Jan
17
Written by:
Chris Osborn
1/17/2011 10:39
AM
As we honor Dr.
Martin Luther
King, it seems
like a good time
to take stock of
where our own
organizations
might be
relative to how
we are dealing
with diversity
in the
workplace. Over
the past 30
years or so,
we’ve seen the
emergence of an
entire industry
around diversity
from consulting
firms,
publications,
academic
programs and
courses to
training
companies. We’ve
also seen quite
a bit of
research and
data about the
ROI for
diversity
programs in
corporate
America, and the
research results
do not paint a
uniform, clearly
understood
picture of the
impact of
diversity
programs on
organizations.
We believe
training - the
right training -
can make a
positive
contribution.
Word Cloud by
www.wordle.net]
In a
well-written
blog post titled
“Addressing
the Business
Case Against
Diversity,”
June 8, 2010 in
the Glass
Hammer, the
authors discuss
and cite some of
the research
suggesting that
diversity
programs fail to
deliver
measurable
business
results. The
issues with
inclusion
programs appear
to center around
group dynamics
and
communications.
There is a
totally
different body
of research and
data that
suggest when
organizations
make a
commitment to
diversity; they
see improved
financial
performance. One
example of this
line of research
is an article
called, “Diversity
Linked to
Increased Sales
Revenue, Profits
and More
Customers,”
Science Daily,
April 3, 2009.
One theme that
seems to come
through is the
need for two
things – a
critical
evaluation of
business goals
and objectives,
and a more
comprehensive
approach to
diversity,
including
training that
goes well beyond
traditional
diversity “feel
good” programs.
Diversity in the
workplace will
result, by
necessity, in
collisions of
perspectives,
points of view,
and cultures.
How we deal with
this inevitable
conflict can
frequently
determine just
how effective
diversity
initiatives
might be in
terms of
delivering on
the promise of
improved
financial
performance.
From a training
perspective, we
believe
organizations
might be
well-served to
consider courses
or programs on
diversity in
conjunction with
courses and
programs on
communications,
problem solving,
handling change
and leadership.
It does
not matter what
type of
“diversity” gets
introduced into
a workplace –
generational,
religious,
ethnic or racial
– the core
issues will be
acceptance and
inclusion,
communications
and change, and
leadership. If
organizations
approach
diversity
initiatives with
training on just
the acceptance
and inclusion
elements,
employees might
not have access
to the skills
development they
will need to
make the program
truly
successful.
