversity in a professional manner is a necessity. Although the discourse on managing diversity in the workplace is not new in the Western world, in Muslim-majority countries the practice and discourse about it is still lacking in attention. This paper aims to offer the concept of diversity management in the workplace in an Islamic perspective. This paper underlines that multiculturalism actually has a significant place in the teachings of Islam. Although there are conceptual issues related to conservative views on pluralism and mulriculturalism, which can hamper the effectiveness of diversity management in the Islamic world, this problem is not insoluble. This paper argues that the framework offered by Lewin-Schein on managing diversity can be adapted in the context of the Islamic world by elaborating concepts of Islamic teachings about diversity.