8.7 Creating a Culture of Diversity
Canada and the US are incredibly diverse countries, with residents and citizens coming to both nations from virtually every part of the world. Colleges and universities are perhaps even more diverse than communities. Undergraduate and graduate students travel from Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America to study. Both countries are diverse, however Canadian workplaces are becoming even more diverse due to one of the highest immigration rates in the world, and because many companies work with or have divisions around the globe (BBC News, 2019). There are great benefits to diversity, but differences can also create challenges.
What Is Diversity in the Workplace?
Leaders who oversee a diverse workforce may find certain advantages and challenges in their jobs. Until the 1950s and 1960s, diversity was not considered an issue. In general, people were hired based on their gender, race, social status, and religion. Women were often asked to leave their jobs if they married or became pregnant. No accommodation was made for disability except by special arrangement. Fast-forward to the twenty-first century, and diversity in the workplace is not just a matter of ethics. Diversity is required by law and is a recommended strategy. Diversity is required by law and is a recommended strategy. In the US, Federally protected classes include race, colour, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, gender, age, disability, veteran status, and, in two cases, genetic information. In Canada there are four designated groups protected by the Employment Equity Act: women, members of visible minorities, persons with disabilities and Aboriginal peoples. The laws in both countries are in response to discrimination, but diversity is also considered an asset in running a business.
Many experts recommend diversity as a long-term strategy. They use a broader meaning of diversity, which adds personality, cognitive style, education, social background, and more. For example, the largest companies make a point of hiring from many colleges. Even if Harvard produced the best individual candidates, companies would still hire from many colleges. The diversity of training and connections are strengths, not shortcomings.
A diverse workplace isn’t always easy to achieve, as some locations, industries, and positions tend to attract people of certain backgrounds. To diversify the workplace, some companies make a significant effort to reach out to diverse communities. For example, they might reach out to the veterans community, which includes thousands of individuals of all backgrounds, many of whom have solid training and experience.
The explosive growth in global trade means that large corporations began sending more employees abroad, outsourcing work to other countries, and hiring foreign workers to bring their skill sets to help fill gaps in the workforce. Meanwhile, changing norms and laws improved the status of women in the workplace, and made it both acceptable and legal to be out, gay, and married. Federal law has made it necessary for businesses to accommodate individuals with disabilities through the addition of elevators, ramps, Braille signage, flexible work settings and hours, and more.
With so many requirements for diversity, most businesses now employ a very wide range of people, but the reality is that a diverse workplace brings both challenges and opportunities.
Advantages of Employee Diversity
The Boston Consulting Group (2017), a management consulting firm, takes an approach to diversity that borrows from ecology. First, diversity builds resilience. Enduring systems comprise a broad variety of agents, which behave and respond to external stimuli in varying ways. As a result, a challenge to the system is less likely to break it. Second, diversity is the basis of adaptiveness. Diversity of problem-solving heuristics and behavior permits a system to evolve and learn from experience. Internal variety—diversity—provides the grist for the system to test ideas and actions and select the most effective in each environment.
When a workplace employs only people of similar background, education, and lifestyle, it’s easy for employees to reinforce one another’s preconceptions and prejudices. When people of different cultures and backgrounds are valued and heard, however, new ideas and opportunities emerge. The Peterson Institute for International Economics (2016) studied the impact of female executives in ninety-one countries and almost twenty-two thousand firms. The firms with more women in corporate leadership did better. A study of this kind cannot determine cause and effect. For example, better performance may result from the nondiscrimination policies and a more open culture, but diversity is a winning strategy either way. Here are some ways that diversity can positively impact an organization:
- Diversity enhances creativity. People from different places, ethnicities, and lifestyles can bring fresh ideas to an older corporation. Could a product be made to appeal to a whole new demographic? How might a particular service be advertised to a new ethnic market or the disabled community? By including people of different backgrounds in the conversation, managers get valuable insights into different points of view.
- Diversity enhances image. Today’s marketplace is diverse; so, too, are customers. When a company can present itself as diverse, clients and buyers respond positively.
- Diversity improves outreach. Employees from different parts of the world or different communities can help a corporation to understand and reach out to new markets.
- Diversity improves morale. When employees of all backgrounds and abilities feel valued, they are more likely to be loyal, engaged, and productive. Employees are also more likely to feel a sense of pride and belonging when they are associated with an employer that clearly cares about the well-being of all.
Exercises
- Challenges of Employee Diversity
- Differences can fuel battles and even wars. That’s true in the political arena, and it can also be true in the workplace. Problems that can arise with a diverse workplace include difficulty with communication, different work styles or work ethics. Small issues, such as different smells in the lunchroom, can quickly escalate if not managed appropriately.
- Differences in culture can also lead to miscommunication. For example, Americans value eye contact—even with members of the opposite sex. But in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries, direct eye contact is considered to be disrespectful. Direct eye contact with someone of the opposite sex may even be seen as flirting. It’s very important, therefore, to provide diversity training to avoid serious social gaffes and challenges.
- Work styles can also vary from culture to culture. Although many Asians and Central Americans work in groups and value consensus, most Germans and Americans prefer to work independently. Some cultures place a high value on order, organization, and method whereas others emphasize spontaneity and flexible thinking.
- Another serious challenge lies in diversity in management. Typically, top leadership has been white and male whereas lower level workers may be female or nonwhite. This is changing, but not quickly enough.
- Fortunately, many of the challenges of employee diversity can be foreseen and managed through employee training and diversity-oriented company policies. It’s important, however, for management to think ahead rather than assume that a diverse workforce will work well without any intervention.
Additional Resources
Learning for Justice – They provide information on topics such as race and ethnicity, religion, ability, class, gender and sexual identity, bullying and bias, etc. and are a great resource.
“Introduction to Employee Diversity” and “Employee Diversity” in Principles of Management by Lisa Jo Rudy and Lumen Learning is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
