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Diversity Education

Diversity Education-Is It an Effective Business Practice?

Dr. Patricia A. Alvara

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Diversity Education

Diversity Education- Is It an Effective Business Practice?

With a rapidly growing diverse population, the need for tolerance and acceptance

has now become a necessary part of our daily lives in order to live and work

harmoniously. One wonders how members of an organization can begin to cope with this

new era of globalization when the workforce is not properly prepared to deal with

culturally diverse populations. How much of an impact does culture play in how people

interact with others at work? What are organizations doing to train their employees to

prepare their workforce to be able to handle working with people from other cultures and

is diversity training effective approach? Diversity education has now become a

fundamental aspect of many organizations or a moral responsibility, especially since the

tragic events of 9/11. Many organizations are searching for answers and seeking out

training programs for their employees in current diversity initiatives.

What is meant by diversity? The definition of diversity is rather broad. Diversity

is the presence of difference between individuals and among groups. It varies from

personalities, work styles, religious beliefs, socioeconomic, education, to race and sexual

orientation. In the US, diversity and demographics are changing constantly in terms of

age, disability, ethnicity, and race, gender, language and culture, sexual orientation and

other differences that make one different. Said differences in work-style, skills, talents,

education and geographic locations are only a mere example of other diversity

dimensions that can make a difference in how people interact. “Among the ones that
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Diversity Education

frequently damaging to an organization or a group are factors around education,

socioeconomic and work experience (SHRM, Diversity, 2001 p1).”

One or more of these factors can be irrelevant to some people, but to others they

play a vital factor in their lives. Regardless of one’s definition of diversity, the key factor

to keep in mind throughout this paper is where does one envision him or her self within

an organization?

Questions to reflect upon:

• Why do most Hispanic-Americans get hired in housekeeping industries?

• Why are African-Americans often absent from managerial

responsibilities?

• Why are women continuing to be placed in support roles?

Opening up dialogue in an organization on diversity, can increase awareness and

interest among employees in an organization. Companies can leverage diversity and use it

as an asset to build, make and demand changes in their market place and necessitate a

search for a new and more effective way to serve the needs of their diverse customers.

Therefore, when managed effectively, these organizations can utilize their differences,

broaden their organizations’ capabilities to respond globally to their customers’ needs.

(SHRM, (What is the Business Case, 2001).

Do you often find yourself questioning why your colleagues do things in a

particular fashion? One behaves in a particular fashion for reasons related to our cultural

belief systems or value systems. Culture is very powerful. “Culture tends to create
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Diversity Education

ethnocentrism (Geertz, 2000 p2).” Clifford Geertz (a Princeton University professor, an

anthropologist or ethnographer) describes culture as a “soft science” because one applies

and interprets meaning from it (O’Reilly, 2000 p.1). What one regards as normal is by far

abnormal to another person. Often, one tends to see the world through one’s own view

and judges the world by what is familiar to them. Theoretically, culture shapes our

perception of our world, ourselves and how we see others. Culture affects every aspect of

our lives; it shapes people and organizations consciously and unconsciously. Culture is

the way one shares patterns of feelings, behaving, thinking for generations which give an

identity to groups of people from various regions around the world. Culture is a shared

meaning and understanding (O’Reilly, 2000 p.1). People from like regions share culture

values, norms, traditions, institutions and myths. Culture specifies rules within a defined

community or organization- what is acceptable, and what not acceptable is (Wheeler,

2000).

Fons Trompenaar, author of, “Riding the Waves of Culture,” published by

Nicholas Brealy Publishing Limited of London in 1993, defines culture as, “A way in

which a group of people solves problems. He compared various ways in which

organizations interact culturally. Cultures differ in the way they perceive time. Time is

not thought as in all cultures. Some countries use time effectively, and deadlines become

crucial in business transactions. While to others are not bogged down with time.

Universalistic and pluralistic cultures vary in relation to contracts and obligations.

