MBA 530 Diversity By: Chris Olliff

Diversity, Defined..
Diversity is the political and social policy of encouraging tolerance for people of different backgrounds. -Wikipedia Diversity can consist of things like: -Understanding and being respectful of different cultures or social groups -Acknowledging and responding to thoughts that may be different than you own -Allowing for different social norms and practices in others who may have differing backgrounds, culture, or religious faith than you -Seeking to understand and be a part of a different culture or faith -Companies that are global and see this as a competitive advantage of having a diverse work base and ideas of thought as an organization -An inclusive policy of sensitivity of the needs of others or groups - Policies that enforce social and political rules based on race, religion, sexual orientation. - People having a different perspective on something based on their backgounds

Classical Diversity in the Workplace

When the word diversity is used in the workplace, we often think of diversity training that we have been a part of at some point. Diversity training was formed out of compliance needs in response to civil rights legislation in the 60s, and has evolved in the workplace ever since. In the beginning, it was just done to check the boxes and say that it was done. Diversity in the workplace evolved into more of assimilation efforts of how to assimilate an influx of women and minority workers into the workforce. This was brought about in the 1980s and was an evolution of the original concept.

In the 1990s the definition of diversity in the workplace changed again to incorporate all workers under the banner of sensitivity training. Everyone was taught to be sensitive to the differences and cultures of others, and this also ushered in the beginning of the politically correct way of thinking.

Diversity as a Competitive Advantage

In recent times, businesses have changed the definition of diversity even more. With competition and globalization of business, companies are now using diversity as a competitive advantage. Diversity, much like leadership, is seen as an essential business skill to master to move up the chain.. Everyone has a different background and lens that they see the world through, and that is what makes up a diverse working group. Companies herald their diverse workforce and thinking as a way to attract more workers and increase their persona as a global enterprise. This has led to internal trainings and programs to focus on cultural awareness and cultivation of the employee to allow more global competition and stewardship of the organization as a whole. With this new inclusive view of diversity, companies are now integrating the training into more of a corporate training and development program to make it more of an intrinsic value and skill of the employees.

What Does This Mean For Us?

As managers, we need to be aware of the diverse groups that we interact with and lead on a daily basis. Most of us work for global organizations and need to be cognoscente of who we are working and sensitive to their backgrounds and needs. Here are some things that would be helpful to remember: 1) Everyone in a group comes from a different background and have different experiences, this is what makes the group diverse and we must realize and manage to this 2) We need to seek to understand where each member of our team is coming from, and take into account their varied cultures and life journeys when dealing with them as individuals 3) We need to foster a team environment of inclusion and understanding, one that embraces differences and varied cultural inputs 4) Keep learning about new ways to foster different thoughts and inputs on your team, allow for out of the box thinking