Managing diversity: the regulation debate

In Britain, we have a rather naive debate on regulation, which is often understood as coercive regulation such as gender quotas, equality duties and anti-discrimination laws. In fact, regulation can take many forms. There is legal regulation, market regulation, industry regulation, organisational regulation, professional regulation and self-regulation of individuals. While the legal regulation is  often what managers refer to as regulation. Market regulation is often referred to as voluntary measures. This naming practice underplays the compulsion and imperatives associated with self-regulation of markets. Other forms of regulation are also often ignored. Therefore, when we talk about regulatory measures, often times, legal regulation is presented as a 'radical option'. Law is often considered an unsuitable route to foster equality. This criticism is wholly unsubstantiated as legal regulations presents a strong reason for organisations to bring in diversity interventions. Yet, it is surprising that the slow pace of change towards equality is not attributed to the failure of market, organisational and individual self-regulation. Narrow framing of regulation of workforce diversity means that slow pace of change is attributed to the failure of legal regulation, when in fact what fail are market and industry regulation.