The universalistic approach Fons Trompenaar describes is, “What is good and right can

be defined and always applies (Hall and Poots, 2000).” The pluralistic place an emphasis
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Diversity Education

on obligations of relationships and unique circumstances; friendships are everlasting and

always set the precedence and may go first. Universal cultures are US, UK, Germany

and Scandinavian; where as pluralist cultures are Latin, Arabic, Indian, African and

Asian. An example could be described in how an organization from the US and another

from India conduct business transactions. An US organization would send attorneys to

draw up contracts and negotiate on behalf of the organization -very impersonal. Where

as in India, the opposite is true; established relationships are more important then legal

binding contracts. The Indians place a higher value on relationships. If by chance a

corporation bails out of a contract with a US organization, the US attorneys would file a

suit. While the Indian organization would not seem to be particularly threatened by a law

suit because the Indian Courts are back logged for the next 300 years (Organizations and

Consultancy-One Pine, 2000).

Trompenaar also discussed how cultures varied within societies such as

individualism and collectivism. An individualistic person is an independent thinker,

looking out for the individual, an American employee; while the collectivist, a Japanese

employee, is the opposite. They will look out for the whole group to be sure not to

deface any one in particular (Organizations and Consultancy-One Pine, 2000).

By increasing our understanding and awareness of each others’ culture, it will lead

us to a greater understanding, tolerance and acceptance of others whom we interact with.

Clifford Geertz (an anthropologist or ethnographer) and Michael Pacanowsky (Professor

from the University of Colorado) interpret culture as deriving from a network

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Diversity Education

of social interactions which creates culture reality. Through communication, it allows one

to make sense of the world, or create a meaning (O’Reilly, 2000 p.1).

True, cultures do vary to some extent, however there are cultural universals that

unite us, for instance in times of sadness and pain. Cultures tend to unite when one has

encountered a tragedy. Reflect for a moment on September 11th; when such an event

happens, people of various cultures come together for the good of mankind. But, the

majority of times, cultures tend to exclude others whom happen to be from a different

race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or anything that is not a norm for that

particular culture. When one begins to exclude, it becomes a major obstacle for achieving

organizations goals. Mahatma Gandhi said, “No culture can live, if it attempts to

exclusive (http://www.wsu.edu).” Exclusion can impede development of the individual as

an employee, can decrease productivity and can cost organizations missed sales and loss

of customers to competitors (SHRM, 2001).

How can society and organizations as a whole stop excluding people and begin to

include all? How can organizations avoid the common pitfalls that occur because of the

lack of understanding of cultural differences? When frequent problems are not addressed

in a particular cultural group, tensions arise and drastic measures often take place. “A

range of issues may exist when a certain group, policy or business practice excludes

intentionally or unintentionally (Velasquez, 2001).” People need to stop thinking that

everyone must assimilate in order to fit in, and begin to celebrate the diversity of others.

Through diversity education, employers as well as institutions can begin to bridge this

cultural gap where individuals can become fully integrated members in their organization
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Diversity Education

and feel valued as a human being. Diversity education can begin to build a climate in the

organization in which all people can work to their full potential and contribute to society.

Diversity training provides an opportunity to create an atmosphere in which people who

are culturally fundamentally different can work together successfully, as well as promotes

an over all environment of respect with the anticipation of eliminating past prejudices and

stereotypes, while opening up avenues of spiritual enlightenment. Diversity education

includes awareness education and positive recognition of differences among people

within an organization. It extends Affirmative Action; it fully recognizes each person and

their uniqueness as well as values what every member has to offer, while creating an

inclusive environment. Diversity education is an extremely important tool for

organizations because it provides people with the skills needed to step out of their

comfort zones. People are afraid of what they do not know about; they become unwilling

or not able to look outside their cultural realm; thus leading to an uncomfortable or

frustrating experience. With an ever-increasing mixed population, people are

encountering cultures that many have never been exposed to. Diversity training equips

people with the skills and tools to handle the difference in those different cultures,

furthermore leading to bridging the cultural gap (Malkam, 2000). These differences often

cause tension within another culture and may effect or influence relationships at work or

at home. Diversity training provides employees a different way of looking at the

diversity in their workplace, and provides the opportunity and tools to create a more

inclusive working environment for all… (Velasquez, 2001).”

