This research establishes a framework for implementing diversity policies in organizations and offers suggested avenues for action. Contextualizing the discussion within the emergence and evolution of diversity in the USA and in France, the authors illustrate the contextual contingency of the notion of ‘diversity’, the tensions that its exportation to new contexts creates, as well as analyzing common issues to be solved. An analysis of diversity practices in France permits the elaboration of a framework for diversity management which includes : (i) fighting against discrimination, (ii) valuing difference, and (iii) reinforcing the collective through the formation of a common identity.