Diversity Heads For Next Level
April 22, 2001, Carol Kleiman's column in the Chicago Tribune
For more than
three decades, "diversity" has been a buzzword in Corporate
America.
"Diversity" first was used to underscore the importance of
having a workforce not solely made up of white men. It also
described the process of incorporating the talents of a
variety of people into the corporate culture.
What it added up to is
that diversity underscored the importance of hiring all
qualified job applicants, regardless of race, gender, ethnic
background, age or religion.
The original goal of diversity was to create a "melting
pot" of employees, which was a good place to begin. But very
quickly that notion changed when managers realized workers
were proud of their heritages and wouldn't "blend" them or
become invisible.
The current approach to diversity moves on from a melting
pot to looking at a multicultural workforce as a strong tree
with many different yet equally important branches.
Having a diverse workforce, particularly in a global
economy, still is a necessity for any business that wants to
remain competitive. But my concern is that Corporate America
no longer pays much attention to diversity, despite the fact
that minorities make up 25 percent of the U.S. population. In
particular, the Hispanic population is soaring.
Yet diversity advocates reassure me that it still is a
corporate employment value--but one that continues to change
and to be redefined.
"Organizations still are very concerned about diversity
because it will make them more profitable, more effective and
more productive," said Bea Young, founder and managing
director of The Kaleidoscope Group, an international diversity
and management consulting firm based in Chicago. "The ultimate
end result of diversity is getting better input--you can't
keep talking to everyone who looks alike and expect to get
diverse opinions."
Proof of the staying power of diversity is that Young, who
has been a consultant for 30 years and does diversity
training, says her clientele has tripled since she started
Kaleidoscope in 1993 with Doug Harris. "Diversity today is
seen as a business imperative," said Young, who has a master's
degree in education and social systems. "It's not going away."
"Diversity certainly isn't dead," agrees Edith Updike,
editor-in-chief of Diversity Monitor, a new newsletter
published in New York that focuses on managing a diverse
workforce. "In fact, more and more people are starting to see
diversity as a bottom line business and management issue."
Updike, however, says that "the biggest remaining
problem--the last portion of the goal is the hardest to
reach--is that even though there are women and minorities at
lower levels, they're not percolating to the top. As a result,
training programs are shifting from being based solely on
legal issues to a broader consideration of how you treat your
workers and get the most out of your workforce."
R. Roosevelt Thomas Jr., founder in 1984 of the American
Institute for Managing Diversity and president of R. Thomas
Consulting and Training in Atlanta, is known as the guru of
diversity. Thomas, who has a doctorate in organizational
behavior, is the author of "Building a House for Diversity
(Amacom, $27.95). He defines diversity as "any collective
mixture characterized by differences and similarities."
Always at the forefront of change, Thomas says diversity is
in flux. "We have a workforce that's becoming increasing
diverse but not necessarily representation of a variety of
viewpoints," he said. "If we hire people from different
backgrounds who look at business matters the same way, that
may be diversity-- but it's not representation."
And true representation, says Thomas, is the next level
diversity must go to.
----------
Carol Kleiman's column also appears in Tuesday's Business
section. Watch her Career Coach segments Sunday and Tuesday
mornings on CLTV. Send e-mail to ckleiman@tribune.com.
Page Top