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Diversity Education

Other organizations are using an approach called Managing Diversity. This

program tends to focus on the business aspect; it moves beyond valuing diversity in that

it becomes a way to conduct business. “Managing Diversity is based on cultural change,

is a pragmatic business strategy that focuses on maximizing the productivity, creativity

and places a commitment to the workforce; while meeting the needs of the diverse

customers (SHRM, 2001 p2).” All too often, managing diversity programs are confused

with affirmative action and valuing diversity. “All are separate points of the continuum

of interventions designed to stimulate the inclusion of people from different backgrounds

in an organization (SHRM, 2001 p1).”

Is there a need for a diversity program in organizations even though there are

already laws established to protect us from discrimination? Currently, the Equal

Employment Opportunity (EEO) and Affirmative Action (AA) exist but do not address

the needs of all employees’ relations. Many organizations are implementing diversity

initiatives because of the problems arising out of EEO and AA. Affirmative Action is a

by product of EEO’s laws and regulations. It is a government initiative and mandated.

EEO and AA are based on statistical analysis of demographic groups, containing goals

designed to bring up the underrepresented groups of minorities, women and persons with

disabilities in the of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. It changes the mixture of people within

the organization; labor market. Primarily, it protects those groups covered by Title VII.

It’s a short term band aid and is grounded in assimilation of a population. The need for

diversity education arose out of Affirmative Action. Diversity education programs

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Diversity Education

address issues related to HR, breakdowns of communication, relationships, conflict

resolution, quality productivity and efficiency. Some HR issues addressed by properly

managing diversity may be indirectly related to EEO and AA concerns. Tensions often

escalate when employees feel they may have been denied a job promotion due to EEO

and AA’s quotas. Organizations that are diversified tend to hire, promote and retain

employees based on performance, knowledge, skills and ability, instead of meeting a

specific EEO/AA quota. Diversified organizations do not assimilate but celebrate and

practice inclusion policies. Diversity education can boost employee morale, increase

productivity by utilizing talents; it creates an environment that allows everyone to reach

their fill potential; it reduces complaint, grievances and allows one to acquire problem

solving techniques. Workplace diversity prohibits discrimination in appointments or

transfers bases on race, color, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, family

responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, and political opinion, national or social origins

(Thomas, 2000).

People must begin to recognize that everyone has the right to have their own set

of values. Yet, no one has a right to impose their value system on others. However, so

many people do; so they treat others badly which leads to discrimination and

mistreatment of others within our organizations on a daily basis. Although discrimination

has declined, it does still exist.

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Diversity Education

In a survey sponsored by Bank of America called, “Taking America’s Pulse II,” it

showed shocking statistics. The time frame of the survey was between January 20th and

March 19, 2000:

• 42% of African Americans experienced at least one episode of discrimination.

• 12% of those African Americans suffered such an experience two or more times.

• 8% of Asians surveyed believed their race experienced a great deal of

discrimination.

• 31% of those Asians reported suffering unfair treatment and discrimination

individually.

• 16% of Hispanics and 13% of whites also reported having experienced at least 1

occurrence of discrimination during the month.

(Article: NCCJ Unveils First Comprehensive Nationwide Survey on Interracial and Intergroup Relations
Since, 1993- Daily Experiences of Discrimination Continue at an Alarming Rate, May 15, 2000).

How can one improve relationships when such discriminations are often deeply

rooted in prejudices? When members begin to open up dialogue, views often expand

creating tolerance and acceptance for others. The more one is exposed to other cultures

the more one is able to see first hand, understand, appreciate and value others.

Implementing diversity education in an organization is eliminating the separation among

those of different races, religions, cultures, gender, age, sexual orientation, or ability

status. Ideally, it will lead to a domino effect-impacting one’s relationship that we

directly interact with such as family, friends and colleagues.

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Diversity Education

“One is then able to build an in-depth understanding among individuals who are

ready to explore their differences, accepting responsibility for their action and to

seek change in the system. These programs build awareness among people who

see the world through a homogenous lens NCCJ, 2000).”

