Diversity Issue

Workplace Diversity - What It Really Means

By Don & Sheryl Grimme, http://www.GHR-Training.com

We didn't all come over in the same ship, but we're all in the same boat. -- Bernard M. Baruch

Many people regard diversity with some skepticism -- as a fad or a code word for affirmative action. The reality is that diversity is one of the most fundamental and significant issues of the American workplace!

The first thing to know about diversity is that it is not (or should not be) a code word for affirmative action.

Our ancestors did some pretty horrible things to each other -- slavery, the subjugation of women, the virtual annihilation of Native Americans, and, more recently, forced segregation and exclusion. Affirmative action is based on the premise that the descendents of the victimizers are responsible for their ancestors' actions and should take steps to redress those wrongs, by providing government-mandated preferential treatment to the descendents of the victims.

Affirmative action is not without controversy. It has its ardent supporters and its critics.

But that's not what diversity is about. Each of us certainly is responsible for our own actions. And our primary responsibility is to recognize reality and deal with it appropriately.

Thus our Secret:

Understand the true nature of the American workforce ... and the true meaning of diversity.

The clichéd image of the American population (and workforce) is: a melting pot of homogeneous sameness, in which people of different genders, races and heritage are assimilated.

A far more accurate image is: a salad bowl of heterogeneous variety, in which the ingredients (unique individuals) are integrated, while maintaining the special flavor (identity) of each.

Which brings us to the true meaning of diversity:

All the ways we are different from (and similar to) each other

Our perceptions and opinions about those differences

How we treat people based on those perceptions and opinions

Diversity is not a social problem to be solved, but a business opportunity to be optimized, e.g., an expanded customer base, a broader source of employee talent, a more harmonious workplace.

And it's not just another fad. Diversity is the way things are.

Diversity ... is a reality to be embraced!

The Grimmes conduct customized onsite training workshops and large group presentations for organizations in every sector of the economy. Their groundbreaking book on managing people in today's workplace will be published by AMACOM in the second half of 2008. Visit their main website at http://www.GHR-Training.com and topic-specific http://www.Employee-Retention-HQ.com ... and read issues of their own e-newsletter at http://www.WorkplacePeopleSolutions.com.