Minority Employment

Globalization, virtual offices and corporate takeovers mean today's employees and managers with different backgrounds, work ethics and communications styles are increasingly expected to come together toward a common purpose.

While culture clashes aren't uncommon and can present a range of challenges in this corporate environment, it is in a company's best interest to embrace differences among employees rather than avoid them, says Michael P. Maslanka, a managing partner of the Dallas office of Ford & Harrison.

"Diversity combines two very American ideas: That each employee has value -- that comes from different backgrounds, life experiences and cognitive abilities -- and that an employer is stronger when the values of various employees is added together," argues Mr. Maslanka, a labor and employment attorney who also writes the Texas Employment Law Letter and the monthly Work Matters column in "In-House Texas," a publication of Texas Lawyer. "It makes business sense and gives a return on investment," he says.

Of course, what looks good on paper, is not necessarily easy to implement in the workplace. And Mr. Maslanka warns managers to be aware of what some scientists say is a hard-wired human tendency -- called the "halo effect"--- for people to tend to like others just like themselves.

Below are a sampling of readings that Mr. Maslanka recommends for discussions of issues related to diversity and advice on how to encourage and manage it in the workplace.

"The Wisdom of Crowds" By James Surowiecki  
Managers need to understand that diversity encompasses more than the usual suspects, and includes cognitive and life experiences. James Surowiecki, who writes the Financial Page for the New Yorker, tells managers in "The Wisdom of Crowds" how to identify and leverage diversity in order to make better decisions. 
 

"Millennials Rising" By Neil Howe and William Strauss
Messrs. Howe and Strauss hammer home the importance of generational diversity; this is not your parents' workplace. Managers must understand the Millennial generation born from 1977-1998 --- they want order, direction and structure and managers need to learn how to give it, Howe and Strauss say.
 

"A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives" By Cordelia Fine
Ms. Fine, a professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne, demonstrates that none of us are immune to stereotype priming -- she calls it "The Bigoted Brain" -- and offers ways to unstick stereotypical views of minorities that can open managers and employees alike to the value of diversity.

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
This 1978 Supreme Court decision offers an eloquent defense of the value of diversity. The opinion is the framework for cases for the last 30 years.  Also, check out the Appendix: it is the Harvard College Admissions Program statement on diversity in college admissions. While dealing with diversity's value in an educational environment, it is dead on for the workplace. The Harvard policy teaches managers that diversity is not about quotas but about valuing different life experiences, and then mixing them up. "A farm boy from Idaho can bring something to Harvard that a Bostonian cannot offer." It works in school and it works at work.
 

Disability Etiquette Handbook, www.sanantonio.gov/ada/EtiquetteHandbook.asp
The city of San Antonio offers thoughtful advice on effective dealing with the disabled --- whether interviewing a disabled applicant or working with a disabled co-worker. By congressional estimates, some 20 million persons are covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act. This site is the their Berlitz crash course to become conversant in the the right and wrong ways to ADA speak.
 

"The Story Factor" By Annette Simmons
Employers sometimes adopt a diversity policy, lauding its value, but then leave it to managers to implement it on the front lines. Listen: facts don't persuade employees, but a story will. People are mentally wired to learn from stories, not from facts, or so says Ms. Simmons in "The Storytelling Factor." In this book she explains the how's and why's of storytelling so that managers can then apply them to the managerial tasks at hand. While the book does not deal with diversity per se, her point is that people are motivated by and learn from stories, not from corporate edicts.
 

"The Good Black: A True Story of Race in America" By Paul Barrett
This book by a former Wall Street Journal editor traces the story of an African-American lawyer at a big-time law firm and how he came to file an employment discrimination lawsuit. It's a must read for understanding workplace diversity dynamics. Managers can learn how -- and how not -- to mentor a minority.
 

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The Web site of the EEOC (www.eeoc.gov/) is like chocolate cake -- almost too rich. It provides information on hiring and recruitment issues to ensure the creation of a diverse workplace that tramples on no one's rights. Check out the legal dos and don'ts on hiring and recruitment. Also, review the press releases on EEOC settlements with and litigation victories over employers who ran afoul of the do's and don'ts.