Issues inevitably will arise, yet may not turn badly if people have been trained in

an environment that encourages issues to be addressed. Often organizations fail when

members of the organizations choose to do nothing about the issues and fail to discuss the

issues at hand. Creating harmonious relationships come out of initiating an awareness of

others increasing one’s awareness of their own value system. Whether an organization

implements diversity training or managing diversity type of programs, organizations will

be helping their employees to begin to examine how they feel, how they see the world,

and whether it needs to be changed. Employees will be able to examine one’s perceptions

and attitudes, challenging one to step out of their comfort zones. “We all need to

understand that if we are uncomfortable with someone or a concept or idea, it probably

has more to do with ourselves than it has to do with the person we are uncomfortable

with (Brown, 2000).”

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Diversity Education

Examples of issues avoided until too late:

• February 5, 2001 shooting at Navistar Engine Plant in Melrose, Illinois.

• December 26, 2000, Wakefield, Massachusetts, Michael Mc Dermott entered

Edgewater Technology Inc and opens fire at employees. He was upset because of

the Internal Revenue Service seizing a portion of his income for back taxes.

• November 2, 1999, Honolulu, Hawaii, Bryan Uyesugi opened fire at Xerox,

Corp. He killed 7 people.

• March 6, 1998, Matthew Beck shots 4 lottery senior executives and then kills

himself.

• November 14, 1991, Royal Oak, Michigan Thomas Mcllvane kills 4 postal

supervisors, wounds 5 other workers and then killed himself.

(CBS News, 2001, p.1-2)

Could these events have been prevented?

An important benefit of implementing said educational training is that employees

will be trained also in conflict resolution skills. Although there is no perfect way to solve

problems and approaches their problems in a different fashion; the key to success is to

use the variety of approaches positively. By allowing employees to explore problem

solving strategies that fit their needs, it allows new and unique ideas to generate. This

enhances and environment promoting a harmonious workplace. Some corporations have

implemented their own diversity initiatives and should be commended. Teaching

tolerance and respect is what it is really about. It is about learning how to listen, how to

value each other’s different cultures, opinions, and accepting those differences.
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Can the results of diversity programs truly be measured for effectiveness?

Organizations need to clearly define their goals and objectives of why they want to

implement a diversity type of program. By conducting a thorough needs assessment,

organizations can decide it they want their program to be more of an awareness type of

program, thus the results would be difficult to measure because the reward would be

intrinsic or within the individual? They can decide if they want to increase profit and

productivity? Organizations need to examine if there is an actual problem needed to be

addressed based on organizations Affirmative Action plans, their EEO complaints,

grievances, employee turnover, or changes desired from surveying their employees.

Regardless of the reason behind the organization wanting to implement a diversity

program, measurement is a vital element of one’s diversity program. It will bring

credibility to the programs’ existence which is essential to measure targeted growth and

future development.

Numerous corporations have inadvertently changed themselves from bankruptcy

into prosperity by changing their own cultural existence. Cultural change is not easy.

Companies must begin with baby steps by changing small components of an organization

then expand their efforts. “Dealing with diversity is an ongoing process that continues to

help organizations adapt to and capitalize on today’s increasing complex world and

global markets (SHRM, 2001 p3).” All too often, companies’ problems exist due to their

social or organizational culture. British Air once had an inferior reputation but due to

drastic changes in ways customers were satisfied, their quality of service improved and
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thus reflected upon their profits (Toolpack, 2001; 1994). “Because people working in

different cultures will act and perform differently, changing the culture can allow

everyone to perform more effectively and constructively (Toolpack, 2001; 1994 p.1).”

Chrysler Corporation in the nineties was not meeting their customer service expectations

and their product was becoming outdated. Their president at the time, Bob Lutz, wanted

to revitalizes the corporation. He became the leader in the automatic industry. Lutz

visualized a cultural change; hence, Customer One was born. Within four years,

Chryslers’ stock quadrupled and the company was no longer on the verge of bankruptcy.

Chrysler within the four year timeframe began to involve all their employees into the

corporation, as well as their customers and suppliers. Thus, change within this

organization was successful because it required a firm commitment from the top, which

in turn communicated and set precedence directly to each and every person in the

organization. Proponents of change must carefully model the desired behavior if they

want others to join in. If not, then one is sending a clear message that this change is just

another organizational fad. Chrysler was able to make changes by examining their

competition, Honda. They sent fourteen engineers to learn how Honda designed cars,

thus changing the way Chrysler made cars. They reorganized their departments like

Honda (Toolpack, 2001). Chrysler’s president stated, “Today, we feel we have a lot more

facts, and more of the groundswell of information that comes from groups of various

people (Toolpack, 2001 p2).”

