Stacy A. Teicher of the Christian Science Monitor wrote this interesting story:“The draw of diversity; Companies are quick to tout diverse staffing. But that doesn’t guarantee a bottom-line boost.”
“It’s almost a corporate mantra: Diversity is good for business. Many companies recruit with that mantra in mind. They devote meetings to it and tout it in ads. But does a workforce with a mix of races, genders, and cultures really make a difference to the bottom line?”
“Not as automatically as those glossy ads suggest. At least that’s the conclusion of a recent study that looked at four companies with diverse staffs. Overall, racial and gender diversity did not have any resounding impact - positive or negative, the researchers found. At one company, store branches where employees were as diverse as their customers did not outperform the others. In some instances, racial diversity seemed to hinder teamwork.”
“But the study’s key conclusion: For businesses to make diversity a real asset, they have to know a lot more about how to manage it well. It’s an idea that’s starting to push companies to move beyond feel-good messages.”
“Commissioned by a group that advocates for diversity - the BOLD Initiative (Business Opportunities for Leadership Development) - the five-year study tested many diversity theories.”
“Since the report was published in the Human Resource Management Journal earlier this year, at least one large company has responded by shifting its whole diversity approach.”
“Rather than continue with diversity-awareness training that dwells on people’s feelings, it plans to help managers tap into diverse work groups to increase productivity.”
There’s much more in the article, worth reading in full.
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