Organizational Diversity

Organizational diversity refers to processes and programs that raise awareness of diversity and enhance an organization's ability to leverage diversity. In contrast, affirmative action primarily concerns compliance with government guidelines regarding the inclusion of women and members of underrepresented ethnic groups in personnel decisions. Both value increasing representational diversity so that the workforce represents a consumer base or a geographic region. However, organizational diversity initiatives emphasize the global nature of the economy, involve broader efforts to increase the diversity competence of employees, and recognize the need to increase employees' abilities to work with others who are different from them in one way or another.

Much organizational diversity work is housed in human resource departments, and many of these efforts focus on race, ethnicity, and gender. However, leaders among diversity professionals define diversity as including a variety of demographic characteristics that have resulted in discrimination and bias. These include race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, national origin, veteran status, disability status, and religious belief systems. In his book Redefining Diversity, Roosevelt Thomas expanded the definition even further to include any similarity or difference that can influence the workplace, such as differences between management and line workers. Lee Gardenswartz and Anita Rowe developed a four-layer model of diversity that provides a theoretical underpinning for effective organizational diversity interventions.

Employers on the forefront of these efforts invest in becoming “employers of choice” for underrepresented groups based on the assumption that an explicitly prodiversity environment will help them to be more productive and more competitive in attracting top talent. Media ventures such as http://DiversityInc.com periodically create lists recognizing the top companies for diversity.

To achieve these distinctions, organizations engage in practices that expand their diversity efforts well beyond affirmative action in personnel decisions while increasing the organization's effectiveness and profitability. Best practices include adopting diversity-sensitive policies; developing a mission statement that explicitly reflects a commitment to diversity; empowering a diversity officer as part of the leadership team; creating and funding affinity groups for employees; and creating diversity councils that provide diversity training, recommend diversity-sensitive policies, and enhance the working environment for all employees.

Much of the evidence for the effectiveness of diversity programs is anecdotal. Systematic empirical data, when collected, may be proprietary, and the paid consultants who complete much of this work have little motive to publish. However, there is a substantial literature on racial and gender discrimination in hiring practices, performance evaluation, and promotion. [Page 345]Although gender discrimination in hiring and performance evaluation may have diminished in recent years, the effects of racial discrimination have not. In fact, European American men still tend to be over represented in higher-paying and more prestigious jobs. Research also demonstrates the adverse effects of prejudice on productivity and job satisfaction, as well as the economic benefits of a diverse workforce.

As yet, there is no license or professional credential for those wishing to provide consultation to organizations that are committed to increasing the extent to which their employees value diversity or improving employers' capacity to manage diversity. Psychologists with an interest and expertise in multicultural psychology have much to offer in this regard. Finally, additional research demonstrating the impact of best practices in organizational diversity and exploring aspects of diversity other than race and gender is sorely needed.

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