ASPA 63rd National Conference Panel Session Monday 25 March 2002 Diversity & the UK Civil Service: Approaches and Challenges Randhir Auluck Centre for Management & Policy Studies Civil Service College Larch Avenue Sunningdale Park, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 0QE England Tel: Fax:

Synopsis Having been virtually slumbering for many years, ‘diversity’ within the UK public service has recently been subject to a dramatic reawakening. This paper will provide an overview of the UK government’s approach to the management of diversity. It will specifically describe the main initiatives that have been rolled out to support the implementation of the diversity agenda. This includes diversity targets, departmental action plans, mandatory diversity awareness training, objective-setting, diversity audits and so on. The paper will also explore some explanations for why, despite significant investment of resources, the impact of such initiatives on achieving authentic change remains shallow.

THE GAUNTLET “ To make a dramatic improvement in diversity within the Civil Service”

THE VISION “The public service must be part of, and not apart from, the society it serves. It should reflect the full diversity of society. At present it does not… Addressing this is a top priority. The Government wants a public service which values the differences that people bring to it. It must not only reflect the full diversity of society but also be strengthened by that diversity.” Modernising Government White Paper, March 1999

FURTHERMORE... “A truly effective diverse organisation is one in which the differences individuals bring are valued and used. Currently we tend to minimise differences and to expect everyone to fit into the established ways of working. We should not expect them to. We should be flexible to allow everyone to make the best contribution they can. This has to be reflected in our ways of working, our personnel practices, the way managers manage”. Modernising Government White Paper 1999.

BROADER CONTEXT FOR CHANGE UK legislation: new Race Relations (Amendment) Act European Directives Political imperatives

Reviews and Surveys DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT AGENDA Development Support Mentoring Shadowing Secondments Diversity objective-setting Diversity awareness training Peer reviews Staff surveys Diversity benchmarking Equality in performance review Sponsors/Champions Target-setting

BRINGING IN NEW TALENT An annual civil service Ethnic Minority Careers Fair Opening up more posts to direct recruitment at senior levels Interchange initiative to provide seconments for people from diverse backgrounds An outreach initiative to encourage more ethnic minority graduates to apply to the civil service Fast Stream

BRINGING ON EXISTING STAFF A central development programme - Pathways - aimed at providing ethnic minority staff with an opportunity to realise their potential Elevator programme

SOME RECENT CMPS DIVERSITY INITIATIVES Post graduate programme in Managing Diversity Emotional Intelligence + Diversity programme Disability and Career Deficit research Institutional Racism and the Public Service paper Diversity Benchmarking Tools paper Culture Guide for Civil Servants

HOWEVER… RED HERRINGS AND POTENTIAL OBSTACLES Unclear vision Reactive v. proactive Engagement v. distraction Benefits v. threat

MAKING DIVERSITY PROGRAMMES WORK Organisational culture Line manager attitudes Business pressures on line managers

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS A continuous journey Political and leadership support Individual and organisational learning Integrated package of interventions Senior management/ reality check