Diversity articles

Diversity training

The purpose of training is not only to increase awareness and understanding of workplace diversity, but also to develop concrete skills among your staff that will facilitate enhanced productivity of and communications among all employees.

The value of diversity training is optimized when awareness training and skills training are consistently implemented. Society for Human Resource Management, Oct. 2004.

Jul. 6, 2004 from diversityinc.com

Job-Discrimination Complaints Reach Highest Level
In 2002, federal job-discrimination complaints reached the highest level in seven years, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

From Workforce, April 2003, pp. 28-32.

Diversity's Business Case Doesn't Add Up (summary)(by Fay Hansen)

This article addreses the issues surrounding the multi-million dollar diversity industry. The report is based on a five-year study by Thomas A. Kochan, a human resources management scholar from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

The study notes that training aimed at "valuing diversity" does not produce long-term behavior change. Kochan recommends instead that training should ensure that group members and leaders must be trained to deal with group process issues, with a focus on communicating and problem-solving in diverse teams.

"Diversity can enhance business performance, but only if the proper training is in place and the climate and culture support it. If companies can’t do this, they will lose the opportunity that diversity represents. There could be backward movement, and the negative consequences of diversity could predominate," Kochan predicts.

Home