The seven dimensions of diversity

So you want to delve more deeply into the material? Then you should become familiar with the seven diversity dimensions, which we will present to you in brief. The idea of the model is to make diversity in your organisation more tangible. You will see, furthermore, that diversity in the truest sense of the word includes quite a few different aspects.

The personality is at the centre of this multi-tiered model. A person’s practically immutable characteristics are arranged directly in the circle around the personality. These exert the greatest influence on differentiation or marginalisation. We call the components of this inner circle the seven core diversity dimensions. You will get more information if you click on one of these seven core dimensions in the model.

Further outwards there follow the external and “organisational” level of the circle. The further a characteristic is from the core of the model, the more flexible and variable it is. This plays no role, however, for the dimension’s value. Each one is just as important as the others.

The Charta der Vielfalt stands for a holistic approach and a way of dealing with diversity that incorporates all dimensions equally. This approach is designated “diversity and inclusion” in many organisations. The German term “Inklusion” should be distinguished from this, as it deals primarily with the “Disability” dimension.

Figure on the right loosely based on Gardenswartz and Rowe: “4 Layers of Diversity”