Defining Diversity

• "Diversity involves leveraging and using the cultural differences in people's skills, ideas and creativity to contribute to a common goal, and doing it in a way that gives the organization a competitive edge (Mathews, 1998).
• "Within an organization, diversity encompasses every individual difference that affects a task or relationship" (Griggs, 1995, p. 6).
• "To articulate exactly what diversity means for your organization, establish a team with a clear mandate to explore these issues and champion this effort (Digh, 1999).
• "At many institutions, the range of issues addressed under the umbrella of campus diversity has increased and now includes attention to issues of disability and the needs of gay, lesbian, and bisexual students" (Humphreys, 2000).
• "It's counterintuitive to define diversity narrowly. Strive for a broad definition (Digh, 1999).
• "On some campuses, diversity still translates as race, but the trend nationally is toward recognizing the broad array of different cultural, religious, racial, national, and economic identities found on any given campus" (McTighe Musil et. al., 1999, p. 21).
• "According to Thomas (1992), diversity is complex, multifaceted and requires an integrated view of strategic workforce planning to attract and retain employees and harness individual attributes and skills for the collective benefit of the organization (Mathews, 1998).
• "A real commitment to workforce diversity means encouraging divergent viewpoints and characteristics among people. It requires people to understand that effective workforces not only recognize that differences exist among their members, but also that those differences can actually enhance an organization's ability to serve customers. Workforce diversity can provide an organization with a broader base of viewpoints, backgrounds, and perspectives - enabling it to relate better to those it serves" (Overmyer Day, 1995).
• " . . . some view diversity as a new term for affirmative action, and as a result, diversity-related issues tend to get lumped into various Equal Employment Opportunity policies. When organizations take this approach, diversity issues become narrow in scope and limited to addressing hiring practices such as recruitment and retention" (Bartrum, 2003).
• " Diversity is certainly not EEO or AA by another name. It goes well beyond issues of legal compliance and moral responsibility (Melkonian, 1995).
• " To help prevent a backlash against diversity initiatives, explain the fundamental differences between diversity and affirmative action (Frase-Blunt, 2003).
• " According to Todd Campbell, manager of the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM) in-house diversity initiative, affirmative action centers on recruiting and hiring a cadre of people of particular races, genders or cultures, while "The goal of diversity is to maximize potential for all employees for the benefit of the organization. It aims to impact the company's bottom line by attracting and developing the best and the brightest people from a variety of backgrounds, skills and experiences, giving the company a broader bench strength. That directly correlates to profits and job security, and that's something employees can understand" (Frase-Blunt, 2003).
• " There is a potential danger in defining diversity too broadly-it can end up not serving anyone well . . . The broad umbrella that diversity must have is one that recognizes the unique barriers of race and gender, while at the same time creating a work environment that values the diversity all employees bring to the organization" (Caudron & Hayes, 1997).
• " By defining diversity broadly as being everything that makes us different from others-including race, gender, values, work styles, communication styles and characteristics-all employees can "buy in" to the value of building a culture that supports diversity" (Van Eron, 1995).
• " One common mistake that diversity planners make is failing to include or consider the majority population in their strategies. It is important to stress that diversity means honoring and actualizing individual differences, including those of majority white males (Frase-Blunt, 2003).
• " Organizations that frame diversity in terms of racial or gender discrimination, a practice that emerged from early diversity training models of the 1990s, are in danger of fomenting employee resentment--if not lawsuits--which surfaces as low morale, high turnover and poor productivity" (Frase-Blunt, 2003).
• " Diversity creates complexity, which in turn, presents challenges for all individuals and creates resentments within those with limited capacity for complexity. In truth, most of us prefer to avoid complexity, which means avoiding diversity" (Thomas, 1996, p. 84).

" A number of factors influence individual, work team, and organizational success in achieving diversity:

1. Understanding the nature of the business or organization.
2. Identifying the internal (operating rules) and external (government regulations and laws) influences.
3. Recognizing the corporate resources available: funds and people with specific skills.
4. Acknowledging such threats as interpersonal and intergroup conflict or obsolete skills, and such opportunities as a new business orientation.
5. Developing an organizational vision of diversity that is integrated throughout the business objectives, as opposed to one that focuses only on business goals.
6. Developing a strategic plan for achieving the vision for diversity that includes a critical path for achieving specific objectives.
7. Implementing a process of periodic evaluation for measuring performance diversity success.
8. Managing human resources costs in relation to employee relations concerns.
9. Motivating employees to understand and respect customers, clients, and current and prospective employees who may be different (Coleman, 1994).

• "For those in business organizations whose primary professional concern is the welfare of the employees - the human resources managers - diversity has become a kind of semantic umbrella that encompasses an assortment of programs that emanate from their department: affirmative action, multi-culturalism, understanding differences, and a host of other well-intentioned undertakings" (Thomas, 1996, pp. 4-5).

Some of the advantages of addressing diversity include:

1. Developing a greater understanding of diverse customer needs to better serve diverse markets.
2. Gaining advantage by being a leader among competitors who are not capitalizing on the benefits of diversity.
3. Attracting and retaining the best talent in the labor pool.
4. Effectively using the talent of diverse associates for increased innovation and productivity by enhancing teamwork and reducing interpersonal conflicts.
5. Increasing employee satisfaction, morale and commitment to organizational goals.
6. Enhancing communication and coordination.
7. Eliminating or reducing lawsuits and penalties related to discrimination" (Van Eron, 1995).