At AGSO Corporation, “Managers are trained to recognize value and nurture the

different skills and competencies of all their employees through flexible employment
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practices and use them to serve to enhance the performance of AGSO. They also use it to

eliminate unjustified discrimination so all staff can compete equally for a promotion,

transfer or an appointment and can pursue careers as effectively as their talents and

desires allow”(www.agso.gov, 2000).

Change dealing with cultural diversity takes time, money and commitment. One

must expect change to be unsettling and modifications need to be made accordingly. The

bottom line for any organization is to examine how diversity can improve productivity

and achieve their organizational goals. Everyone benefits. Teams will be more effective,

organizations will experience less conflict and more understanding of co-workers and

customers’ needs. Implementing said programs will not change all organizations or some

individuals alone; it can’t change systems or remove organizations barriers. But, the key

points to remember is the primary purpose of diversity initiatives are to increase a higher

awareness, increase knowledge and skills. Imagine, just imagine, the possibilities if

everyone one of us accepted everyone for whom they really are and learned to celebrate

the diversity of all cultures! If organizations and their members continue to close doors,

and not mend their cultural barriers, they will be left behind in this era of globalization.

The bottom-line is, where do you and your organization fit in? You decide.
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References

Brown, Geraldine.(2000). “Appreciating Differences, Creating Harmonious

Workplace Relationships.” [On-Line]. Available:

http://www.dominoconsultancy.co.uk/appreciatingdifference.htm

BPW/USA, (2001). [On-Line]. Available:

http://www.bpwusa.org/content/Workplace/diversitywork.htm.

Coles, Margaret, (June, 1996). The Sunday Times, [On-Line]. Available:

http://wwwglobal-intergration.com/online/articles/pages/1998081400htp

Eaton, Dave. “Cross-Cultural Training for Bottom-Line Results.” [On-Line].

Available: http://www.eatonconsultinggroup.com/article.

http://www.ervk.org/workplacediversity.htm

Hall, Kevin and Potts, Tony. “Global Warming.” [On-Line]. Available:

www.globalintergration.com/online/articles/pages/1998091600htp

“How to Develop a Diversity Commitment,” American Association of Retired

People, 601 East Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20049.

http://www.leadersdirect.com/culture.html

www.malkam.com/services/culturalawareness.html

Maitland, Alison, Financial Times, April, 1998. [On-Line]. Available:

http://wwwglobal-intergration.com/online/articles/pages/1998081400htp

“NCCJ Unveils First Comprehensive Nationwide Survey on Interracial and

Intergroup Relations Since 1993.” Washington D.C. May, 15, 2000.

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[On-Line] Available: http;//www.wsu.edu

[On-Line] Available: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~kt367198/cao.htm

[On-Line] Available: http://www.oeo.od.nih.gov/diversity/managingdiversity.asp

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Theories, Articles Links. [On-Line]. Available: http://www.onepine.com

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Available: http://www.peacecorps.gov.

SHRM, Society for Human Resource Management .1800 Duke Street.

Alexandria, Virginia 22314 USA (703) 548-3440 FAX: (703) 535-6490 Questions? [On-

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Toolpack-Organizational Culture [On-Line] Available:

http://www.toopack.com/culture.html

Thomas, Roosevelt.(1995). Managing Diversity, Equal Employment Opportunity

and Affirmative Action. NIH- Diversity Council Background, Mission and Vision

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http://www.standford.edu/dept/news/report/news/september20/diversity-920.html

Wolf, Craig. (March 7, 2001). Poughkeepsie Journal.. Diversity on the workplace-

ERVK Community Programs. Available:

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Wheeler, Michael L. (2000). Capitalizing on Diversity.-Navigating the Sea of the

Multicultural Workforce at Workplace. Available:

http://adsectionsbusinessweek.com/diversity/diversehome.htm
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Velasquez, Mauricio. Successful and Failed Diversity Programs. Successful

Diversity Initiatives Spotlight: Holy Cross Hospital. Available:

http://www.diversitydtg.com/